de of our then body their
passing dwelling; but all that we are just now concerned with is the
breaking up of the body whose life-span is over, and its fate is
complete disintegration. To the dense body, then, Death means
dissolution as an organism, the loosing of the bonds that united the
many into one.

THE FATE OF THE ETHERIC DOUBLE.

The etheric double is the ethereal counterpart of the gross body of
man. It is the double that is sometimes seen during life in the
neighbourhood of the body, and its absence from the body is generally
marked by the heaviness or semi-lethargy of the latter. Acting as the
reservoir, or vehicle, of the life-principle during earth-life, its
withdrawal from the body is naturally marked by the lowering of all
vital functions, even while the cord which unites the two is still
unbroken. As has been already said, the snapping of the cord means the
death of the body.

When the etheric double finally quits the body, it does not travel to
any distance from it. Normally it remains floating over the body, the
state of consciousness being dreamy and peaceful, unless tumultuous
distress and violent emotion surround the corpse from which it has
just issued. And here it may be well to say that during the slow
process of dying, while the etheric double is withdrawing from the
body, taking with it the higher principles, as after it has withdrawn,
extreme quiet and self-control should be observed in the chamber of
Death. For during this time the whole life passes swiftly in review
before the Ego, the individual, as those have related who have passed
in drowning into this unconscious and pulseless state. A Master has
written:

_At the last moment the whole life is reflected in our
memory, and emerges from all the forgotten nooks and corners,
picture after picture, one event after another.... The man
may often appear dead, yet from the last pulsation, from and
between the last throbbing of his heart and the moment when
the last spark of animal heat leaves the body_, the brain
thinks, _and the Ego lives over in those few brief seconds
his whole life. Speak in whispers, ye who assist at a
deathbed, and find yourselves in the solemn presence of
death. Especially have ye to keep quiet just after death has
laid her clammy hand upon the body. Speak in whispers, I say,
lest ye disturb the quiet ripple of thought, and hinder the
busy work of the past, cast