Mental body
Encyclopedia
The mental body is one of the subtle bodies
in esoteric philosophies, in some religious teachings and in New Age
thought. It is understood as a sort of body made up of thought
s, just as the emotional body consists of emotions and the physical body
is made up of matter
. In occult understanding, thoughts are not just subjective qualia
, but have an existence apart from the associated physical organ, the brain.
and Annie Besant
(Adyar School of Theosophy
), and later Alice Bailey
, the mental body is equivalent to the "Lower Manas" of Blavatsky's original seven principles of man
. But the New Age writer Barbara Brennan
describes the Mental body as intermediate between the Emotional and the Astral body in terms of the layers in the "Human Energy Field" or Aura .
The mental body is usually considered in terms of an aura that includes thoughtform
s. In Theosophical and Alice Bailey's teachings, it corresponds to the Mental plane
.
's Rosicrucian
writings , the mind is the latest acquisition of the human spirit
and is related to the Region of Concrete Thought, which is the lower region of the World of Thought
. It is not yet an organized body and in most people it is still a mere inchoate cloud disposed particularly in the region of the head. It works as the link or focus between the threefold Spirit and the threefold body http://www.rosicrucian.com/images/rccen005.gif, in a reversed reflexion manner http://www.rosicrucian.com/images/rccen001.gif: the mind is like the projecting lens of a stereopticon, it projects the image in one of three directions, according to the will
of the thinker, which ensouls the thought-form
.
His writings, called Western Wisdom Teachings
, give a clear description on how the man's inner Spirit perceives, from the world of thought
, the lower worlds through the mind: " We ourselves, as Egos, function directly in the subtle substance of the Region of Abstract Thought, which we have specialized within the periphery of our individual aura. Thence we view the impressions made by the outer world upon the vital body through the senses, together with the feelings and emotions generated by them in the desire body, and mirrored in the mind. From these mental images we form our conclusions, in the substance of the Region of Abstract Thought, concerning the subjects with which they deal. Those conclusions are ideas. By the power of will we project an idea through the mind, where it takes concrete shape as a thought-form by drawing mind-stuff around itself from the Region of Concrete Thought. " .
He also states that to the trained clairvoyant
there appears to be an empty space in the center of the forehead just above and between the eyebrows and it looks like the blue part of a gas flame, but not even the most gifted seer can penetrate that veil, also known as "THE VEIL OF ISIS".
stated that only those who have worked consciously to do so have created a mental body. A "solar mind" or "solar mental body" is the quality of mind of a true human, yet, it is stated that this humanity is not composed of true humans, but rather intellectual animals: beings with a mind of an animal, but reasoning superior to that of other animals. According to Samael Aun Weor, the qualifications to being a real human being is identical to the lowest requirements of being a Buddha
. The process of acquiring the mind of a human in this sense involves the psychological death of the "I" (desire) and the work of practical sexual alchemy. More explicitly stated, the title of Buddha is achieved through the Fourth Initiation of Major Mysteries, when the fourth serpent of fire or kundalini
has risen.
Whether the lunar or solar aspect, the mental body is stated to exist within the 5th dimension and is represented by Netzach. With the mental body one can travel through the mental world
, the world of thoughts and ideas.
In Esoteric Christianity
, the mental body is represented by the stubborn yet useful donkey that the Savior (Christ) subdues in order to be used as a vehicle to enter into heavenly Jerusalem (the superior worlds).
Subtle body
A subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings...
in esoteric philosophies, in some religious teachings and in New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
thought. It is understood as a sort of body made up of thought
Thought
"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...
s, just as the emotional body consists of emotions and the physical body
Human anatomy
Human anatomy is primarily the scientific study of the morphology of the human body. Anatomy is subdivided into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by the naked eye...
is made up of matter
Matter
Matter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. A common way of defining matter is as anything that has mass and occupies volume...
. In occult understanding, thoughts are not just subjective qualia
Qualia
Qualia , singular "quale" , from a Latin word meaning for "what sort" or "what kind," is a term used in philosophy to refer to subjective conscious experiences as 'raw feels'. Examples of qualia are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, the experience of taking a recreational drug, or the...
