riences of his
astral body. As long as the physical body is there, the work of
reinforcing the wasted organs has to be begun from without, as soon as the
astral body is liberated from it. When once the physical body is
separated, this work ceases. Nevertheless, the force which was expended in
this way while the man was asleep, continues after death and can now be
applied to some other end. It is now used for making the astral body's own
experiences perceptible. During his connection with his physical body the
outer world enters man's consciousness in images; after the body has been
laid aside, that which is experienced by the astral body, when it is no
longer connected with sense organs, with this outer physical world,
becomes perceptible. At first it has no new experiences. Its connection
with the etheric body prevents it from experiencing anything new.

What, however, it does possess, is _memory_ of its past life. The etheric
body still being present causes that past life to appear as a vivid and
comprehensive panorama. That is man's first experience after death. He
sees his life from birth to death spread out before him in a series of
pictures. Memory is only present in the waking state, when during life man
is united with his physical body, and it is present only to the extent
allowed by that body. Nothing is lost to the soul that has made an
impression on it during life. Were the physical body a perfect instrument
for the purpose, it would be possible, at any moment during life, to
conjure up the whole of the past before the eyes of the soul. At death
there is no longer any obstacle to this. As long as the etheric body
remains, there exists a certain degree of perfection of memory. But this
disappears according to the degree in which the etheric body loses the
form which it possessed while united with the physical body, and which
resembles that body. This is the very reason why the astral body
separates, after a time, from the etheric body. It can remain united with
the latter only so long as the form of the etheric body corresponds with
that of the physical body.

During the period of life between birth and death, separation of the
etheric body occurs only in exceptional cases, and for no longer than a
brief space of time. If, for example, a man exposes one of his limbs to
pressure, part of his etheric body may become separated from the physical
one. We say on such occasion that the limb has "gone to sleep," and t