The physical body is a vehicle which the Spirit uses to gain experience, while death is a passing of the Spirit into a larger sphere, a birth which should be prepared for with the greatest care. The Ego must assimilate what it has experienced. The Spirit withdraws with the two higher vehicles, which are tied to the etheric and physical bodies by a slender cord. At death the desire and mental bodies leave the physical, taking with them but one permanent etheric atom, which during life is stationed in the solar plexus. The seed atom, of the dense body, like the negative film of the camera, has been impressed with all the experiences of the life just ended. At death the force of this atom leave the body and all these impressions are transferred from the vital body, the storehouse of these experiences, into the desire body, which then forms the basis of the man or woman's life in purgatory and the first heaven. This transfer is done by the Spirit during the first three and one-half days (84 hours) after the rupture of the connection between the seed atom and the heart, ordinarily known as death: death is not complete until this transfer has been accomplished. During this time sensation is still present, and the Spirit suffers through inharmonious surroundings, including postmortem examination and embalming.