of me, my body felt open, empty, and quiet.
The next step in the method is to “subjugate control to my subconscious and soul,” as Cayce directed both himself and those seeking to duplicate his journey. Now this takes a lot of imagination and some understanding of how we are arranged. The personality and earthly portion are in charge of our central nervous system, the five senses, and the conscious mind. But since we are meditating, the central nervous system, five senses, and conscious mind are almost completely shut down. We are not moving, not attempting to perceive with any of our senses, and are still and quiet, as far as outer life is concerned. And yet the body remains alive—breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormonal messages, and so on. And a degree of consciousness is still present. The life force is now controlled more by the deeper autonomic nervous system than the central, which Cayce often referred to as the “sympathetics.” And the consciousness we now feel is the fringe of the vast subconscious mind, a portion of which is our dreaming mind.
Cayce explained that the subconscious mind is the bridge from the physical outer world to the metaphysical inner worlds and our spirit. Therefore, this important stage in the meditation is where we yield control to our subconscious and that part of our self that is our soul. Again, in the early years of this practice, one has to use the imagination in order to perceive the soul-self. But as one grows in the practice, the soul-self becomes a familiar aspect of one’s whole being—a portion of what Cayce called the “entity.”
As I did this on that night, I felt myself slip deeper and deeper into stillness. At first, my breathing was deep and rhythmical. As the quietness settled in and the stillness became profound, my breathing became shallow. I was hardly breathing at all.
The next step in this Cayce method is to give your subconscious mind a suggestion that will lead you into the Spirit and the infinite, universal consciousness. If not done at this time, the meditation will drift into a watery wandering from which we will eventually awaken, feeling drowsy and dull. I’ve experienced this many times. It is an indication that one did not achieve the level of meditation that Cayce encouraged. But if we give our subconscious a direct suggestion, it will lead to an inspiring and energizing meditation from which we will awaken feeling a personal connection with the Life Force. The little “I am” makes contact with the great “I AM.” This contact makes the whole of our being feel good and happy—at least until earth life drains the power of the experience from us and we need to seek the connection all over again.
To guide my subconscious into the realms of the superconscious and on into the infinite, universal consciousness, I use variations of this suggestion: “Arise my soul and enter into the infinite, universal mind and spirit.” As I repeat this suggestion, I strive to feel and imagine it happening. I imagine myself rising and expanding from out of my little point of consciousness into the infinite, universal mind and spirit, into what Cayce often called God-consciousness. I repeat the process over and over until I fully feel myself levitated and expanded into the vast, infinite presence of the creative forces and consciousness of the universe. On this night, the presence of God-consciousness was particularly strong and clear. Mildly exhilarating vibrations enlivened my body and mind during the time of at-onement with the Infinite. I felt peace and contentment and that all things flow toward goodness, ultimately—despite my outer life’s challenges at this time.
It’s important to realize that I am not out of my body, as you might think. In fact, Cayce specifically taught practitioners not to go out of their bodies during this practice. Rather, he wanted us to go through “dimensions of consciousness” in our minds. Therefore, when I am in at-onement with the Infinite, it feels like a gigantic V of energy and contact, with the bottom of the V being where my body is, and the top of the V being where my consciousness is—in the endless vastness of infinite, universal consciousness. Abiding in God’s consciousness is, as Jesus described it, like “supping” with our Father and Mother after a long absence. It’s gentle. It’s loving. It’s nourishing. Sometimes there is real information conveyed. But most of the time, it is simply a gentle togetherness, with the information and guidance coming later, as a natural outcome of spending time together. I’ve found that deep, quiet meditations often end quietly with no great information or instruction. But later, usually through my dreams but occasionally through intuitive knowing, guidance and information come. Sometimes, however, the “supping” will produce immediate knowing and a subtle sense of direction.
On this night, I quietly enjoyed the company of my Maker and His/Her love for me and my family, friends, and coworkers.
The body is wonderfully arranged for both physical activity and metaphysical activity—yet few people ever experience it. The body is, as so many teachers have claimed throughout the ages, a temple of the living God. And, as with all temples (Hindu, Buddhist, Egyptian, Mayan, Hebrew, etc.), the body-mind temple is a sanctuary. This is where the real communion takes place. And the mind, the deeper mind, is the crucial link: “Your body is the temple of the living God, your mind the connecting and communicating link with the Divine, through which you may ever receive the answer, if you will but harken.” (2174-2) Let’s take a moment to understand Cayce’s perspective on the mind’s role in communing with God. All of the following insights come from his discourses in reading 281-13, but I’ve edited it for clarity and focus to our point at hand:
“There are definite conditions that arise within the inner person when an individual enters into true or deep meditation. The sources of impulse and imagination are aroused by the shutting out of thought pertaining to the carnal forces of the person. Then, [the person] partakes of the individuality [the soul] rather than the personality [the outer self]. If the image that is raised by the individual in its imaginative and impulse force [motivation] takes the form of the ideal held to be raised to, then the individual bears the mark of the Lamb, or the Christ, of the Holy One, or the Son, or any of the names we may have given to that which enables the individual to enter through it into the very presence of the Creative Forces. The soul is within its temple, within the body of the individual, see? With the arousing then of this image, it rises along that which is known as … the pineal center, to the base of the brain, then to the hidden eye in the center of the brain system.” (Much more on this in later chapters.)
Clearly, imagination, imagery, and motivation are important ingredients in Cayce’s method. I have found that my imagery has changed over the many years I’ve been practicing this specific meditative method. Think of these images as furnishings for your sanctuary. These will be unique to each soul’s experiences, beliefs, and ideals. What is God and heavenly is going to differ according to the mind that is seeking. At least, in the beginning this is correct. In the beginning, imagery may provide you with initial furnishings that reflect your personal perspective on spirituality and God-consciousness, and they will provide you with just the surroundings you need for your communion with God.
In my case, the first imagery was of a long, vertical shaft, reaching from the top of my head into the many dimensions of heavenly realms. At the top of the shaft, the opening to the heavens, the “water of life” was flowing down into that shaft. When I would finally arrive at this place, I would lie in a flowing pool of this heavenly water on a plateau surrounding the opening. The water rejuvenated me. I enjoyed lying in it and feeling its revivifying energy. Much of my meditation time was spent lying in this flowing water. Occasionally, off in the distance, I could see a sun that seemed very far away, and there was a chasm between my plateau and another plateau nearer to that sun. But I was content to be where I was. Somehow I knew that I needed more time in these waters before attempting to travel toward that sun. But these initial images and concepts were special to me, to my soul. While giving one of his famous readings, the individual mind of the man Edgar Cayce experienced images of himself traveling in a bubble through deep, vast water to reach the higher realms. Cayce gave one of his famous readings on this imagery (254-68), and though the answer was complex, covering over four pages, it was profound. Let me try to summarize and paraphrase it for our purposes here:
“In order to bring some understanding of what a soul may pass through when traveling from one realm to another, it becomes necessary to convey the experiences in images and concepts that are comprehensible to those souls in the lower realm—in this case, in the earth realm. Since Cayce must travel through many