antithesis, and that its unimaginative common-sense finds a bodiless
condition too lacking in solidity of comfort; whereas the more dreamy,
mystical East, prone to meditation, and ever seeking to escape from
the thraldom of the senses during earthly life, looks on the
disembodied state as eminently desirable, and as most conducive to
unfettered thought.

Ere passing to the consideration of the history of man in the
post-mortem state, it is necessary, however briefly, to state the
constitution of man, as viewed by the Esoteric Philosophy, for we must
have in mind the constituents of his being ere we can understand their
disintegration. Man then consists of

_The Immortal Triad_:

Atmâ.
Buddhi.
Manas.

_The Perishable Quaternary_:

Kâma.
Prâna.
Etheric Double.
Dense Body.

The dense body is the physical body, the visible, tangible outer form,
composed of various tissues. The etheric double is the ethereal
counterpart of the body, composed of the physical ethers. Prâna is
vitality, the integrating energy that co-ordinates the physical