It has been said that “God needs a body", and for this purpose were the four lower bodies of man created - the mental, emotional, etheric and physical forms. 

Students on the Path have come to an intellectual knowledge that they are NOT the physical form but dwell within it. They have accepted the fact that there is a God Presence within the physical body which is the eternal identity. They have to some degree understood that the physical body is a living, breathing organism, with intelligences and appetites of its own and that, like a high bred animal, the physical body will seek the satisfaction of these desires through the avenues of the five senses. They are, therefore, alert to identify themselves with the Higher God Principle and are learning to govern the fleshly garment with some degree of success. 

However, there are three other living breathing, intelligent identities belonging to each lifestream - the mental, emotional and etheric bodies. These bodies are made up of the substance of the earth, air and water; they have intelligence within them and have desires and appetites of their own. It is for the student to consciously look ever the four vehicles provided by God, that God might express in physical manifestation. These four vehicles are not dead matter but living, breathing, pulsating organisms containing intelligence within them. The lower bodies of the average man have governed the self-conscious Life for centuries, acting independently of the Spiritual Spark that should be the Governing Intelligence acting through all. The emotional world has acted independently of the conscious volition of the God Self for untold centuries. 

Let us take the MENTAL BODY in which is stored knowledge and accretion of fact and fancy, orthodox principles and concrete ideas that may or may not be true. The Mental Body lives on accretion of knowledge and the more it is fed, the larger it gets and the more it demands the energy of the Divine Spark. In satisfying its demands the Mental Body becomes a heavy, cumbersome unwieldy vehicle and a tyrant! When the Mental Body is overgrown, the real teacher - the Three-fold Flame within the Heart is allowed no opportunity to expand because the mental accretion becomes a constantly shrieking accumulation of energy flooding the consciousness and drowning out the Voice of the Silence. The Mental Body should be merely a store-room for certain Truths in the world of men, much as a lecturer refers to certain notes that elucidate his point. Most mental giants are, therefore, practically barricaded against spiritual awakening. 

The ETHERIC BODY was also created as a storehouse through which the individual's own experiences might be recorded. It differs from the mental body in that the records here are entirely personal and are the experiences derived through the use of God's energy, whereas the Mental Body may profit by experiences derived by other parts of life as well. 

The Etheric Body, however, has become an accretion of experiences that would make the most ribald tabloid look like the gospel! The Etheric Body lives by drawing the conscious energy of the Heart Center into reviewing and re-experiencing those debaucheries of the past. When the attention is firmly enough anchored in the feeling of those past fiascos, the Etheric Body may perpetuate and repeat these performances which cause it to vibrate with joy as the life energy is flooded into it, and instead of being a record of the God Powers drawn forth through the lifestream, it becomes a "skeleton in the closet". It is most dangerous, however, in that it is cunning and lives like a vampire in sucking the God Energy from the God Presence. 

And the EMOTIONAL BODY here we have the prize of them all! Eighty percent of mankind's energy (or we might more correctly say God's energy) is encased in the foul smelling confines of the Emotional Body. The Emotional World of man was provided by the God Presence through which the energy might flow into the physical world to raise and transmute the forces of the elements through love, harmony, peace, etc., but instead it has become a tremendous accumulation of passion and emotion. This body draws constantly on the Flaming Source within the heart and uses TONS of God's Energy to satisfy its insatiable appetites which are legion! The Emotional Body is happy only when it is in a constant state of flux. It lives on excitement which may be generated in innumerable ways. 

We will take up a few, for example POSSESSIVENESS - a tremendous feeling form that draws the God energy and SMOTHERS the object of its affection. 

GOSSIP which is almost the most insidious because through poison sent out it starts wheels of emotion in the lifestreams of many, and so you have an inner conflagration. 

CRITICISM, CONDEMNATION AND JUDGMENT is also closely related. The silent criticism of seeing discrepancies and faults in others disturbs the feeling of one's own Emotional Body and sets up causes of discord which react in physical disturbances, but the spoken criticism sets other emotional bodies into the same vibratory motion and its effects are without limit. 

The really vicious emotions are evident and do not so much affect the aspiring student such as jealousy, hate, anger, malice. Lust is considered sister to these vicious emotions but until one has attained the glorious body of eternal light, lust is very evident in the most advanced student mental rejection of this statement to the contrary. 

The God Life of the Universe created these lower vehicles to express a Divine Plan and when the individual will return the government to the God Self “I AM" within, he will find that this constant battle and turmoil will cease, and instead of each individual being an ARENA with these lower bodies seeking to secure one's attention and energy, the individual's consciousness will become an outpouring of God's Will.