THE SEVENFOLD HUMAN STRUCTURE
By Lubomir Dimitrov MSc,
Professional Astrologer, Australia

Part 3

According to the spiritual science every human being that lives on this planet comprises seven distinct layers of energy, which for simplicity we will call “bodies”. Although
we are largely accustomed to apply the term “body” only to the physical body, which all of us can see, touch, move etc. this is not entirely correct, because there are another six members present there, which although invisible are nonetheless very important for the functioning of the whole human organism. We should envisage these subtle bodies as distinct layers of energy that surround and encompass the physical body.

hese are:

1. Physical body – the physical body is a summary, an outer expression and an end product of all the other subtle bodies that we cannot see. The physical body is visible and can be perceived by all, but its appearance is entirely determined by all the other “invisible” bodies. For example blushing is a direct physical consequence of spiritual processes of shyness or bashfulness that appear as high speed swirls and whirls in the astral body. The same can be said for most habits such as biting one’s nails or tapping nervously with one’s foot. The roots of such behaviour can be directly observed only in the higher, subtle human bodies. Thus, the whole physical expression of humans, starting with their face expression, height, forms and length of their hands, fingers, toes etc. and finishing with their eye expression is nothing
   more or less then outer expression of spiritual processes, which the clairvoyant observer can perceive directly in the subtle bodies of the individual in question.
   
2. Etheric body – the life bearer, the body that keeps us alive. The rhythm of the heart, the breathing process, the function of all internal organs and so on, is in fact a
   direct consequence of the action exercised by the etheric body. All living entities on our planet posses etheric bodies. It is the life force which brings the otherwise dead minerals into living motion and which has also the capacity to make the living entities grow and reproduce themselves. All plants and animals also have etheric bodies.
   
3. Astral body – the bearer of all emotions and feelings. Due to the astral body perceptions are also made possible, such as hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting,
   touching etc. This privilege is given only to the representatives of the human and animal kingdom. Plants and minerals do not posses astral bodies. Thanks to our astral bodies we can be cold or hot, feel sad or happy or experience pleasure or pain. The astral body can sometimes also overwhelm us with emotions, which can be positive or negative. If these are not dealt with on time, very often they damage parts of the etheric body below and that is how we can get sick, develop ulcers, or have a headache. 90% of all diseases are caused by irregular function of the astral body, i.e. due to abnormal, uncontrolled or highly depressed emotions, passions or feelings.
   
4. Mental body – at this level begins the differentiation between the animals and humans in general. Through the mental body a thinking process becomes possible. Some highly developed animals also possess mental bodies in an embryonic state. On the other side, many degraded representatives of the human race have extremely primitive mental bodies. People in general believe that the mental body (or
   the human intellect as they call it) is the crown of the creation and nothing exists above it. In reality nothing can be further away from the truth. Human mind is only the intermediary, the messenger, similar to the Greek and Roman Gods Hermes and Mercury – the Gods of Mind and Intellect. The mind is capable to translate partially some of the God’s reality into human language or a concept, but the origins of the idea or the concept itself reside in the divine, celestial realm above it, i.e. they reside high above the minuscular human intellect.
   
5. Causal body (or the Higher Mind) – The three bodies above the mental body, starting with the Higher Mind cannot be directly perceived by the usual mind, which we use in our every day thinking process (the mental body). On the level of the Causal body we deal with abstract ideas, impulses and notions such as love for humanity, high aspirations and ideals or striving for self-perfection and purification. There is a huge difference between love of one or several particular individuals (such as a spouse, child, parent or friend) and love and sacrifice towards humanity and all human beings in general. There is also a big difference between the love and care towards one or several pets and the love and struggle towards the implementation of the idea of conservation and saving the Earth with all animals inhabiting it and so
   on. All this pertains to the realm of the Higher Mind or the Causal body.
   
6. Buddhi body (or the Intuitional Self) – this is the part of us that is associated with wisdom, truth, intuition and compassion. In daily life we are largely unaware of it, because it is located at two levels above the mental body. Buddhi body determines the major periods of our lives (usually 3 or 4, but sometimes more). This is the power that inspires us for 4-5 years during our high school or University years for example, or which leads us during periods of relationship or marriage. If the marriage dissolves
   and another long-lasting relationship begins that means that the buddhi body has switched off from one source and switched on to another. The same rule applies for switching between long lasting trends in career or long lasting changes in the place of residence, etc.
   
7. Athma body (or the Higher Self) – This is the only body that never really dies. In the esoteric Christianity this body is also called “the spirit”, or the part which reincarnates from one body to another, in order to reach higher perfection and purification. The Athmanic body determines the life path of the spirit through many of its reincarnations, thus where it is really leading us can be determined only if we compare the major patterns in at least several of our previous lives. The circumstances in various lives
   change all the time, but the general trends do not. In other words, it is not the circumstances, but the quality and the substance of the moral impulses that is carried over. In the next parts of this article we will describe each one of these bodies in greater detail and we will examine the relationships that they have with each other. Then, we will be in a better position to understand the physical reality around us and all the external processes that we observe in our daily life will begin to make much more sense to us.