The etheric plane (see also '' etheric body'') is a term introduced into

Theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...

by Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant to represent the subtle part of the lower plane of existence. It represents the fourth ighersubplane of the physical plane (a

hyperplane In geometry, a hyperplane is a generalization of a two-dimensional plane in three-dimensional space to mathematical spaces of arbitrary dimension. Like a plane in space, a hyperplane is a flat hypersurface, a subspace whose dimension is ...

), the lower three being the states of

solid Solid is a state of matter where molecules are closely packed and can not slide past each other. Solids resist compression, expansion, or external forces that would alter its shape, with the degree to which they are resisted dependent upon the ...

liquid Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

, and gaseous matter. The idea was later used by authors such as Alice Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, Walter John Kilner and others. The term aether (also written as "ether") was adopted from ancient

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysic ...

and science into Victorian physics (see

Luminiferous aether Luminiferous aether or ether (''luminiferous'' meaning 'light-bearing') was the postulated Transmission medium, medium for the propagation of light. It was invoked to explain the ability of the apparently wave-based light to propagate through empt ...

) and utilised by Madame Blavatsky to correspond to akasha, the fifth element ( quintessence) of Hindu metaphysics. The Greek word ''aither'' derives from an Indo-European

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

''aith''- ("burn, shine"). Blavatsky also related the idea to the Hindu '' Prana'' principle, the vital, life-sustaining force of living beings, present in all natural processes of the universe. Prana was first expounded in the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...

, where it is part of the worldly, physical realm, sustaining the body and the mind. Blavatsky also tended to use the word "astral" indiscriminately for these supposed subtle physical phenomena. The esoteric concepts of Adi, the Buddhic plane, the causal plane, and the monadic plane are also related to that of the etheric plane. Leadbeater and Besant (both belonging to the Adyar School of Theosophy) conceived that the etheric plane constituted four higher subplanes of the physical plane. According to the Theosophist Geoffrey A. Farthing, Leadbeater used the term, because of its resonance in the physical sciences, to describe his clairvoyant investigations of subatomic physics.

Christian Rosicrucians

Similarly, according to the Rosicrucian writings of American occultist and mystic

Max Heindel Max Heindel (born Carl Louis von Grasshoff, July 23, 1865 – January 6, 1919) was an American Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. Early life Carl Louis von Grasshoff was born in Aarhus, Denmark, into the noble family von Grasshof ...

there is – in addition to the solids, liquids, and gases which compose the ''Chemical Region'' of the Physical World – a finer grade of

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...

called ether that permeates the atomic structure of the earth and its

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

. It is disposed in four grades of

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

and is considered to be a kind of physical matter (the blue haze seen in mountain canyons is said to be in fact ether of the kind known to occult investigators as ''chemical ether''). Associated there is also a type of spiritual sight, that man will eventually develop, called ''etheric vision''. Ether is reported to be of four kinds, or grades of density in our planet

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

; their names (from the lowest or most dense to the highest or most subtle one) and their relation to the human being, from the point of view of these Esoteric Christian teachings, is as following:Heindel, Max, '' The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception (Chapter I.2
The Etheric Region of the Physical World
'', 1909, * the "Chemical Ether": both positive and negative in manifestation and it is related to the assimilation and

excretion Excretion is elimination of metabolic waste, which is an essential process in all organisms. In vertebrates, this is primarily carried out by the lungs, Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substa ...

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 In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...

makes an impression upon the human

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

and this ether contains pictures which work as reflections of the Memory of Nature found at the World of Thought.

References

External links

Astral Physics and Timespace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etheric Plane Esoteric cosmology Esoteric Christianity Theosophical philosophical concepts

Christian Rosicrucians

See also

Esoteric

Physics

Fiction

References

External links