Themental body (themind) is one of thesubtle bodies inesoteric philosophies, in somereligious teachings and inNew Age thought. It is understood as a sort of body made up ofthoughts, just as theemotional body consists ofemotions and thephysical body is made up ofmatter. Inoccult understanding, thoughts are not just subjectivequalia, but have an existence apart from the associated physical organ, thebrain.

According to TheosophistsC.W. Leadbeater^[1] andAnnie Besant^[2] (Adyar School of Theosophy), and laterAlice Bailey, the mental body is equivalent to the "LowerManas" ofBlavatsky's original seven principles of man.^[3] But the New Age writerBarbara Brennan describes the Mental body as intermediate between the Emotional and the Astral body in terms of the layers in the "Human Energy Field" or Aura.^[4]

The mental body is usually considered in terms of an aura that includesthoughtforms. In Theosophical and Alice Bailey's teachings, it corresponds to the Mental plane.

According toMax Heindel'sRosicrucian writings,^[5] the mind is the latest acquisition of the humanspirit and is related to theRegion of Concrete Thought, which is the lower region of the World of Thought. It is not yet an organized body, and in most people it is still a mere inchoate cloud disposed particularly in the region of the head. It works as the link or focus between thethreefold Spirit and thethreefold body[1], in a reversed reflexion manner[2]: the mind is like the projecting lens of a stereopticon, it projects the image in one of three directions, according to thewill of the thinker, which ensouls thethought-form.

His writings, calledWestern Wisdom Teachings, give a clear description on how the man's inner Spirit perceives, from the world of thought, thelower worlds through the mind: " We ourselves, as Egos, function directly in the subtle substance of the Region of Abstract Thought, which we have specialized within the periphery of our individual aura. Thence we view the impressions made by the outer world upon the vital body through the senses, together with the feelings and emotions generated by them in the desire body, and mirrored in the mind. From these mental images we form our conclusions, in the substance of the Region of Abstract Thought, concerning the subjects with which they deal. Those conclusions are ideas. By the power of will, we project an idea through the mind, where it takes concrete shape as a thought-form by drawing mind-stuff around itself from the Region of Concrete Thought. ".^[6]

He also states that to the trainedclairvoyant there appears to be an empty space in the center of the forehead just above and between the eyebrows and it looks like the blue part of a gas flame, but not even the most gifted seer can penetrate that veil, also known as "THE VEIL OF ISIS".

Samael Aun Weor stated that only those who have worked consciously to do so have created a mental body. A "solar mind" or "solar mental body" is the quality of mind of a true human, yet, it is stated that this humanity is not composed of true humans, but rather intellectual animals: beings with a mind of an animal, but reasoning superior to that of other animals. According to Samael Aun Weor, the qualifications to being a real human being is identical to the lowest requirements of being aBuddha. The process of acquiring the mind of a human in this sense involves the psychological death of the "I" (desire) and the work of practicalsexual alchemy.^[7] More explicitly stated, the title of Buddha is achieved through the Fourth Initiation of Major Mysteries, when the fourth serpent of fire orkundalini has risen.^[8]

The intellectual animal does not have a Mental Body, but he possesses a subtle, lunar, intellectual animal vehicle, which is very similar to the Mental Body, but of a cold and ghost-like nature.^[7]

Whether the lunar or solar aspect, the mental body is stated to exist within the 5th dimension and is represented byNetzach. With the mental body, one can travel through the mental world, the world of thoughts and ideas.^[9]

InEsoteric Christianity, the mental body is represented by the stubborn yet useful donkey that the Savior (Christ) subdues in order to be used as a vehicle to enter into heavenly Jerusalem (the superior worlds).^[8]

• Powell, Arthur E.The Mental Body