temporarily at night during or just before sleep. Those who suffer from severe deficiency of Yin
may experience a floating sensation in the few moments just before falling asleep: this is said to
be due to the "floating" of the Ethereal Soul not rooted in Yin.
Relationship with Mind
It is important to consider the relationship between the Mind and the Ethereal Soul. They are
closely connected and both partake in all the mental activities of a human being. We have
already seen that the Ethereal Soul is described as the "coming and going" of the Mind. This
means that, through the Ethereal Soul, the Mind can project outwards to the external world and
to other people and can also turn inwards to receive the intuition, inspiration, dreams and images
deriving from the unconscious. Thus if Liver-Blood is abundant and the Ethereal Soul firm, there
will be a healthy flow from it to the Mind providing it with inspiration. If, however, the Ethereal
Soul is not rooted in the Liver, it may lack movement and inspiration and the person may be
depressed, without aim or dreams.
The Mind is also said to "gather" the Ethereal Soul. Thus, on the one hand, the Ethereal Soul
brings movement to the Mind, and on the other hand, the Mind provides some stillness and holds
the Ethereal Soul together. If the Mind is strong and the Ethereal Soul properly "gathered", there
will be harmony between the two and the person has calm vision, insight and wisdom. If the
Mind is weak and fails to restrain the Ethereal Soul, this may be too restless and only bring
confusion and chaos to the Mind, making the person scattered and unsettled. This can be
observed in some people who are always full of ideas, dreams and projects none of which ever
comes to fruition because of the chaotic state of the Mind which is therefore unable to restrain
the Ethereal Soul.
While the Mind and Ethereal Soul are closely connected, there are some differences between the
two. The main difference is that the Ethereal Soul pertains to the world of Image, i.e.
non-material existence, to which it returns after death, whilst the Mind is the individual mind of
a human being which dies with the person. The role of the Ethereal Soul can be observed in the
phenomena of guided day-dreams, coma and sleep-walking.
Guided day-dreams are a technique used in psychotherapy whereby the therapist sets a certain
scene for the client who is asked to imagine himself or herself in that scene and to proceed as if
in a dream. The aim of this exercise is to bypass the critical analysis of the Mind and bring forth
psychological material from the Ethereal Soul as happens in dreams.
In coma, the Mind is completely devoid of residence and it therefore cannot function at all, and
yet the person is not dead. This means that there are other mental aspects at play, and these are
the Ethereal Soul and the Corporeal Soul. Thus, for death to occur, not only must the Mind die,
but the Ethereal Soul must leave the body and the Corporeal Soul return to Earth.