Some stuff on the subtle body from Beyond Physicalism:
In this context, let us finally raise the issue of exceptional experiences of what are often described as “subtle bodies” (Poortman, 1978; see also the contributions of Shaw, Biernacki, and Kelly & Whicher in the present volume). As psychophysical phenomena, subtle bodies belong neither to the physical nor to the psychological realm. However, we may speculate that they are not based on relations between these two realms, as we conjecture for psychophysical phenomena, but refer to the psychophysically neutral domain directly, prior to the epistemic split. More systematically speaking, subtle bodies could be patterns of archetypal activity which hold implicit meaning that can be explicated in terms of meaningful psychophysical phenomena.
(2015-02-19). Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (Kindle Locations 4314-4319). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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In this context, let us finally raise the issue of exceptional experiences of what are often described as “subtle bodies” (Poortman, 1978; see also the contributions of Shaw, Biernacki, and Kelly & Whicher in the present volume). As psychophysical phenomena, subtle bodies belong neither to the physical nor to the psychological realm. However, we may speculate that they are not based on relations between these two realms, as we conjecture for psychophysical phenomena, but refer to the psychophysically neutral domain directly, prior to the epistemic split. More systematically speaking, subtle bodies could be patterns of archetypal activity which hold implicit meaning that can be explicated in terms of meaningful psychophysical phenomena.
So how well does this concept of a subtle body correspond to the traditional description found in religious literature (Samuel & Johnston, 2013)? Loriliai Biernacki’s Chapter 10 in the present volume describes the Tantric body as a fluctuating hybrid of physical and nonphysical; it is
noncorporeal and with greater plasticity than the physical body and with blurred boundaries but still constrained by space and time in the sense that it provides the template to be filled in by the physical body. The subtle body is not explicitly higher dimensional in this description, but its ability to transcend time and see the past and future (pass beyond kāla) and to read the thoughts of others (pass beyond vidyā) is reminiscent of the S5 body. Besides this, there is the general conceptual link between matter, mind, and consciousness which underlies both the hyperspatial and Tantric perspectives.
(2015-02-19). Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (Kindle Locations 4314-4319). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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In an out-of-body experience, the point of consciousness appears to be separated from the physical body and to move around in a space which resembles physical space. Indeed, in this sense an OBE might be regarded as quasi-physical, although it is classified as transpersonal in Figure 7.14. It may also involve the experience of a subtle body, but not always since there are different types of OBE (Whiteman, 1986). The skeptical view is that OBE space is just a mental construct with no intrinsic reality, but the roving consciousness sometimes acquires veridical information about the physical world or causes events there. This leads to the same three types of interpretation as for apparitions: (1) Consciousness is not really outside the body, and any effect on the physical world or information obtained from it can be attributed to PK or clairvoyance. (2) OBE space is the same as physical space. One way of demonstrating this would be to show that something actually leaves the body— for example, by measuring a weight change or detecting some electromagnetic field disturbance associated with the subtle body (Morris, Harary,
Janis, Hartwell, & Roll, 1978). There are also claims that excess light is detected near a target when a remote viewer approaches it (Hubbard, May, & Puthoff, 1986), and that disturbances can be registered on strain gauges (Osis & McCormick, 1980). However, the evidence for such effects is weak, so one faces the same ambiguity as with ghost photographs. On the other hand, we saw earlier that the relationship between phenomenal space and physical space is contentious even for normal perception. (3) OBE space is a duplicate of physical space, with nonphysical objects and nonphysical sensors. Furthermore, since one may apparently encounter “higher planes” in an OBE, which are not related to the physical world at all, there may not just be a single OBE space but a hierarchy of them. Whiteman (1986) and Poynton (2001) therefore invoke a “multispace” model. The hyperspatial model advocates a refinement of this interpretation, with physical space and OBE space being envisaged as different aspects of a single higher-dimensional space. The interpretation of OBEs plays a fundamental role in the hyperspatial model. As with apparitions, the issue is whether one invokes psi to explain OBE space or OBE space to explain psi. OBE space also exhibits numerous links with the other types of space: it relates to phenomenal space in that it contains some aspects of the physical world, to dream space in that OBEs often blend into ordinary dreams, to apparition space in that subtle bodies sometimes appear as phantasms, to threshold space in that sleep paralysis sometimes leads to OBEs, and to visualization space in that the content of an OBE is to some extent controllable by imagination.
(2015-02-19). Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (Kindle Locations 5121-5125). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Philosophy in the West long ago became an entirely intellectual enterprise separated from the art of sacred things. Philosophy no longer focuses on transforming the soul’s affective energies, aligning them to their correspondences in the cosmos or recovering the soul’s luminous body.
This affective aspect of philosophy, communicated through the physical presence of sages, is no longer recognized today, which is why no one goes to contemporary philosophers for self-transformation. Yet the Platonists maintained— like yogis today— that each soul possesses a subtle body that can be transformed into an augoeides ochēma, a luminous vehicle with supernatural powers. Hierocles’ sacred art is theurgy, rituals that purify and strengthen the subtle body and allow the soul to share in the life of the gods and their creation— demiurgy. The disciplines of theurgy, like those of Yoga, include attention to diet, exercise, and the care of both physical and subtle bodies.
(2015-02-19). Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (Kindle Locations 5318-5323). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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When the physical body is clinically dead how do we experience anything and in what kind of body? These questions were answered by Iamblichus and later Platonists with the doctrine of the subtle body, the vehicle (ochēma) of the soul. It was the belief of all Platonists that the soul preexists its physical body, continues to exist after death, and after a period of time, descends into its next incarnation. According to Iamblichus, the soul’s ochēma is made from eternal and universal ether through which the soul shares in the generation of the cosmos. This etheric body becomes the organizing vehicle for sense perception and through imagination joins the soul to its physical body. Yet, ultimately, this same vehicle, with inspired imagination, leads the soul back to its eternal etheric body.[ 18] Imagination (phantasia) plays a crucial role in this itinerary and, as we will see, Iamblichus distinguished two kinds.
The Platonic sources for the doctrine of the
ochēma are the Timaeus (41e) where the Demiurge places souls in starry vehicles (ochēmata) and Phaedrus (247b) where the chariots of souls are, again, described as ochēmata. Plato refers to a translucent kind of air which he calls ether (aithēr) (Timaeus 58d), and Aristotle said ether is eternal, heavenly, and the primal body; it moves in a circle like the celestial bodies and is not subject to the changes of terrestrial life (De Caelo 270a– b). As regards its physical function, Aristotle (De Gen. An. 736b) says that each soul has a pneumatic body, which he likens to the heavenly ether, and this serves as intermediary between the immaterial soul and the physical senses. Later Platonists identify this pneumatic and etheric body with the ochēma, vehicle of the soul (Finamore, 1985, p. 2). The subtle body also appears prominently in Tantra and Yoga traditions (see Biernacki, this volume, for discussion of the subtle body in Tantra).
(2015-02-19). Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (Kindle Locations 5631-5638). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle Edition.