It is customary to speak of man as having a soul.

Theosophy, as the result of direct investigation, reverses that dictum, and states that man _is_ a soul, and _has_ a body--in fact several bodies, which are his vehicles and instruments in various worlds.

These worlds are not separate in space; they are simultaneously present with us, here and now, and can be examined; they are the divisions of the material side of Nature--different degrees of density in the aggregation of matter, as will presently be explained in detail.

Man has an existence in several of these, but is normally conscious only of the lowest, though sometimes in dreams and trances he has glimpses of some of the others.

What is called death is the laying aside of the vehicle belonging to this lowest world, but the soul or real man in a higher world is no more changed or affected by this than the physical man is changed or affected when he removes his overcoat.