The Etheric Body

bluemason3 said:

Here's my dad training some iron body chi kung 😳

Never satisfied, always cynical 😁 You actually remind me of a friend of mine—someone who struggles immensely because they're terrified of everything, including themselves and what they might actually be capable of. I truly hope to see you again in a year or two with a bit more of an open mind; honestly, I don't see how staying stuck like this could ever benefit you. Perhaps you should try exploring things on your own terms—just step away from the scientists, the academics, and everyone else's lived experiences for a moment and see what happens?

Michael Gonzalez77 said:And here is Mike in a fight.

What’s the joke here? The lower abdomen isn't exactly a sensitive spot; you can take a hit there and train through it, so it's a pretty poor target for a strike. It would have been much more interesting if they had aimed for the solar plexus, the liver, or even just the head.

As it stands, this is just overcomplicating basic physics.

Frank Allen70 said:Never satisfied, always cynical 😁 You actually remind me of a friend of mine—someone who struggles immensely because they're terrified of everything, including themselves and what they might actually be capable of. I truly hope to see you again in a year or two with a bit more of an open mind; honestly, I don't see how staying stuck like this could ever benefit you. Perhaps you should try exploring things on your own terms—just step away from the scientists, the academics, and everyone else's lived experiences for a moment and see what happens?

I changed my mind after spending quite a few years diving into various mystifications. Most of it doesn't hold up. Not necessarily all of it, but most of it.

bluemason3 said:What’s the joke here? The lower abdomen isn't exactly a sensitive spot; you can take a hit there and train through it, so it's a pretty poor target for a strike. It would have been much more interesting if they had aimed for the solar plexus, the liver, or even just the head.

As it stands, this is just overcomplicating basic physics.

But what about this part


?

Frank Allen70 said:But what about this part

?

Now, that part is actually getting interesting.👍

Elizabeth Castillo87 said:I personally remember having pain in a tooth that was pulled back when I was just in elementary school. Just to be clear, my jaw is perfectly fine now.
As for phantom pain in an amputated limb, I know someone who had both legs amputated during childhood. I don't know if that serves as proof of an etheric body, but the explanation that nerve endings just don't heal properly feels way too simplistic to me—not that anyone actually buys that theory anymore. Modern research points toward reorganization in the somatosensory cortex, but honestly, that doesn't quite sit right with me either.
Still, if we're talking about the etheric body in its entirety, could that thing actually be the cause of the pain?

Without the etheric body (prana), there’s no such thing as pain—but there’s no pleasure either.
The whole starting point for materialism is this idea that physical processes trigger feelings, thoughts, and consciousness. But honestly, you can easily flip that logic on its head—consciousness descends through increasingly dense layers of matter, forming the corresponding bodies needed to function at those levels along the way.
In that scenario, the blueprint or command for building cells, organs, or neurons... comes from "above." If that holds water, then the physical body is really just a "copy" of the etheric, astral, or mental bodies—and essentially, without them, it's just "dead" matter.
Obviously, we can't interact directly with the physical world without a physical body, much like you can't turn electromagnetic waves into sound without a radio receiver—but that doesn't mean physical matter is the primary driver here.

Neurobiologists have run studies showing that certain brain centers react (say, to the intent to move an arm) before a person even becomes consciously aware of that intent. That would suggest the brain is making the call rather than "us"—though, for now, we just can't track the deeper conscious processes that might be triggering those specific brain centers in response to our intentions.

bluemason3 said:Now, that part is actually getting interesting.👍

I took a quick look since I'm short on time. Is the watermelon supposed to be a sharpness test? You could probably do that with a totally dull blade.

The spear is way too flexible—just pure physics at work, transferring the pressure.

He starts to rise before the strike hits his back; clearly choreographed, and it adds nothing but dramatic flair.

It’s pretty interesting how you see it across just about every religious tradition—that depiction of saints with an aura, whether it's wrapped around their whole body, encircling the head, or centered on the heart.
Halo (religious iconography)

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Kirlian photography




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bluemason3 said:I took a quick look since I'm short on time. Is the watermelon supposed to be a sharpness test? You could probably do that with a totally dull blade.

The spear is way too flexible—just pure physics at work, transferring the pressure.

He starts to rise before the strike hits his back; clearly choreographed, and it adds nothing but dramatic flair.

Honestly, I don't even know what to say. 😁 I feel like a religious fundamentalist when we get into these kinds of debates. I won't bother trying to prove my point; eventually, you'll experience it for yourself (you've already started down that path, after all, and we all end up there—usually starting with a laugh at how foolish we were once we see the truth).

