The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition

The notion that the physical body of man is as it were the exteriorization of an invisible subtle embodiment of the life of the mind is a very ancient belief. It is however, the prevailing habit of skeptical rationalism of the present day to dismiss summarily all such beliefs of antiquity as the baseless dreams of a prescientific age, and to dump them all indiscriminately into the midden of exploded superstitions. Not only do the acute intellects who upheld it in the past, dispose one to a favorable consideration of their plea; but I am persuaded that, the more deeply modern research penetrates into the more recondite regions of biology, psycho-physiology and psychology, the more readily will reason be inclined to welcome the notion as a fertile working hypothesis to co-ordinate a considerable number of the mental, vital and physical phenomena of human personality which otherwise remain on our hands as a confused and inexplicable conglomerate. Contents: The Spirit-Body; The Radiant Body; The Resurrection-Body; Epilogue.