Etheric plane
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The etheric plane or etheric region is one of the planes of existence, or more specifically a subplane or planes, in esoteric philosophies, in some religious teachings and in New Age thought. In neo-Theosophical and Rosicrucian cosmology the etheric plane constitutes the fourth[higher] subplane of the physical plane, the lower three being the states of solid, liquid, and gaseous matter (see below).
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[edit] Etymology
See Aether (classical element) and Aether (mythology)
The aether (also written as "ether") was widely accepted in ancient Greek philosophy and science. This Greek concept has a Hindu counterpart in the akasha. In Greek doctrines it seems that the aether was the celestial fire, the pure essence where the gods lived and which they breathed. In this connection, aether is perhaps radiative heat like that of the sun, which is able to propagate in empty space. The Greek word aither derives from an Indo-European root aith- ("burn, shine"). This root figures in the name of Aithiopia (Ethiopia), which means "land of the sunburned faces".
[edit] Alchemy background
[edit] Etheric plane in Theosophy
In Theosophy, the etheric plane is related to the Prana principle[1] and is understood as the vital, life-sustaining force of living beings and the vital energy in all natural processes of the universe. The "Prana" first expounding came in the Upanishads, where it is part of the worldly, physical realm, sustaining the body and the mother of thought and thus also of the mind. Prana suffuses all living forms but is not itself the Atma or individual soul.
Theosophists C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant[2] (Adyar School of Theosophy), and later Alice Bailey, conceived that the etheric plane constitutes the four higher subplanes of the physical plane.
[edit] Similar teachings
It might be argued that the etheric plane is in part equivalent to Sri Aurobindo's concept of the subtle physical.[3] In Anthroposophy the equivalent is the etheric formative forces.[4]
[edit] Etheric region in the Western Wisdom Teachings
According to Max Heindel's Rosicrucian writings [5] there is - in addition to the solids, liquids, and gases which compose the Chemical Region of the Physical World - a finer grade of matter called ether, which permeates the atomic structure of the earth and its atmosphere. The ether, which is disposed in four grades of density, is considered to be physical matter and responsive to the same laws which govern other physical substances upon the physical world (the blue haze seen in mountain canyons is said to be in fact ether of the kind known to occult investigators as chemical ether). He states that there are various grades of spiritual sight, each suited to the superphysical realm which it opens to our perception: etheric vision, color vision, and tonal vision. Ether is reported to be of four kinds, or grades of density (from the lowest to the highest one)[6]:
- the "Chemical ether": both positive and negative in manifestation and it is related to the assimilation and excretion processes;
- the "Life ether": has also a positive and negative pole and it is related to the forces of propagation;
- the "Light ether": the positive pole is related to forces which generate blood heat in the higher species of animal and in the human being and the negative is related to the forces which operate through the senses (passive functions of sight, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling);
- the "Reflective ether": the medium through which thought makes an impression upon the human brain and this ether contains pictures which work as reflexions of the Memory of Nature found at the World of Thought.
His writings, called Western Wisdom Teachings, refer that in the Etheric region there are various classes of sub-human beings and also the Angels, who are described as being one step beyond the human stage, as human beings are a degree in advance of the animal evolution.
[edit] Esoteric Christian tradition
According to the Esoteric Christian tradition, Essenian and later Rosicrucian, the next major step in human evolution will be entering and living in the Etheric region of the planet, through a major change which is expected to occur in the Earth's environment ("reserved unto fire") in a future, not identified, time: the "new heavens and a new earth", or the New Galilee [7]. It also teaches that, in order for the human being to be able to adapt to these new etheric conditions, it is necessary to develop a body, named Soul body (the correct translation of Paul of Tarsus' "soma psuchicon") or the "Wedding Garment" as taught in the Holy Scriptures, eg.:
- "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, (...) And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:" (Matthew 22:2,11 KJV)
- "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Revelation 21:2)
- "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." (2 Corinthians 5:1-3)
However, it also conceives that before entering New Galilee - as mankind walk forward to the understandings of universal brotherhood, during the next six centuries toward the Age of Aquarius - the spiritual sight will start developing allowing human beings to perceive the so-called "dead" living in the supraphysical planes.
