The Essential Edgar Cayce (12 page)

There has also come a teacher who was bold enough to declare himself as the son of the living God. He set no rules of appetite. He set no rules of ethics, other than “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” and to know “Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, thy brethren, ye do it unto thy Maker.” He declared that the kingdom of heaven is within each individual entity’s consciousness, to be attained, to be aware of—through meditating upon the fact that God is the Father of every soul.

Jesus, the Christ, is the mediator. And in Him, and in the study of His examples in the earth, is
life
—and that ye may have it more abundantly. He came to demonstrate, to manifest, to give life and light to all.

Here, then, ye find a friend, a brother, a companion. As He gave, “I call ye not servants, but brethren.” For, as many as believe, to them He gives power to become the children of God, the Father; joint heirs with this Jesus, the Christ, in the knowledge and in the awareness of this presence abiding ever with those who set this ideal before them.

What, then, is this as an ideal?

As concerning thy fellow man, He gave, “As ye would that others do to you, do ye even so to them,” take no thought, worry not, be not overanxious about the body. For He knoweth what ye have need of. In the place thou art, in the consciousness in which ye find yourself, is that which is
today, now,
needed for thy greater, thy better, thy more wonderful unfoldment.

But today
hear
His voice, “Come unto me, all that are weak or that are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest from those worries, peace from those anxieties.” For the Lord loveth those who put their trust
wholly
in Him.

This, then, is that attitude of mind that puts away hates, malice, anxiety, jealousy. And it creates in their stead, in that Mind is the Builder, the fruits of the spirit—love, patience, mercy, long-suffering, kindness, gentleness. And these—against such there is no law. They break down barriers, they bring peace and harmony, they bring the outlook upon life of not finding fault because someone “forgot,” someone’s judgment was bad, someone was selfish today. These ye can overlook, for so did He.

In His own experience with those that He had chosen out of the world, if He had held disappointment in their leaving Him to the mercies of an indignant high priest, a determined lawyer and an unjust steward, what would have been
thy
hope, thy promise today?

For He, though with the ability to destroy, thought not of such but rather gave Himself; that the Creative Forces, God, might be reconciled to that pronouncement, that judgment. And thus mercy, through the shedding of blood, came into man’s experience.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF MEDITATION

Edgar Cayce provided specific recommendations and guidance about meditation to hundred of individuals in readings. But he also gave several readings about meditation exclusively that were meant for everyone. Reading 281-13 is widely recognized as the most practical, poetic, and inspirational of his discourses on the subject. There are three central themes:

• Definitions that allow us to distinguish prayer from meditation.

• The importance of cleansing.

• Techniques for engaging the imagination as a kind of transformed thinking.

Several definitions of meditation are offered in the reading, including one near the end that has been quoted frequently: “[
E
]
mptying
self of all that hinders the creative forces from rising.” But perhaps the most useful definition is found early in the reading and could be overlooked easily because it’s not announced as a definition: “[Meditation] partakes of the individuality, not the personality.”

As noted previously, personality is our normal physical consciousness—our likes and dislikes, our habits, our agendas for getting things done. It’s the familiar sense of identity that each of us holds—or, we might say, that holds us. In this regard, prayer largely is an activity of the personality; it’s a special effort made by the personality, the “pouring out of the personality,” so that we may be filled. “Prayer is the concerted effort of the physical consciousness . . .”

Meditation, on the other hand, requires that the personality become still. Meditation is an emptying; it is the cessation of thinking—even the high-minded kind—as we experience it typically. It involves awakening and engaging the other side of our being—individuality—which is connected more immediately to the spiritual world.

What is the
language
of individuality? How does it operate in meditation? In this reading, Edgar Cayce suggests that the key is in the imaginative forces. We are transformed in meditation by holding in our attention and raising up a certain image within ourselves. Actual
creation
takes place in meditation; or we might say that we are being
re-created
in meditation. In the final paragraphs of the reading, there is a very clear image: the Christ, although it is evident that what is intended here is universal Christ Consciousness, since it’s equated with “love of the God consciousness.” Cayce’s approach to meditation, however, can be practiced by people of any faith, even though devout Christians received this particular reading and the language is decidedly Christian in nature.

One secret to effective meditation is the ability to stop normal thinking processes and to imaginatively focus on a very high ideal. In many of Cayce’s readings on meditation, he suggests using an
affirmation
, what is called a
mantra
in many Eastern religions. The affirmation, or mantra, contains a short statement of one’s ideal. The point in meditation is not to think about the affirmation in the ordinary way but
to allow oneself to feel the meaning behind the words and to hold that feeling in silent attention.
It is a creative use of the imaginative forces but directed very purposefully. It’s not daydreaming; it’s perceiving the reality of that ideal with one’s feelings and intuition. As Edgar Cayce put it, our sense of self moves “deeper—deeper—to the seeing, feeling, experiencing of that image in the creative forces of love.”
The imaginative forces allow us to experience and feel the meaning.

Another key to effective meditation is obviously
cleansing,
and almost half the reading deals with cleansing in one way or another. Why is the purification of our bodies and our minds so significant? One reason goes back to the beginning of the reading. The subject of the reading was looking for advice on how to meditate “without the effort disturbing the mental or physical body.” One way is to cleanse before meditating.

