on
passes from it to the physical body to be expressed in the material
world. The astral world is also called the emotional world, as the
mental plane is called the mental world. The physical body is the soul's
instrument of action. It attaches it to the physical world, enables the
consciousness to contact material objects and to move and express on the
material plane the thoughts and emotions generated in the mental and
astral bodies.

Another part of the mechanism of consciousness is known as the etheric
double. But it is only a link in the chain and not a body through which
the soul can function. It is composed of the etheric matter of the
physical world and connects the astral body with the physical body. As
every atom of physical matter is surrounded and permeated by etheric
matter, it follows that the physical body has its duplicate in etheric
matter. "Etheric double" is a very appropriate name since it is a
perfect duplicate of the physical body in etheric matter. It serves the
purpose of supplying the life force to the nervous system and is the
medium through which sensation is conveyed. The action of an anaesthetic
drives out so much of the matter of the etheric double that the
connection is broken and sensation in the physical body ceases.

One of the difficulties in the way of getting a clear conception of the
constitution of man, and realizing that he is a soul functioning through
various vehicles of consciousness, is the materialistic modes of thought
common to Occidental civilization. We are accustomed to thinking of the
physical body itself as being the man, and if there is any thought at
all of the consciousness surviving the death of the body it is very
vague and indefinite as to where it exists and how it is expressed. Very
little thinking should be necessary to show the absurdity of the belief
that the body is the man. Two bodies may be alike, as in the case of
twins, but the souls, the real men, may be absolutely unlike. The real
man is superphysical. His intelligence or his stupidity, his genial
disposition or his moroseness, his generosity or his selfishness, are
but the manifestations of himself through the body by which they are
expressed. The body itself is a mere aggregation of physical atoms, as a
planet is, so organized that they constitute an instrument for a
purpose. The mass of matter constituting the body is a variable mass. It
may increase or diminish greatly, but the man remains unchan