[edit] Etheric plane's relation to physics
Some theosophists held that the vital force could be identified with "N-rays". This notion, named after the city of Nantes where the radiations were "observed" by physicist René-Prosper Blondlot in 1903, is disputed by mainstream physics.
Like modern astrology and astronomy, these concepts of the ether and an etheric plane probably share a common origin. The minority of physicists studying ether would probably disavow such a relationship between esoteric conceptions and physics' theories, and few if any physicists would recognize the broader field of theosophy as closely related to physics.
Contemporary fringe physicists in their theory of a dynamic massfree energy aether [8] [9], sub-divided into different levels of density, present very similar notions to the theosophic understanting about the ether [10]. This conception by these physicists describes how the invisible, not measurable, ether creates, permeates and interacts with all matter. According to these theories, it has a density proportional to the density of any physical substance occupying the area of space concerned, which increases around large bodies such as stars and planets; acts as a refracting medium; and affects the speed of propagation of light and electromagnetic forces, etc [11]. However, these claims do not accord with the mainstream scientific understanding of electromagnetism and gravity, whose standard model, among other unexplained critical issues concerning fundamental particles, has been also unable to explain the gravitational force.
This new conception of the aether in physics [12] [13] presents what its authors regard as plausible alternative explanations for all the experimental data and astronomical observations currently currently cited in support of the special and general theories of relativity and, simultaneously, they hold, shows the internal inconsistencies and unwarranted assumptions of Einstein's theory [14], which had been already pointed out by various physicists [15] [16] and theosophists [17] during the 20th century.
[edit] See also
- Aether theories
- Aether (classical element)
- Aether and general relativity
- Luminiferous aether
- Timeline of luminiferous aether
[edit] References
- ^ Blavatsky, H.P., The Key to Theosophy, 1889
- ^ Besant, Annie. Man's life in this and other worlds, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, 1913
- ^ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry, 1977
- ^ Lehrs, Ernst, Man or Matter', and Steiner, Rudolph, Occult science - An Outline. Trans. George and Mary Adams. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1909, 1969
- ^ Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries (Chapter III: The Visible and the Invisible Worlds), 1911, ISBN 0-911274-86-3
- ^ Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception (Chapter I.2, The Etheric Region of the Physical World), 1909, ISBN 0-911274-34-0
- ^ Heindel, Max, How Shall We Know Christ at His Coming?, May 1913 (stenographic report of a lecture, Los Angeles), ISBN 0-911274-64-2
- ^ Aspden, Harold, The Physics of Creation [i.e. Chapter 7: "Aether Structure"], 2003, (pdf available)
- ^ Wilcock, David, Light on Quantum Physics
- ^ Pratt, David, The Theosophical Ether
- ^ Aspden, Harold, Aether Science Papers, ISBN 0-85056-015-2, 1996 (html and pdf available)
- ^ Correa, Paulo & Alexandra, Why Speak of an Aether, 2001
- ^ Mishin, Alexander M., The Ether Model as Result of the New Empirical Conception, International Academy of MegaSciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (html available)
- ^ Correa, Paulo & Alexandra, A running commentary on Einstein's "Aether and the Theory of Relativity"
- ^ Aspden, Harold, Physics without Einstein - A Centenary Review, 2005 (first edition Physics withour Einstein in 1969), (pdf available)
- ^ Wilcock, David, The breakthroughs of Russian astrophysicist Dr. Nikolai A. Kozyrev (1908-1983)
- ^ Pratt, David, Einstein's relativity theory vs. the ether, from a Theosophic viewpoint (rev’d 09/05)
