id aside his physical body at death and, soon afterward, his etheric
body, so does that part of his astral body dissolve which can only live in
the consciousness of the outer physical world.

Occult science, therefore, recognizes three corpses,--the physical,
etheric, and astral. The period at which the last is cast off by man is
marked by the time of purification, which amounts to about one third of
the time elapsed between birth and death. The reason why this is so can
only be explained later, when the course of human life is examined from
the standpoint of occult science. To clairvoyant observation, astral
corpses, which have been cast off by human beings passing from the state
of purification into a higher existence, are constantly visible in the
world surrounding man, in exactly the same way that physical corpses, in
places inhabited by men, are apparent to physical observation.(6)

After purification an entirely new state of consciousness begins for the
ego. Whereas before death the outer perceptions must flow to the ego, in
order that upon these perceptions the light of consciousness might be able
to fall, so now in like manner from within, streams a world which attains
consciousness. The ego is living in this world also between birth and
death; only then this world is clothed in the manifestations of the
senses. It is only when the ego, freed from all the ties of sense, turns
inward to behold its own "holy of holies," that its true innermost nature,
which had hitherto been obscured by the senses, is revealed to it. In the
same way that the ego is recognized inwardly before death, so, after death
and purification, is the spiritual life inwardly revealed to it in all its
fulness. This revelation really takes place immediately after the etheric
body is laid aside; but it is obscured by the dark cloud of desires turned
toward the outer world. It is as though a world of spiritual bliss were
invaded by black demoniacal phantoms, caused by those desires which are
being destroyed by the "consuming fire." Indeed, these desires are not
mere phantoms, but real entities, which become apparent immediately after
the ego is deprived of physical organs, and is thus able to discern those
things which are of a spiritual nature. These entities have the appearance
of distorted caricatures of the objects with which the individual had
formerly become acquainted through his senses.

Clairvoyant observation shows that this place of pur