The Human Aura

Prana, though it may also be thought of as Vital Essence, Life Power, and so forth.

It is not necessary in this book to go into a general study of the nature and character of Prana. It is enough for us to consider how it manifests as Vital Force, Life Essence, and similar energies. In its broadest sense, Prana is actually the Principle of Energy in Nature; however, in its relation to living forms, it is the Vital Force that lies at the very foundation of life as we know it. It exists in all forms of living things, from the smallest microscopic organisms to living creatures on higher planes: levels of existence or consciousness beyond the physical—beings who are as far above humans as humans are above simple microscopic life-forms. It permeates all of them and makes all life activity and biological functioning possible.

Prana is not the mind or the soul. Instead, it is the force or energy through which the soul expresses activity and the mind expresses thought. It is the "steam" that runs the physical and mental machinery of life. The author uses a 19th-century industrial metaphor, comparing life force to the steam that powered the advanced technology of that era. It is the substance of the human aura, and the colors of mental states are displayed within that substance, just as the colors of chemical elements are displayed when dissolved in water. However, Prana is not a material substance—it is higher than mere matter, being the underlying—