THEFOURKINGDOMS 61
blood than he can comfortably control.
Unlike the higher vehicles of humanity, the vital body
(except under certain circumstances, to be explained when
the subject of “Initiation” is dealt with) does not ordinarily
leave the dense body until the death of the latter. Then the
chemical forces of the dense body are no longer held in
check by the evolving life. They proceed to restore the
matter to its primordial condition by disintegration so that it
may be available for the formation of other forms in the
economy of nature. Disintegration is thus due to the activity
of the planetary forces in the chemical ether.
In texture the vital body may be crudely compared to
one of those picture frames made of hundreds of little pieces
of wood which interlock and present innumerable points to
the observer. The vital body presents millions of points to
the observer. These points enter into the hollow centers of
the dense atoms, imbuing them with vital force that sets
them vibrating at a higher rate than that of the mineral of the
earth which is not thus accelerated and ensouled.
When a person is drowning, or falling from a height, or
freezing, the vital body leaves the dense body, the atoms of
which become temporarily inert in consequence, but at
resuscitation it re-enters the dense body and the “points” are
again inserted in the dense atoms. The inertia of the atoms
causes them to resist the resumption of vibration and that is
the cause of the intense prickly pain and the tingling
sensation noted at such times, but not ordinarily, for the
same reason that we become conscious of the starting or
stopping of a clock, but are oblivious to its tick when it is
running.
Ther e are certain cases where the vital body partly
leaves the dense body, such as when a hand “goes to sleep.”