But another need for cleansing is also proposed. Consider what happens as we hold our ideal in silent attention. The influence, or vibration, of that image rises up within the body through the spiritual centers, or chakras. Edgar Cayce linked the traditional seven chakras of the higher energy body to seven of the endocrine glands in the physical body. What’s more, he alludes to the theory that in meditation creative energy moves from the first two chakras (which he linked to the reproductive glands and the cells of Leydig) all the way up to the two highest chakras (the pineal and pituitary glands in the brain).

But what can keep that image from connecting with the highest spiritual centers? The reading identifies two factors: If we have been mentally self-abusive (with doubt, self-condemnation, fear, etc.) and can imagine only a very limited ideal, then the movement of that image is greatly restricted; it won’t resonate at the higher level or even reach that far. The other limitation, however, can easily be present even if we’ve honed in on the Christ ideal. Impurities in our physical and mental selves have to be worked against so that the image can disseminate itself to “these centers, stations or places along the body.” The impurities become resistive hindrances.

Of course, this is not an all-or-nothing proposition. If we waited until we were totally purified before trying to meditate, we might never get around to it. Effective cleansing, like effective meditation, has levels; the point simply is to do whatever we can before we start to meditate in order to minimize any hindrances.

Reading 281-13 also raises the issue of sexuality. Edgar Cayce associates the first spiritual center with the reproductive glands (the ovaries in the female, the testes in the male). He states that the creative forces find their origin and impetus in the reproductive center: “The reproductive forces themselves, which are the very essence of Life itself within an individual . . .”

What was Cayce’s stand on sexuality? He recognized that this is a very important subject to us: “For there is no soul but what the sex life becomes the greater influence in life. Not as always in gratification in the physical act, but rather that that finds expression in the creative forces and creative abilities of the body itself” (911-2).

In fact, there was not any strict moral code that Cayce tried to push on people as he gave them advice in his readings. Instead, he asked that we consider the ways in which sexual activity is an expression of the creative forces, but he always came back to the principle of a personal ideal. In deciding what is personally right or wrong in terms of sex, each individual must decide how an activity relates to the ideal that he or she has chosen in life. As Cayce told one woman whose husband was impotent and who was considering a discreet affair to meet her sexual needs, “Such questions as these can only be answered in what is thy ideal. Do not have an ideal and not attempt to reach same. There is no condemnation in those who DO such for helpful forces, but if for personal, selfish gratification, it is sin” (2329-1). For more about Cayce on sexuality, see appendix 3, page 270.

In summary, reading 281-13 is a remarkable discourse about the creative life-force generally and about meditation specifically. Valuable to anyone who wants to meditate daily, the beginner will discover a straightforward approach here, the experienced practitioner will no doubt find this reading worth studying again. It captures the essential themes of this vital spiritual discipline.

THE READING

THIS PSYCHIC READING, 281-13,
WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON NOVEMBER 19, 1932.
The conductor was Gertrude Cayce.

GC:
You will have before you the psychic work of Edgar Cayce, present in this room, the information that has been and is being given from time to time, especially that regarding meditation and prayer. You will give, in a clear, concise, understandable manner just how an individual may meditate, or pray, without the effort disturbing the mental or physical body. If this can be given in a general manner, outline it for us. If it is necessary to be outlined for specific individuals, you will tell us how individuals may attain to the understanding necessary for such experiences not to be detrimental to them.

EC:
Yes, we have the work, the information that has been and that maybe given from time to time; especially that in reference to meditation and prayer.

First, in considering such, it would be well to analyze that difference (that is not always understood) between meditation and prayer.

As it has been defined or given in an illustrated manner by the Great Teacher, prayer is the
making
of one’s conscious self more in attune with the spiritual forces that may manifest in a material world, and is
ordinarily
given as a
cooperative
experience of
many
individuals when all are asked to come in one accord and one mind; or, as was illustrated by:

Be not as the Pharisees, who love to be seen of men, who make long dissertation or prayer to be heard of men. They
immediately
have their reward in the physical-mental mind.

Be rather as he that entered the temple and not so much as lifting his eyes, smote his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”

Which man was justified, this man or he that stood to be seen of men and thanked God he was not as other men, that he paid his tithes, that he did the services required in the temple, that he stood in awe of no one, he was not even as this heathen who in an uncouth manner, not with washed hands, not with shaven face attempted to reach the throne of grace?

Here we have drawn for us a comparison in prayer: That which may be the pouring out of the personality of the individual, or a group who enter in for the purpose of either outward show to be seen of men; or that enter in even as in the closet of one’s inner self and pours out self that the inner man may be filled with the Spirit of the Father in His merciful kindness to men.

Now draw the comparisons for meditation: Meditation, then, is prayer, but is prayer from
within
the
inner
self, and partakes not only of the physical inner man but the soul that is aroused by the spirit of man from within.

Well, that we consider this from
individual
interpretation, as well as from group interpretation; or individual meditation and group meditation.

As has been given, there are
definite
conditions that arise from within the inner man when an individual enters into true or deep meditation. A physical condition happens, a physical activity takes place! Acting through what? Through that man 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 or attributes of the carnal forces of man. That is true whether we are considering it from the group standpoint or the individual. Then, 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 entity or man, and then this partakes of the individuality rather than the personality.