The Mental Body is one of the Subtle Bodies in Theosophy and New Age thought. It is understood as a sort of psychic body or aura that is made up of thoughts, 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 individual consciousness. Subtle bodies are non-physical energy or psycho-spiritual bodies that humans and other organisms have, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. ... Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of belief which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... An Aura is an optical effect wherein gas or dust surrounding an object luminesces or reflects light from the object. ... In psychology and common terminology, emotion is the language of a persons internal state of being, normally based in or tied to their internal (physical) and external (social) sensory feeling. ... A physical body is an object which can be described by the theories of classical mechanics, or quantum mechanics, and experimented upon by physical instruments. ... The substance of which a physical object is composed. ... For other uses of this term, see occult (disambiguation). ... Qualia (singular: quale, pronounced KWAHL-ay) are most simply defined as the properties of sensory experiences by virtue of which there is something it is like to have them. ...

According to C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant (Adyar School of Theosophy), and Alice Bailey, the mental body is equivalent to the "Lower Manas" of Blavatsky's original seven principles of man. But 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. C.W. Leadbeater ( 1847 or 1854- 1934), English clergyman and Theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his work as a clairvoyant. ... Annie Besant activist, socialist and latterly theosophist Annie Besant (October 1, 1847 - September 20, 1933) was a prominent Theosophist, womens rights activist, writer and orator. ... The Theosophical Society - Adyar is a successor organization to the original Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. ... Alice A. Bailey (1880‑1949), writer and lecturer on neo-theosophy, was born in England in 1880 as Alice LaTrobe Bateman. ... Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London, England), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of Theosophy. ... The Septenary in H.P. Blavatskys teachings refers to the seven principles of man, In The Key to Theosophy, pp. ... Barbara Brennan is an accomplished author, educator, public speaker, and spiritual healer. ...

The mental body is usually considered in terms of an aura that includes thoughtforms. In Theosophical and Alice Bailey's teachings, it corresponds to the Mental plane The Physical Plane or Physical Universe in Hermeticism, Theosophical and New Age thought refers to the visible reality of space and time, energy and matter. ...

References

• Brennan, Barbara Ann, Hands of Light : A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field, Bantam Books, 1987
• -- Light Emerging: The Journey of Personal Healing, Bantam Books, 1993
• C. W. Leadbeater, Man, Visible and Invisible
• Powell, Arthur E. The Mental Body

External links

• Barbara Brennan on the Mental Body (http://www.kheper.net/topics/subtlebody/BAB-mental.htm)