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The Rosicrucian Mysteries by Max Heindel

V. LIFE AND DEATH

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_Invisible Helpers and Mediums._

There are two classes of people in the world. In one class the vital and dense bodies are so firmly cemented that the ethers cannot be extracted under any circumstances but remain with the dense body at all times and under all conditions from birth to death. Those people are insensible to any supersensuous sights or sounds. They are therefore usually exceedingly sceptic, and believe nothing exists but what _they_ can see.

There is another class of people in whom the connection between the dense and the vital bodies is more or less loose, so that the ether of their vital bodies vibrates at a higher rate than in the first class mentioned. These people are therefore more or less sensitive to the spiritual world.

This class of sensitives may again be divided. Some are weak characters, dominated by the will of others in a _negative_ manner, as mediums, who are the prey of disembodied spirits desirous of obtaining a physical body when they have lost their own by death.

The other class of sensitives are strong _positive_ characters, who act only from within, according to their own will. They may develop into trained clairvoyants, and be their own masters instead of slaves of a disembodied spirit. In some sensitives of both classes it is possible to extract part of the ether which forms the vital body. When a disembodied spirit obtains a subject of that nature, it develops the sensitive as _a materializing medium_. The man who is capable of extracting his own vital body by an act of will, becomes a citizen of two worlds, independent and free. Such are usually known as _Invisible Helpers_. There are certain other abnormal conditions where the vital body and the dense body are separated totally or in part, for instance if we place our limb in an uncomfortable position so that circulation of the blood ceases. Then we may see the etheric limb hanging down below the visible limb as a stocking. When we restore circulation and the etheric limb seeks to enter into place, an intense prickly sensation is felt, due to the fact that the little streams of force, which radiate all through the ether, seek to permeate the molecules of the limb and stir them into renewed vibration. When a person is drowning, the vital body also separates from the dense vehicle and the intense prickly pain incident to resuscitation is also due to the cause mentioned.

While we are awake and going about our work in the Physical World, the desire body and mind both permeate the dense and the vital bodies, and there is a constant war between the desire nature and the vital body. The vital body is continually engaged in building up the human organism, while the impulses of the desire body tend to tire and to break down tissue. Gradually, in the course of the day, the vital body loses ground before the onslaughts of the desire body, poisons of decay slowly accumulate and the flow of vital fluid becomes more and more sluggish, until at length it is incapable of moving the muscles. The body then feels heavy and drowsy. At last the vital body collapses, as it were, the little streams of force which permeate each atom seem to shrivel up, and the Ego is forced to abandon its body to the restorative powers of sleep.

When a building has become dilapidated and is to be _restored_ and put in thorough repair, the tenants must move out to let the workmen have a free field. So also when the building of a spirit has become unfit for further use, it must withdraw therefrom. As the desire body caused the damage, it is a logical conclusion that that also must be removed. Every night when our body has become tired, the higher vehicles are withdrawn, only the dense and vital bodies are left upon the bed.