The path of consciousness must become, over time, inadequate to describe what later replaces it as spirit-life. If one accepts the development of a spiritual soul nature (for some hitherto ultimate and unknown reason assuming this is the will of the being nature), then the template, of that which was before, and that which it became, and as it wished once to become, is consumed and is replaced by an interceding spiritual aspect of a superior nature to the previous and reforms it into self and participates in a higher spirit nature. 

Thus consciousness is an illusion of itself which as soon as it forms must dissolve it again, just as the breath breathes in and out, so does the spirit nature fill the emptiness of the soul and is consumed. 

When the nature reaches a higher level it creates another body out of it. This higher form is an aetheric man. Man is currently learning how to create a higher nature from his thoughts, feelings, and drives. These must be transformed into a spiritual form - thoughts, feelings, and drives which anticipate his higher spiritual form. 

Into a child is poured all the substances of the old spirit nature which is all 'will' into the aether body of the child in his 1st years of life, gradually then into his later life into thoughts from this thinking. His thoughts ponder over the aetheric substances of the previous years. 

These thoughts, unknown to the man, have a cosmic origin just as his will at birth is also from an unknown spiritual realm. These he must awaken to search for in his own nature. All of external nature can speak of these paths or portals, but hey are only found by developing the soul to see itself.