body."

Thus a sharp distinction must be drawn between the manifested and the
hidden elements in man. For during life, that which is hidden from view
has to wage perpetual war on the materials and forces of the mineral
world. This indicates the point at which occult science steps in. It has
to characterize that which wages the war alluded to, as a principle which
is hidden from sense-observation. Clairvoyant sight alone can reveal its
workings. How man arrives at awareness of this hidden element, as plainly
as his ordinary eyes see the phenomena of sense, will be described in a
later part of this book. Results of clairvoyant observation will be given
now for the reason already pointed out in the preceding pages, that is,
that communications about the way in which the higher sight is obtained
can only be of value to the student when he has first become acquainted,
in the form of a narrative, with the results of clairvoyant research. For
in this sphere it is quite possible to understand things which one is not
yet able to observe. Indeed, the right path to higher vision starts with
understanding.

Now, although the hidden something which wages war on the disintegration
of the physical body can be observed only by the higher sight, it is
plainly visible in its effects to the human faculty of judgment which is
limited to the manifested world; and these effects are expressed in the
form or shape in which mineral materials and forces are combined during
life. When death has intervened, the form disappears little by little, and
the physical body becomes part of the rest of the mineral world. But the
clairvoyant is able to observe this hidden something as an independent
member of the human organism, which during life prevents the physical
materials and forces from taking their natural course, which would lead to
the dissolution of the physical body. This independent principle is called
the etheric or vital body.

If misunderstandings are not to arise at the outset, two things must be
borne in mind in connection with this account of a second principle of
human nature. The word "etheric" is used here in a different sense from
that of modern physics, which designates as "ether" the medium by which
light is transmitted. In occult science the use of the word is limited to
the sense given above. It denotes that which is accessible to higher
sight, and can be known to physical observation only by its effects, that
is, by its power o