58 ROSICRUCIANCOSMO-CONCEPTION
other; that there is an envelope of ether around each atom;
that the atoms in the universe float in an ocean of ether.
The occult scientist knows this to be true of the
Chemical Region and that the mineral does not possess a
separate vital body of ether. And as it is the planetary ether
alone which envelops the atoms of the mineral, that makes
the difference described. It is necessary, as we have shown,
to have a separate, vitalbody, desirebody, etc., to express
the qualities of a particular realm, because the atoms of the
World of Desire, of the World of Thought and even of the
Higher Worlds, interpenetrate the Mineral as well as the
dense human body, and if the interpenetration of the
planetary ether, which is the ether that envelops the atoms of
the mineral, were enough to make it feel and propagate, its
interpenetration by the planetary World of Thought would
also be sufficient to make it think. This it cannot do, because
it lacks aseparate vehicle. It is penetrated by the planetary
ether only, and is therefore incapable of individual growth.
Only the lowest of the four states of ether—the chemical—is
active in the mineral. The chemical forces in minerals are
due to that fact.
When we consider plant, animal, and man in relation to
the Etheric Region we note that each has a separate, vital
body, in addition to being penetrated by the planetary ether
which forms the Etheric Region. There is a difference,
however, between the vital bodies of the plants and the vital
bodies of animal and man. In the vital body of the plant
only the chemical and the life ethers are fully active. Hence
the plant can grow by the action of the chemical ether and
propagate its species through the activity of the life ether of
the s eparate, vital b ody which it poss ess es. The light et her is
present, but is partially latent or dormant and reflecting ether