Our Five Bodies

From the book "Contemporary Parables"

Most of us believe that we have only one body. Most esoteric philosophies, however, teach that we have five bodies. Some claim even more, but usually these extra bodies are sublevels of the five basic ones mentioned below and represented by the five filters in the accompanying diagram.

The spirit is like an ete
al light source. This light represents the life consciousness of the universe, which is responsible for the existence of all beings, objects and events. This spirit, or pure consciousness, needs certain instruments, vehicles or bodies through which to express some portion of its unlimited creative potential on the material and mental level.

The first body that the spirit manifests and uses is the subtle Causal Body, which is a complex of very subtle impulses that are even less perceptible than thoughts. This is the storehouse of memories, knowledge and tendencies accumulated during the long series of inca
ations, which the spirit has projected in its experiment with expression, creativity and evolution on the material level.

The second body is called the Higher Intellect. This is a higher part of the mind, which has the ability to discriminate between what is truly good for us and what is not. It is also able to remember and act according to the spiritual truths, something which the common mind is often incapable of doing.

The Common Mind is the organ of the spirit which we experience 98% of our waking hours. It functions according to the various programmings, which it obtained in the past, and has little real clarity. It is basically preoccupied with procuring security, pleasure and affirmation. It contains numerous negative thoughtforms.
The fourth body is the Bioenergy Body which is the source of energy for all the body’s functioning, as long as the spirit is projected into the Earth plane. How we feel physically and emotionally is highly dependent upon the quantity and quality of the flow of this energy.

The last body is the one we believe that we are - the Material Body or physical body. It is made up of cells and organs which receive control messages from the nervous and endocrine system. These systems are receiving guiding impulses from the energy body which is a manifestation of the mental body (mind). When these three bodies function without the guiding influence of the higher mind, they act in a materially oriented way, usually out of fear, and thus not in their own real interest.

At death the tree lower bodies fall away, and the spiritual consciousness is no longer focused on the earth level. The higher intellect and causal bodies continue to exist between inca
ations. They then project new mental, energy and physical bodies. The spirit is independent of all this, just as the light of the movie projector is unaffected by the various images, which it projects onto the screen.

The purpose of life is to examine, purify and develop these bodies, so that they may function harmoniously and effectively. The second step is to align them in harmony with the guiding wisdom of the higher self. The last step is to cease identifying ourselves from the bodies and identify with the pure spiritual consciousness, which is the cause of their temporary existence, just as the light from the movie projector is the cause for the temporary phenomena appearing in the room and on the screen.

Let us purify and cultivate all of our bodies, not only our physical one.