4.4 Vibration = etheric
Fundamentally, the etheric is the layer of the vibration: whenever
you feel the vibration, you feel the etheric. This statement is too
simple to be completely true, and later on you may discern certain
etheric frequencies of light or astral vibration. But in the
beginning, the equation: ‘vibration = etheric’ constitutes an
excellent reference to make sense of your experiences. For
instance, feeling vibration in your hands indicates that the etheric
life force is set in motion in the hands. Feeling vibration between
the eyebrows indicates that the etheric layer of the third eye is
activated... and so on, for any body part, or even outside the limits
of your body. For the etheric not only permeates the physical
body, it also extends beyond it, in proportions that may vary
according to different inner factors.
When the vibration in your hands or elsewhere seems to become
more subtle, it indicates that you are getting in touch with deeper
and more subtle layers of the etheric body.
In the beginning, we use physical stimulation to awaken the
perception of the etheric vibration. Later on you will be able to
get the same vibration without rubbing or using any other
physical stimulation. The vibration will come from inside.
I would therefore suggest that in these first stages of practice you
do not worry too much as to whether your vibration is physical or
etheric, or imaginary. Trust your experience. A very direct proof
of the non-physical nature of the vibration would be to cut off
your physical hand and to realise that you are still feeling the
same vibration, as in the phantom limb syndrome in amputees.
Other indications of the non-physical nature of this vibration will
be that you will feel it in all sorts of places in your body, without
any rubbing or any form of physical stimulation. You will even
feel it beyond the limits of your physical body, first around you
and then in more and more distant objects. The perception of the
etheric vibration will then have become completely separated from
any physical sensation.
In any case, please remember that in our approach there is nothing
to believe (and therefore nothing to doubt either). What matters is
not what you believe but what you perceive. Our constant focus is
on direct experience. Learn to perceive this vibrating energy, and
then decide how you want to understand it.