, but have an existence apart from the associated physical organ, the brain.
Theosophical and New Age conceptions
According to Theosophists C.W. LeadbeaterCharles Webster Leadbeater
Charles Webster Leadbeater was an influential member of the Theosophical Society, author on occult subjects and co-initiator with J. I. Wedgwood of the Liberal Catholic Church...
and Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...
(Adyar School of Theosophy
Theosophical Society Adyar
The Theosophy Society - Adyar is the name of a section of the Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. Its headquarters moved with Blavatsky and president Henry Steel Olcott to Adyar, an area of Chennai in 1883...
), and later Alice Bailey
Alice Bailey
Alice Ann Bailey , known as Alice A. Bailey or AAB to her followers, was an influential writer and theosophist in what she termed "Ageless Wisdom". This included occult teachings, "esoteric" psychology and healing, astrological and other philosophic and religious themes...
, the mental body is equivalent to the "Lower Manas" of Blavatsky's original seven principles of man
Septenary (Theosophy)
The Septenary in Helena Blavatsky's teachings refers to the seven principles of man. In The Key to Theosophy she presents a synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas, according to which human nature consists of seven principles...
. But the New Age writer Barbara Brennan
Barbara Brennan
Barbara Ann Brennan is an American author, spiritual healer, businesswoman and teacher working in the field of energy healing...
describes the Mental body as intermediate between the Emotional and the Astral body in terms of the layers in the "Human Energy Field" or Aura .
The mental body is usually considered in terms of an aura that includes thoughtform
Thoughtform
A thoughtform is a manifestation of mental energy, also known as a tulpa in Tibetan mysticism. Its concept is related to the Western philosophy and practice of magic. links mantras and yantras to thoughtforms:...
s. In Theosophical and Alice Bailey's teachings, it corresponds to the Mental plane
Mental plane
The mental plane, or world of thought, in Hermeticism, Theosophical, Rosicrucian, Aurobindonian, and New Age thought refers to the macrocosmic or universal plane or reality that is made up purely of thought or mindstuff...
.
The mind in the Western Wisdom Teachings
According to Max HeindelMax Heindel
Max Heindel - born Carl Louis von Grasshoff in Aarhus, Denmark on July 23, 1865 - was a Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. He died on January 6, 1919 at Oceanside, California, United States.- Early infancy :...
's Rosicrucian
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...
writings , the mind is the latest acquisition of the human spirit
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
and is related to the Region of Concrete Thought, which is the lower region of the World of Thought
Mental plane
The mental plane, or world of thought, in Hermeticism, Theosophical, Rosicrucian, Aurobindonian, and New Age thought refers to the macrocosmic or universal plane or reality that is made up purely of thought or mindstuff...
. It is not yet an organized body and in most people it is still a mere inchoate cloud disposed particularly in the region of the head. It works as the link or focus between the threefold Spirit and the threefold body http://www.rosicrucian.com/images/rccen005.gif, in a reversed reflexion manner http://www.rosicrucian.com/images/rccen001.gif: the mind is like the projecting lens of a stereopticon, it projects the image in one of three directions, according to the will
Will (philosophy)
Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...
of the thinker, which ensouls the thought-form
Thoughtform
A thoughtform is a manifestation of mental energy, also known as a tulpa in Tibetan mysticism. Its concept is related to the Western philosophy and practice of magic. links mantras and yantras to thoughtforms:...
.
His writings, called Western Wisdom Teachings
Western Wisdom Teachings
Western Wisdom Teachings may refer to:*The Western mystery tradition*The Esoteric Christian philosophy of the Rosicrucians as expounded by Max Heindel in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and subsequent books, lectures and lessons....
, give a clear description on how the man's inner Spirit perceives, from the world of thought
Mental plane
The mental plane, or world of thought, in Hermeticism, Theosophical, Rosicrucian, Aurobindonian, and New Age thought refers to the macrocosmic or universal plane or reality that is made up purely of thought or mindstuff...