I’d like to put forward an argument for the existence of an etheric body, as well as the concept
of life energy (prana), which is tightly linked to it. This argument is largely
the result of my own reflections and, as such, carries a certain amount of originality.
On its own, it might fall into the category of a Gedanken experiment,
though because of how accessible it is, it's almost tangible and practically doable,
so anyone could essentially "run" it.

To understand the argument, I think it makes sense to briefly recap
the line of reasoning that led to a discovery which is now considered
an established scientific fact. That’s because the argument
in favor of an etheric body closely follows the same logic that led to said discovery.
We're talking about the discovery of the neutrino/antineutrino, which originally came about through theoretical speculation. So, the story goes like this...

There is a physical process in nature called beta decay.
It involves a type of radiation that occurs when a
neutron in an element's nucleus transforms into a single proton
while simultaneously emitting an electron (a beta particle) and an (electron)
antineutrino. During this, the radiating element keeps the same mass number (the sum
of protons and neutrons), but its atomic number increases by one.





However, the crucial thing here is that in the late 1920s and early 1930s,
neutrinos—or rather, antineutrinos—were not known particles, and the entire process of
beta decay faced a massive theoretical problem.

The issue was that the total energy, the total momentum,
and the total angular momentum of the system before and after the reaction
simply didn't match. In other words, some of the fundamental laws of nature (physics)
were being broken.

To solve this problem theoretically, in 1930, Pauli was faced with two possibilities:

i) either conclude that there are processes in nature where the fundamental laws
of physics are actually violated,

ii) or, to maintain the validity of certain fundamental laws of nature (like
the conservation of energy and momentum), propose—or rather
postulate—the existence of a new, previously unknown particle that would
take on exactly the amount of energy and momentum required so that
the laws of conservation would hold true for the beta decay process.

Not wanting to give up on the fundamental laws of nature, Pauli went with option ii)
and assumed there might be a new type of particle (neutrinos)
that hadn't belonged to this side of reality yet
(they were about as real as a tooth fairy's gold coins😁)

And he wasn't wrong.
In 1956, Clyde Cowan, Frederick Reines, F. B. Harrison, H. W. Kruse
and A. d. McGuire detected the neutrino, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize 40 years later,
in 1995.

So, here’s a proposal for an experiment—or rather, a physiological process that, following the same logic that led Pauli
to the neutrino, might suggest that life energy (prana) is actually
a concept built on some pretty solid ground.

The physiological process I'm looking at here is male ejaculation
and everything that comes with it. I'd suggest that men (if you will)
just focus on that tiny window (lasting maybe ten seconds)
that covers the moment right before ejaculation and the moment immediately after.

What are we looking at here?

Right before ejaculation, a man is like a powerful, raging lion;
he feels like he could conquer the entire world... he’s mentally totally present
and locked in on his partner, she’s incredibly attractive and arousing,
sexual desire is massive, the urge to keep going is
practically infinite, and most importantly... the erection is there.😁

Immediately after ejaculation, the man is a bit dazed;
he's mentally checked out, his partner doesn't attract him anymore (in fact, he might even push her away for a little while),
the desire to continue is gone... and most importantly, the erection is gone... everything is just gone.
Basically, in just ten seconds, a raging lion transforms into a shaky little lamb, and he needs a moment to recover.

If we define a man's energetic state as his capacity
to perform physical, mental, or sensory work (and I'm including
physical ability along with emotional and mental engagement), then the question arises
whether we can write the following equation for this described process (over those ten seconds):

E1 = E2

where E1 is the man's energetic state immediately before ejaculation,
and E2 is his energetic state immediately after.
This equation essentially summarizes one of the fundamental laws of nature:
the law of conservation of energy.

It’s obvious here that in this specific process, the law of conservation of energy is violated because, within a relatively
short time interval, the man's energetic state undergoes a dramatic transformation, both
qualitatively and quantitatively.

Now, you could technically save the law of conservation if we assume
that the man performed some amount of physical work, W, during those ten seconds.
In that case, the relevant equation would be

E1 = E2 + W

And that work could, theoretically, compensate for the massive drop-off
in the man's energetic state from E1 to E2.

Though, honestly, it's hard for me to imagine what kind of extreme physical work could even be done
within those ten seconds of release.
On top of that, in the moment before ejaculation (when he has energy E1),
a man might let his partner give him a blow job or a hand job, in which
case he doesn't have to expend a single microjoule of physical work (energy), meaning W=0.

Under these circumstances, energy simply cannot be conserved in this process.

So, what do we do?
Just like Pauli did in his previous example, we can

i) either assume we've finally stumbled upon a physical process where the law of conservation of energy
simply doesn't apply,

ii) or, just as Pauli did with his problem, we can assume the existence
of a new, previously unknown concept, X, which (measured in joules, i.e.,
units for energy and work) would be added to the right side of the equation above
to compensate for the missing energy content, thereby allowing
the law of conservation of energy to ultimately be satisfied:

E1 = E2 + X.

