Life Supreme — Page 108
LIFE SUPREME the company of my friend, at the office of a dentist for the extraction of a tooth. I inhaled chloroform, and was hardly under the influence when I found myself standing behind the armchair in which my body was reclining. I saw myself and felt precisely the same person as when in the normal state. I saw everything about me, and heard what was being said. But when I tried to touch the instruments on the little table near the armchair, I saw my fingers pass through them. 22 111. These few testimonies of out-of-the-body experiences have been selected to show that the existence of the etheric body is well established on personal experience in the same way that the existence of the subconscious mind, realm of dreams and various spiritual experiences have also been established. Out-of-the-body experiences have convinced many a skeptic that there is far more to life than temporary physical existence and done much to deepen faith in survival after death. . THE SOUL BODY. The soul is man's most precious possession which lives on into eternity passing from one to another stage of spiritual development. . Although God has declared that in this life man's knowledge of the soul must remain extremely limited, nevertheless the Holy Quran which is the irrefutable Word of God-an ever open challenge to bishops, priests, atheists, or anyone else-throws more authentic light on the nature of the soul than any other scripture or book on the subject. As the Divine authority of the Holy Quran is quite an extensive subject it cannot be entered upon now. . According to the Quran the soul is born with the birth of the body. . It does not enter the body from some outside realm where it preexisted. It lies concealed in the seed of man and developes along with the body in the womb. God says in the Holy Quran: "And We fashioned the sperm into a clot; then We fashioned bones out of this shapeless lump; then We clothed the bones with flesh; then. We developed it into another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of (23:15) creators. ". Recognition of the true conception of God, right thinking and good actions combine together in producing the perfect nourishment on which the soul thrives. While care of the body is essential and