Vril, or Vital Magnetism

...the functions of the cells and organs of the body are performed. Vril original: "Vril"; a term popular in 19th-century occultism for a universal life-energy causes the heart to beat, and the arteries and veins to carry and propel the blood in its outward and inward course. It causes the intestines and other channels to demonstrate their unique peristaltic original: "peristaltic"; the involuntary, wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the digestive system action. It is the power by which the will moves the hand and fingers, and the means by which these words are written. We are accustomed to thinking that the will causes these movements, and in a sense it does, but only indirectly. The will is a mental phase; it chooses to make the movement, after which it releases or projects the Vril along the channels of the nerves to the muscles. The muscles then contract, and the movement is completed. The will is like the operator managing one of the great cranes in a modern steel works. By touching a button here and a lever there, the operator swings the mighty instrument in any direction, causing it to descend upon a great mass of steel, lift it up, and swing it to any desired point. But the man and the machinery could never cause the crane to do this work if the power—such as electricity or steam—was not available and subject to the operator’s control and direction. Vril in the human body is like electricity in a trolley car—it is that which makes things "go."

While Vril is distributed all over the human body—with even the tiniest cell having its share—it is found principally in the two great nervous systems. It is stored up in the great reservoirs of the brain, the spinal cord, and the various plexi original: "plexi"; the plural of plexus, referring to a network of nerves or vessels or ganglia original: "ganglia"; clusters of nerve cell bodies that act as local control centers of the nervous system. To make it easier to understand and think about, we may regard this phase of Vril as the "nervous fluid," or nerve-force, of physiology original: "physiology"; the branch of biology dealing with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts. We must always remember, however, that it is no more a "fluid" than magnetism or electricity is, and it is not a mechanical force. It is much closer to mind-power than it is to ordinary physical force, yet it is different from either. Its place is between mind-power and physical force, while somewhat resembling both. All attempts to identify Vril with mind-power or physical force must fail, for it is a thing of itself—a distinct manifestation of nature or of that which lies behind nature.

In some circles, there is a tendency to consider "vital force" or "vitality" as a distinct entity or "soul" which energizes the physical...