
Of the many meditation techniques available, the best for deep
meditation is one that Edgar Cayce taught and used himself.
It has been the most successful method that I have found for
getting into a truly attuned-to-God state. And the side effects
of this method are clearer dreams and more intuitive “knowings.”
The method is simple. Sitting or lying down (if lying down
Cayce wanted you to cover your solar plexus with your hands),
you use your “imaginative forces” (Cayce’s
term) to “see, feel, and know” that you are making
your way through three stages of transition:
STAGE 1: First, “remove the earthly portion and your
personality.” In this stage I simply imagine myself removing
the earthly aspects of my being and my outer personality self;
moving them out in front of my body and letting them be suspended
there for the duration of the meditation. I know, you’re
wondering what else is there to me if I remove all my earthly
elements and my personality. You’ll be amazed how much
more there is to us.
When Cayce did this first stage, he actually had a substantial
“beingness” suspended in front of his body. In fact,
on one occasion during the World Affairs readings in New York,
some one thought of another question to ask and attempted to
pass a note to the conductor of the reading. Reaching over Cayce’s
body he struck some unseen thing floating above Cayce’s
body and it caused his physical body to flip over. When Cayce
awoke he had a sore bruise on his physical body, yet the man
never struck his physical body. Later that day he gave a reading
on this strange incident, and it explained that Cayce removes
the earthly portions of his being and his personality and suspends
them in front of his body while giving a reading. So substantial
and yet connected to the physical body is this suspended portion
of his being, that if struck it moves the body. It is like a
thought-form body that is so connected with the flesh body that
bruises on it will reflect eventually in the physical body.
The first stage is to remove the earthly portions of your being
and your personality from your body and suspend them in front
of your body for the duration of the meditation.
STAGE 2: Next, he instructs us to “subjugate” control
of the physical body to the subconscious mind and soul-self,
explaining that these two are in the deeper, autonomic nervous
system. At this stage our central nervous system is quite still
(we are not moving or using our five external senses). He wants
us to turn over control of the system to the deeper self: soul
and subconscious mind. When I first attempted this, I simply
imagined what my soul-self and subconscious were like, and allowed
my whole body system to surrender to their control. Cayce said
that a key indicator that this was happening would be a shift
in our breathing pattern, a shift toward deeper breathing. I
noticed this clearly. As I began to “subjugate,”
my breathing shifted -- very similar to the shift that occurs
when we are falling asleep.
STAGE 3: At this point in the process Cayce reminds us that
the subconscious mind is always amenable to a suggestion, and,
as he did, he wanted us to give ourselves a powerful suggestion
to rise up and expand into the spiritual levels of our being
and God’s presence. I used the suggestion: “Arise
my soul, and enter into the infinite, universal mind and spirit
of God.” In addition to saying and feeling the suggestion,
I would imagine myself doing it. I would “see” myself
doing it.
Cayce explained that during this stage we may feel ourselves
expanding or becoming “buoyant,” even “levitating”
(not necessarily physically, but our soul-self levitating and
expanding as it rises). I found that my physical head would
be drawn up and back slightly as I felt this ascending and expanding.
It’s important to understand that this is not an out-of-body
experience. Rather, Cayce clearly teaches us to avoid going
out of the body at this stage, but to “go through dimensions
of consciousness.” Imagine and feel yourself rising through
the mind’s levels of perception; expanding from individual,
finite perception toward full, infinite, universal perception.
Cayce’s indicator that this stage is being achieved is
the sense of rising and expanding. After months of practice
I drew several illustrations of this process; see one on this
page.
STAGE 4: Now, we need to sense the Presence of God and connect
with It. This is not a human-like God, but an infinite, universal
God of the entire Cosmos. Therefore, we must realize that we
are entering an altered state of consciousness. We are leaving
individualness and finiteness, and entering into universalness
and infiniteness. It fits well with our expanding sensations
from the previous stage. Just continue to expand into the God’s
Presence.
Of course, I had to use my imagination in order to sense God’s
Presence. I simply imagined what God was like in His/Her infinite
state.
STAGE 5: Once we have the slightest sense of God’s Presence,
we need to connect with It firmly, completely. I actually envisioned
myself plugging into It, like an electrical appliance plugging
into the source of power.
Now, after all of this seeking to get here, we have to stop
our will-driven efforts and become completely receptive and
expectant. Seeking becomes receiving. Cayce recommends that
we say the little phrase, “Thy will be done in and through
me, now.” And “see, feel, know” it is happening.
Allow it. Imagine it. Abide in a receptive state in the Presence.
I feel the Infinite flowing into the finite at this point. It’s
rejuvenating and uplifting.
When you sense that the session is drawing to a natural close,
retrace your steps through the stages until you are completely
back into your body with your earthly portion and personality
intact. Then, take a deep breath and go live life. Magically,
the inner experience will affect the outer life in many wonderful
ways.
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