Editing Subtle body (section)

== Western syncretic tradition ==
{{see also|Astral body}}
[[File:Cosmicman.jpg|thumb|100px|The subtle body and the cosmic man, Nepal 1600s]]

=== Theosophy ===
In the 19th century, [[H. P. Blavatsky]] founded the esoteric religious system of [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]], which attempted to restate Hindu and Buddhist philosophy for the Western world.{{sfn|Samuel|2013|pp=1-3}} She adopted the phrase "subtle body" as the English equivalent of the Vedantic ''sūkṣmaśarīra'', which in [[Adi Shankara]]'s writings was one of three bodies (physical, subtle, and causal). Geoffrey Samuel notes that theosophical use of these terms by Blavatsky and later authors, especially [[C. W. Leadbeater]], [[Annie Besant]] and [[Rudolf Steiner]] (who went on to found [[Anthroposophy]]), has made them "problematic"{{sfn|Samuel|2013|pp=1-3}} to modern scholars, since the Theosophists adapted the terms as they expanded their ideas based on "psychic and clairvoyant insights", changing their meaning from what they had in their original context in India.{{sfn|Samuel|2013|pp=1-3}}
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* "Prana" - the "Life Force", the breath of Life
* ''[[Linga sarira|Linga Sharira]]'' - the Double or [[Astral body]], the vehicle of Prana
* ''Kama rupa'' - the "desire-body," the seat of animal desires and passions

The later Theosophists proposed a series of four subtle bodies, each with its own [[Aura (paranormal)|aura]] and set of [[chakra]]s:

* [[Etheric body]] (vehicle of [[prana]])
* [[Astral body|Emotional or astral body]] (vehicle of desires and emotions)
* [[Mental body]] (vehicle of the concrete or lower mind)
* [[Causal body]] (vehicle of the abstract or higher mind)-->

=== Post-theosophists ===

The later theosophical arrangement was taken up by [[Alice Bailey]], and from there found its way into the [[New Age]] worldview<ref name="Johnston 2002">{{cite journal |last1=Johnston |first1=Jay |title=The "Theosophic Glance": Fluid Ontologies, Subtle Bodies and Intuitive Vision |journal=Australian Religion Studies Review |date=2002 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=101–117 |url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/ARSR/article/view/8979}}</ref> and the human [[Aura (paranormal)|aura]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hammer |first=Olav |title=Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age |year=2001 |publisher=Brill |isbn=900413638X |page=55}}</ref> Other authors treated the subtle body in varying ways. [[Max Heindel]] divided the subtle body into the [[Etheric body|Vital Body]] made of Ether; the [[Desire body]], related to the [[Astral plane]]; and the [[Mental body]].{{sfn|Heindel|1911}} [[Barbara Brennan]]'s account of the subtle bodies in her books ''Hands of Light'' and ''Light Emerging'' refers to the subtle bodies as "layers" in the "Human Energy Field" or aura.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dale |first1=Cyndi |title=Energetic Anatomy: A Complete Guide to the Human Energy Fields and Etheric Bodies |date=11 October 2016 |url=https://www.consciouslifestylemag.com/human-energy-field-aura/ |publisher=Conscious Lifestyle magazine |access-date=9 August 2019}}</ref>

=== Fourth Way ===
Subtle bodies are found in the "[[Fourth Way]]" teachings of [[Gurdjieff]] and [[Ouspensky]], who write that one can create a subtle body, and hence achieve post-mortem immortality, through spiritual or yogic exercises. The "soul" in these systems is not something one is born with, but developed through esoteric practice to acquire complete understanding and to perfect the self. According to the historian Bernice Rosenthal, "In Gurdjieff's cosmology our nature is tripartite and is composed of the physical (planetary), emotional (astral) and mental (spiritual) bodies; in each person one of these three bodies ultimately achieves dominance."<ref name="Rosenthal 1997"/> The "divine body" represents a fourth way, and the ultimate task of the teachings is to harmoniously develop the four ways into a single way.<ref name="Rosenthal 1997">{{cite book | last=Rosenthal | first=Bernice | title=The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture | publisher=Cornell University Press | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-8014-8331-8 | oclc=35990156 | page=[https://archive.org/details/occultinrussians00unse/page/361 361] | url=https://archive.org/details/occultinrussians00unse/page/361 }}</ref>