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.



Then the process of restoration commences and lasts for a longer or a

shorter time according to circumstances.



At times however, the grip of the desire body upon our denser vehicles is

so strong that it refuses to let go. When it has become so interested in

the proceedings of the day, it continues to ruminate over them after the

collapse of the physical body, and is perhaps only half extracted from

that vehicle. Then it may transmit sights and sounds of the desire world

to the brain. But as the connections are necessarily askew under such

conditions, the most confused dreams result. Furthermore, as the desire

body compels motion, the body is very apt to toss about when the desire

body is not fully extracted, hence the restless sleep which usually

accompanies dreams of a confused nature.



There are times of course when dreams are prophetic and come true, but

such dreams result only after complete extraction of the desire body,

under circumstances where the spirit has seen some danger perhaps, which

may befall, and then impresses the fact upon the brain at the moment of

awakening.



It also happens that the spirit goes upon a soul flight and omits to

perform its part of the work of restoration, then the body will not be fit

to re-enter in the morning, so it sleeps on. The spirit may thus roam

afield for a number of days, or even weeks, before it again enters its

physical body and assumes the normal routine of alternating waking and

sleep. This condition is called trance, and the spirit may remember upon

its return what it has seen and heard in the super-physical realm, or it

may have forgotten, according to the stage of its development and the

depth of the trance condition. When the trance is very light, the spirit

is usually present in the room where its body lies all the time, and upon

its return to the body it will be able to recount to relatives all they

said and did while its body lay unconscious. Where the trance is deeper,

the returning spirit will usually be unconscious of what happened around

its body, but may recount experiences from the invisible world.



A few years ago a little girl by the name of Florence Bennett in Kankakee,

Illinois, fell into such a trance. She returned to the body every few

days, but stayed within only a few hours each time, and the whole trance

lasted three weeks, more or less. During the returns to her body she told

relatives that in her absence she seemed to be in a place inhabited by all

the people who died. But she stated that none of them spoke about dying

and no one among them seemed to realize that they were dead. Among those

she had seen was a locomotive engineer who had been accidentally killed.

His body was mangled in the accident which caused death. The little girl

perceived him there walking about minus arms, and with lesions upon his

head, all of which is in line with facts usually seen by mystic

investigators. Persons who have been hurt in accidents go about thus,

until they learn that a mere wish to have their body made whole will

supply a new arm or limb, for desire stuff is most quickly and readily

molded by thought.