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The Rosicrucian Mysteries by Max Heindel

III. THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE WORLD

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But if his spiritual sight has been developed in such a measure that he is capable of viewing the sewing machine with the vision peculiar to the World of Thought, he will behold a cavity where he had previously seen the form.

Things seen with etheric vision are very much alike in color, they are nearly reddish-blue, purple or violet, according to the density of the ether, but when we view any object with the spiritual sight pertaining to the Desire World, it scintillates and coruscates in a thousand ever changing colors so indescribably beautiful that they can only be compared to living fire, and the writer therefore calls this grade of vision _color sight_, but when the spiritual vision of the World of Thought is the medium of perception, the seer finds that in addition to still more beautiful colors, there issues from the cavity described a constant flow of a certain harmonious _tone_. Thus this world wherein we now consciously live and which we perceive by means of our physical senses is preeminently the world of _form_, the Desire World is particularly the world of _color_ and the World of Thought is the realm of _tone_.

Because of the relative proximity or distance of these worlds, a statue, a _form_, withstands the ravages of time for millenniums, but the _colors_ upon a painting fade in far shorter time, for they come from the Desire World, and _music_ which is native to the World furthest removed from us, the World of Thought, is like a will-o-the-wisp which none may catch or hold, it is gone again as soon as it has made its appearance. But there is in color and music a compensation for this increasing evanescence.

The statue is cold and dead as the mineral of which it is composed and has attractions for but few though its _form is_ a tangible reality.

The forms upon a painting are illusory yet they express _life_, on account of the _color_ which has come from a region where nothing is inert and lifeless. Therefore the painting is enjoyed by many.

Music is intangible and ephemeral, but it comes from the home world of the spirit and though so fleeting it is recognized by the spirit as a _soul-speech_ fresh from the celestial realms, an echo from the home whence we are now exiled, and therefore it touches a cord in our being, regardless of whether we realize the true cause or not.

Thus we see 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.

The occult investigator finds that ether is of four kinds, or grades of density:

The Chemical Ether, The Life Ether, The Light Ether, The Reflecting Ether.

_The Chemical Ether_ is the avenue of expression for forces promoting assimilation, growth and the maintenance of form.

_The Life Ether_ is the vantage ground of forces active in propagation, or the building of new forms.

_The Light Ether_ transmits the motive power of the sun along the various nerves of _living_ bodies and makes motion possible.

_The Reflecting Ether_ receives an impression of all that is, lives and moves. It also records each change, in a similar manner as the film upon a moving picture machine. In this record mediums and psychometrists may read the past, upon the same principle as, under proper conditions, moving pictures are reproduced time and again.

We have been speaking of ether as an avenue of _forces_, a word which conveys no meaning to the average mind, because force is invisible. But to an occult investigator the forces are not merely names such as steam, electricity, etc. He finds them to be intelligent beings of varying grades, both sub and superhuman. What we call “laws of nature,” are great intelligences which guide more elemental beings in accordance with certain rules designed to further their evolution.