Here is a basic statement - one that is so basic that it
governs and controls all thinking anent the etheric body:
The etheric body is primarily composed of the dominant energy or energies to which
the man, the group, the nation, or the world reacts in any particular time cycle or world
period.
If you are to understand clearly, it is essential that I lay down certain propositions
anent the etheric body which [142] should govern all the student's thinking; if they do
not, he will be approaching the truth from the wrong angle; this, modern science does not
do. The limitation of modern science is its lack of vision; the hope of modern science is
that it does recognize truth when proven. Truth in all circumstances is essential and in
this matter science gives a desirable lead, even though it ignores and despises occultism,
Occult scientists handicap themselves either because of their presentation of the truth or
because of a false humility. Both are equally bad.
There are
six major propositions which govern all consideration of the etheric body, and I would
like to present them to students as a first step:
- There is nothing in the manifested universe - solar, planetary or the various kingdoms
in nature - which does not possess an energy form, subtle and intangible yet substantial,
which controls, governs and conditions the outer physical body. This is the etheric body.
- This energy form - underlying the solar system, the planets and all forms within their
specific rings-pass-not - is itself conditioned and governed by the dominant solar or
planetary energy which ceaselessly and without break in time, creates it, changes and
qualifies it. The etheric body is subject to ceaseless change. This, being true of the
Macrocosm, is equally true of man, the microcosm, and - through the agency of humanity -
will eventually and mysteriously prove true of all the subhuman kingdoms in nature. Of
this, the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom are already evidences.
- The etheric body is composed of interlocking and circulating lines of force emanating
from one or [143] other, or from one or many, of the seven planes or areas of
consciousness of our planetary Life.
These lines
of energy and this closely interlocking system of streams of force are related to seven
focal points or centers to be found within the etheric body. These centers are related,
each of them, to certain types of incoming energy. When the energy reaching the etheric
body is not related to a particular center, then that center remains quiescent and
unawakened; when it is related and the center is sensitive to its impact, then that center
becomes vibrant and receptive and develops as a controlling factor in the life of the man
on the physical plane.
The dense
physical body, composed of atoms - each with its own individual life, light and activity -
is held together by and is expressive of the energies which compose the etheric body.
These, as will be apparent, are of two natures:
- The energies which form (through interlocked "lines of forceful energy") the
underlying etheric body, as a whole and in relation to all physical forms. This form is
qualified then by the general life and vitality of the plane on which the Dweller
in the body functions, and therefore where his consciousness is normally focused.
- The particularized or specialized energies by which the individual (at this particular
point in evolution, through the circumstances of his daily life and his heredity) chooses
to govern his daily activities.
The etheric
body has many centers of force, responsive to the manifold energies of our planetary Life,
but we shall consider only the seven major [144] centers which respond to the inflowing
energies of the seven rays. All lesser centers are conditioned by the seven major centers;
this is a point which students are apt to forget. It is here that knowledge of the egoic
and of the personality rays is of prime usefulness.
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