, the lower worlds through the mind: " We ourselves, as Egos, function directly in the subtle substance of the Region of Abstract Thought, which we have specialized within the periphery of our individual aura. Thence we view the impressions made by the outer world upon the vital body through the senses, together with the feelings and emotions generated by them in the desire body, and mirrored in the mind. From these mental images we form our conclusions, in the substance of the Region of Abstract Thought, concerning the subjects with which they deal. Those conclusions are ideas. By the power of will we project an idea through the mind, where it takes concrete shape as a thought-form by drawing mind-stuff around itself from the Region of Concrete Thought. " .
He also states that to the trained clairvoyant
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
there appears to be an empty space in the center of the forehead just above and between the eyebrows and it looks like the blue part of a gas flame, but not even the most gifted seer can penetrate that veil, also known as "THE VEIL OF ISIS".
Samael Aun Weor
Samael Aun WeorSamael Aun Weor
Samael Aun Weor , born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, Colombian citizen and later Mexican, was an author, lecturer and founder of the 'Universal Christian Gnostic Movement' with his teaching of 'The Doctrine of Synthesis' of all religions in both their esoteric and exoteric aspects...
stated that only those who have worked consciously to do so have created a mental body. A "solar mind" or "solar mental body" is the quality of mind of a true human, yet, it is stated that this humanity is not composed of true humans, but rather intellectual animals: beings with a mind of an animal, but reasoning superior to that of other animals. According to Samael Aun Weor, the qualifications to being a real human being is identical to the lowest requirements of being a Buddha
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
. The process of acquiring the mind of a human in this sense involves the psychological death of the "I" (desire) and the work of practical sexual alchemy. More explicitly stated, the title of Buddha is achieved through the Fourth Initiation of Major Mysteries, when the fourth serpent of fire or kundalini
Kundalini
Kundalini literally means coiled. In yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...
has risen.
Whether the lunar or solar aspect, the mental body is stated to exist within the 5th dimension and is represented by Netzach. With the mental body one can travel through the mental world
Mental plane
The mental plane, or world of thought, in Hermeticism, Theosophical, Rosicrucian, Aurobindonian, and New Age thought refers to the macrocosmic or universal plane or reality that is made up purely of thought or mindstuff...
, the world of thoughts and ideas.
In Esoteric Christianity
Esoteric Christianity
Esoteric Christianity is a term which refers to an ensemble of spiritual currents which regard Christianity as a mystery religion, and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices, hidden from the public but accessible only to a narrow circle of "enlightened",...
, the mental body is represented by the stubborn yet useful donkey that the Savior (Christ) subdues in order to be used as a vehicle to enter into heavenly Jerusalem (the superior worlds).
See also
- Esoteric
- Esoteric cosmologyEsoteric cosmologyEsoteric cosmology is cosmology that is an intrinsic part of an esoteric or occult system of thought. It almost always deals with at least some of the following themes: emanation, involution, spiritual evolution, epigenesis, planes of existence or higher worlds , hierarchies of spiritual beings,...
- Etheric bodyEtheric bodyThe etheric body, ether-body, æther body, a name given by neo-Theosophy to a supposed vital body or subtle body propounded in esoteric philosophies as the first or lowest layer in the "human energy field" or aura...
- Spiritual evolutionSpiritual evolutionSpiritual evolution is the philosophical, theological, esoteric or spiritual idea that nature and human beings and/or human culture evolve, extending from the established cosmological pattern or ascent, or in accordance with certain pre-established potentials...
- Subtle bodySubtle bodyA subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings...
- ThoughtformThoughtformA thoughtform is a manifestation of mental energy, also known as a tulpa in Tibetan mysticism. Its concept is related to the Western philosophy and practice of magic. links mantras and yantras to thoughtforms:...
s
- Esoteric cosmology
- ScienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
- ConsciousnessConsciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
- MindMindThe concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
- Mind-body problem
- Philosophy of mindPhilosophy of mindPhilosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
- Theory of mindTheory of mindTheory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own...
- Consciousness