Course XXXVI - Teaching 9: The Whole Man

A being is a microcosm, a universe in miniature. To know sufficiently the outer and inner complex of man is to know the universe.
Like the cosmos, a being is triple and sevenfold in his structure.
In a being, in fact there is no diversity, but different tones of vibrations, from the strongest and most sustained to the sweetest and most imperceptible.
A being goes out of an Eternal Spring, becomes thick through different forms and expressions and returns to Him, now subtilized, but the fundamental substance never changes.
But to understand these changes it is indispensable to divide them and to study them separately. As triple, the Being is:

1. Spirit
2. Soul
3. Body

The body is that part of man that one already knows. All beings correspond to the same biological law that distributes them into categories, according to kind of race, climate and time to which they belong. The soul is the mind of man; it is real by manifestations that determine it, although invisible to those of is kind.
The Spirit is the substantial, divine essence in man. The Spirit expresses itself in the soul of the being just as unitive and immanent or individual creative activity. In itself, it is simply what it is. It remains eternal, invariable, indivisible and ignored. This is the Spirit.
Everything changes, the body and soul of man are in continuous transformation but the Spirit remains always in his original state.
The triple Being is simultaneously sevenfold if you divide it into the following parts:
7. Physical Body
6. Astral Body
5. Energetic Body
These three parts of a being constitute the body of a man.
4. Instinctive Mind
3. Intellective Mind
2. Intuitive Mind
These three parts of the individual being constitute the soul of the man.

1. Spirit
   These principles, crowned by the Spirit, naturally form the Whole Man.
   The physical body is the instrument; by him the soul acquires external experiences and enables itself to handle and to master the elements.
   The astral body is a subtle and perfect mould of the physical body; its auric vibrations permit the transmission of desires to the body, and enable the soul to know the results of any experience.
   The energetic body is the luminous and subtle part of the whole body; it unites he lower, material part to the part of the being belonging to the soul.
   Among these different bodies there are moulds or connection ties like the fine skin adhered to the shell of an egg.
   The instinctive mind is the deposit of the soul. Every experience is registered there: and every impulse manifested in a being has its origin there. The subconscious has his great register there.
   The intellective mind is the part of the soul that analyses ideas and control feelings. It does not permit the instinct to get the upper hand; it observes the material exposed and considers results. Present man is developing this part of the soul. And, even when he has many instincts he cannot master, is entirely different from a purely instinctive man.
   The intuitive mind, that will develop the future man, is the power of the soul that knows things in themselves and expresses them without variations.