33—Cayce’s Special Passage Through Dimensions of Consciousness
Foreword
My coauthor, Edgar Cayce, passed away some years ago, but his enlightened contribution toward a greater understanding of meditation, both in concept and technique, continues strong today. He may be better known for his insights into holistic medicine and is credited by the Journal of the American Medical Association as the “father of the holistic movement” in America. He is also known for his call for more study into the purpose and process of dreaming, the need for a greater understanding of ancient civilizations, and improved harmony with the ecosystem we live in. But without a doubt, one of his most significant contributions came with his insistence that all people could enjoy improved personal spirituality and mental enlightenment by adding meditation to their daily lives.
I have worked with his meditation insights and instructions for nearly forty years and have taught and written about them for thirty years.
Edgar Cayce said: “There are definite conditions that arise from within the inner person when an individual enters into true or deep meditation. A physical condition happens, a physical activity takes place! Acting through what? Through that humanity has chosen to call the imaginative or the impulsive, and the sources of impulse are aroused by the shutting out of thought pertaining to activities of the carnal forces of a person. Changes naturally take place when there is the arousing of that stimuli within the individual that has within it the seat of the soul’s dwelling, within the individual body of the person, and then this partakes of the individuality [the soul] rather than the personality.” (281-13)
All of my coauthor’s insights were dictated to his stenographer while he was in a deep, meditative state of consciousness. She filed them using a numbering system. Each discourse was given a number, usually associated with the person or group requesting the information, followed by a dash number that indicated how many discourses they had received. For example, the comment quoted above was given to a group seeking to improve their spiritual healing abilities. This group was given the number 281, and the discourse above was their thirteenth, thus the filing number 281-13.*
His stenographer was often surprised that Cayce’s mind could dictate his comments and at the same time correct her shorthand spelling or clarify some detail for her! It was as if his mind were aware of what she was taking down in shorthand and of her thoughts about the content.
Cayce himself is a wonderful example of how profoundly meditation can help us and those we share our lives with.
In this latest book, Edgar Cayce and I present both the spirit and the mechanism for effective and relevant meditation in daily life. We cover classical and modern concepts and techniques, the fundamentals and advanced nuances, and provide perspectives and tips on both the method and the experience.
John Van Auken, Director
Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc.
*Since the language of the Cayce discourses is somewhat similar to the language of the King James Bible, I have slightly paraphrased some of the quotes for clarity.
Section One
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
1
Sanctuary
One of the most pleasant activities of personal spirituality is sitting quietly in the sanctuary of one’s temple while aware of the life force flowing through you. Nothing compares to it. As Edgar Cayce noted during one of his deep attunements to the mind of the Maker, “If you will but open your tabernacle of consciousness to allow the holy to come in and sup with you, all the beauties of peace and harmony are yours—for they are the birthright of each soul.” (Reading 987-4; as you may know, for privacy the reading numbers replace people’s names.)
On a recent night, I awoke about two in the morning, feeling surprisingly refreshed from only four hours’ sleep. I went to my meditation spot and began to meditate in the dark. The meditation easily moved from normal, self-conscious aloneness into a sense of the presence of the infinite consciousness, and then into a oneness with all life. I was surprised, because my daily life had been unusually rocky lately, with much turmoil and tension. But in the wee hours of this night, all was quiet and the world outside of me was still.
I began the meditation by surrounding my body, mind, and soul with an imaginary shield that blocked out external influences. On this particular night, it wasn’t difficult. The neighborhood and house were quiet. My personal, outer mind seemed unusually quiet too.
To help shield me, I used a variation of one of Edgar Cayce’s prayers of protection. Something like this: “Now as I approach the throne of power, might, grace, and mercy, I wrap about myself the protection found in a love for God-consciousness, in the thought of Christ Consciousness.” Then I strived to see and feel this happening. After only a few repetitions of prayer, my shield was up. I felt surrounded by my love for God and the Infinite’s consciousness of me. I was now in my “bubble,” secure from external distractions.
Since I was using Edgar Cayce’s method for making passage through dimensions of consciousness (more on this method later), the next step was to intentionally remove the “earthly portion and personality” from my body, suspending it outside of me. This is how we protect ourselves from internal distractions. It also makes for a purer meditation, because the earthly self has little to no influence over the experience. Removing the earthly portions of oneself and the personality is done using the imagination and the will. I simply imagine my personal, earthly self and all its concerns sitting outside of my body, quietly. And I use my will to prevent it from regaining control during the meditation. As with so many meditation techniques, this one takes repetition before one feels results. Once the earthly portion and personality are removed, suspended in front of me, I am left with a strange but pleasant sensation of emptiness and lightness within my body.
When I first began using this technique, I used to be surprised that there was anything left of me once the earthly portion and personality were removed! But, as Cayce so often taught, the real you and me is a quiet giant of a companion to the personal, outer self—in the same manner and proportion as the whole of an iceberg is to its exposed tip. What you and I see and know of ourselves is a very tiny portion of the whole self. Our soul-self lies behind the surface of consciousness and behind the external senses. Fortunately, our little outer-self can be suspended for a time, and our deeper soul-self can awaken and rise to consciousness and predominance.
At 2 a.m. it is much easier to remove the earthly portion and personality, because they really don’t want to be up! I had an easy time on this night. Cayce taught that it was an excellent time to meditate, explaining (his parenthetical comment): “The body-mind (if it has slept) is in that vibration where it is between the physical, the mental, and spiritual activities. If it is kept awake, it isn’t a good time to meditate, but sleep, and then arise, and purposefully, use this time when the triune self is balanced.” (1861-19; also see 3051-7)
Now,