Quote Originally Posted by the image reaper
beyond the forms of matter ( solid, plasma, liquid, gas), (plasma was 'recently' added), perhaps someday scientists will include 'ideas') ...
Well... in occult teachings we learn that the world is composed of "planes", so there is the physical plane (the one we are aware of), the etheric plane, the astral plane, the mental plane, the buddhic plane, and some more.
This planes could be understood as subdivisions, layers, of the space... like... a coloured picture can be divided in 3 "black and white" pictures (or layers): one red-and-white, one yellow-and-white and one blue-and-white. When this 3 layers are superposed, the primary colors (red, yellow and blue) combine themselves to form any color.
The planes of the world are something like this. The physical plane contains the physical matter (and is the only one actually recognized by the modern science, yet), the etheric plane contains the etheric matter (physical sensations), the astral plane contains the astral matter (emotions), and the mental plane contain the mental matter (thoughts).
So, accordingly with the occult teachings, emotions and thought are as material (made of matter) as physical matter. The only difference is that the matter is not the same for each one plane.
More details about this fascinating subject can be found in:

Beyond the Physical - Chapter 5

PS. This entire book is awesome... i only put the link to the chapter 5 because its the one which explains the planes. But i strongly advise anyone to read the entire book. :thumbsup: