Like the radio or television signals which travel through the sea of electro-magnetic energy in which we are submerged, the patterns and meanings conveyed by the energy around and between us is rich and diverse. Some believe that everything that has ever happened since the beginning of time remains impressed upon the etheric medium, and that knowledge can be tapped by those sensitive enough to perceive it. And every plant, animal, rock, or body of water -- every existing thing -- becomes a transmitter, receiver and vessel of etheric awareness.
Many different belief systems and theories mention either the ether or a force nearly identical to it as being integral to our existence. The fact that there are so many varied sources which seem to agree on the nature of this subtle energy only adds to the sense of its reality. And when a person learns to experience it firsthand through one's own senses, it becomes undeniable.
Recognized since ancient times as the pervasive all-inclusive energy which permeates everything, the ether was recognized by Plato and Aristotle as one of the five essential elements (the other four being earth, air, fire and water). Since then, the term "ether" has come to be disused by science in this context, but there remains a sense that there is something which joins all things and flows through all things. While it can be seen as a type of energy, it is not the energy itself which acts upon us as much as it's the "information" carried by the medium.