In that scenario, we get an interpretation that is characteristic of
certain Eastern systems, such as Tantra, Kama Sutra, or the Taoist art of the Yellow Emperor...
which explicitly claim that a man loses massive amounts of vital life force during (standard) ejaculation
(whether you call it prana, ki, chi, or whatever—basically that internal "X" factor we're talking about).
Because of that, these systems suggest certain practices aimed at
mastering that "X" component so you can actually experience an orgasm while still preserving
your vital energy.

casualtiger2 said:Without the etheric body (prana), there’s no such thing as pain—but there’s no pleasure either.
The whole starting point for materialism is this idea that physical processes trigger feelings, thoughts, and consciousness. But honestly, you can easily flip that logic on its head—consciousness descends through increasingly dense layers of matter, forming the corresponding bodies needed to function at those levels along the way.
In that scenario, the blueprint or command for building cells, organs, or neurons... comes from "above." If that holds water, then the physical body is really just a "copy" of the etheric, astral, or mental bodies—and essentially, without them, it's just "dead" matter.
Obviously, we can't interact directly with the physical world without a physical body, much like you can't turn electromagnetic waves into sound without a radio receiver—but that doesn't mean physical matter is the primary driver here.

Neurobiologists have run studies showing that certain brain centers react (say, to the intent to move an arm) before a person even becomes consciously aware of that intent. That would suggest the brain is making the call rather than "us"—though, for now, we just can't track the deeper conscious processes that might be triggering those specific brain centers in response to our intentions.

That’s not actually the "starting point" of materialism; it’s just one specific way of looking at the relationship between the brain and the mind within the whole spectrum of materialistic philosophies trying to tackle the mind-body problem. You’ve also got identity theory or supervenience models in that mix.

However, it's also possible to imagine the reverse—consciousness descending into increasingly coarse levels of matter, forming the appropriate bodies to act upon those levels along the way.

Look, it’s like Cartesian dualism didn't already cause enough of a massive headache for both philosophy and science. Now you're pivoting to pluralism, which runs into all the exact same issues as dualism, except it's ten times worse because you're dealing with 😁 instead of just one physical body.

Neurobiologists have conducted research showing that certain brain centers react (for example, to the intention to move an arm) before a person even becomes conscious of that intention. This would imply the brain is the one making the decisions, not us. However, it isn't currently possible to register the deeper conscious processes that might eventually influence those brain centers to respond to our intentions.

What about those experiments where electrical brain stimulation didn't just make an arm twitch—which isn't exactly shocking if you have even a basic grasp of how the nervous system works—but actually triggered the conscious intention itself, sometimes even without any physical movement occurring?

@Raymond Thomas7
Yeah, you nailed it. (It’s all about how you define system 'isolation')

Frank Allen70 said:Never satisfied, always cynical 😁 You actually remind me of a friend of mine—someone who struggles immensely because they're terrified of everything, including themselves and what they might actually be capable of. I truly hope to see you again in a year or two with a bit more of an open mind; honestly, I don't see how staying stuck like this could ever benefit you. Perhaps you should try exploring things on your own terms—just step away from the scientists, the academics, and everyone else's lived experiences for a moment and see what happens?

And how exactly does one "stare into the unknown"?

Is it through a social media post, a prayer, meditation, deep contemplation, shamanic drumming, or maybe some tantric sex??

So many people have been persistent about it, yet they haven't glimpsed a single thing. 😁

As for science—well, plenty of people have tried their hand at that too, but they can never seem to bump those probabilities up to anything resembling certainty. For now, it’s all just: now you see me, now you don't.

Benjamin Taylor6 said:And how exactly does one "stare into the unknown"?

Is it through a social media post, a prayer, meditation, deep contemplation, shamanic drumming, or maybe some tantric sex??

So many people have been persistent about it, yet they haven't glimpsed a single thing. 😁

As for science—well, plenty of people have tried their hand at that too, but they can never seem to bump those probabilities up to anything resembling certainty. For now, it’s all just: now you see me, now you don't.

She could go find some lowlife to hang out with, drown her sorrows in a bottle, or just jump in front of a Greyhound bus... there are ways. 😁 You can't just be persistent with your mind alone; you really have to put your whole self—your entire physical being—on the line. 😁

Here is a little something for those who enjoy a bit of whimsy:

Scientists might argue that the odds of something this blatantly ridiculous actually happening are millions to one.
But ask any stage magician, and they’ll tell you those "million-to-one" shots seem to pop up nine times out of ten.
-Stephen King.

🤣