Читать книгу Edgar Cayce's Twelve Lessons in Personal Spirituality - Kevin J. Todeschi - Страница 10

For, ye must learn to meditate—just as ye have learned to walk, to talk . . .

Edgar Cayce reading 281-41

For countless individuals, the Edgar Cayce readings have been instrumental in providing them with an entirely new understanding of humankind’s relationship to God. From Cayce’s perspective, that relationship is not a thing far off—or something that is relegated to the “here-after”—rather it is a personal connection that can be experienced right now in everyday life:We are God’s children, and He is mindful of us at all times! Meditation is important because it can provide individuals with the means for gaining a personal awareness of that relationship:

What is Meditation? It is not musing, not daydreaming; but as ye find your bodies made up of the physical, mental and spiritual, it is the attuning of the mental body and the physical body to its spiritual source. Many say that ye have no consciousness of having a soul,—yet the very fact that ye hope, that ye have a desire for better things, the very fact that ye are able to be sorry or glad, indicates an activity of the mind that takes hold upon something that is not temporal in its nature—something that passeth not away with the last breath that is drawn but that takes hold upon the very sources of its beginning—the soul—that which was made in the image of thy Maker—not thy body, no—not thy mind, but thy soul was in the image of thy Creator. Then, it is the attuning of thy physical and mental attributes seeking to know the relationships to the Maker. That is true meditation. 281-41

Although most individuals in the West began hearing about meditation in the 1960s and 1970s, its practice has existed for thousands of years. For some, meditation is as natural as prayer. It is the practice of quieting our physical bodies and our minds, and focusing our attention inward instead of upon the material world around us. Meditation promotes coordination at three levels: physically, we begin to relax; mentally, our busied thoughts become quiet and we are able to become purposefully focused; and, spiritually, we can become attuned and reenergized to the presence of the Divine. Practically speaking, each of these levels enables us to deal both more effectively and more lovingly with the people and events with whom we come in contact.

Repeatedly, the readings advised individuals to work with both meditation and prayer. Although we may think of prayer as telling God what we need or want, Cayce believed that true prayer was not so much a petition for things as it was an expression of one’s desire to gain an awareness of the Creator’s will in our lives. In other words, prayer invites God to work through us. Meditation, on the other hand, is clearing aside all random thoughts so that we might become more attuned to the Divine. In the language of the readings, both are explained as follows:

For prayer is supplication for direction, for understanding. Meditation is listening to the Divine within. 1861-19

Then set definite periods for prayer; set definite periods for meditation. Know the difference between each. Prayer, in short, is appealing to the Divine within self, the Divine from without self, and meditation is keeping still in body, in mind, in heart, listening, listening to the voice of thy Maker. 5368-1

Although some schools of thought contend that the mind gets in the way of the meditator and must therefore be blanked out, the Cayce information suggests that whatever the mind dwells upon—whether in meditation or by the power of thought in general—becomes a greater portion of the individual’s core: physically, mentally, and spiritually. In fact, when used constructively, the mind is a powerful tool which allows for a greater sense of relaxation and an awareness of the closest possible attunement. For that reason, the readings provided an affirmation for meditation which corresponds to each of the lessons in spirituality.

The creative potential of the human mind is so powerful, the first study group was told that an individual who focused upon spiritual things alone could become a “light unto the world” whereas an individual who focused only upon selfishness would literally become a “Frankenstein.” For that reason, one’s intent is extremely important when practicing meditation. Ultimately, that intent is to learn how to better express divine love in our interactions with one another. In addition, the readings suggested that one take the entire process of meditation seriously and remember it as a vehicle for cultivating our personal relationship with God:

Purify thy body. Shut thyself away from the cares of the world. Think on that as ye would do to have thy God meet thee face to face. “Ah,” ye say “but many are not able to speak to God!” Many, you say, are fearful. Why? Have ye gone so far astray that ye cannot approach Him who is all merciful? He knows thy desires and thy needs, and can only supply according to the purposes that ye would perform within thine own self. Then, purify thy body, physically. Sanctify thy body, as the laws were given of old, for tomorrow the Lord would speak with thee—as a father speaketh to his children . . . Know that thy body is the temple of the living God. There He has promised to meet thee! 281-41

With this in mind, anyone can have a period of meditation by following a few simple steps. First, get into a comfortable position. It’s probably best to sit in a chair, keeping your spine straight, your feet flat on the floor, and your eyes closed. Find a comfortable place for your hands, either in your lap or at your sides. In order to help with a balanced flow of energy throughout the physical body, the readings suggested keeping your palms down against your legs or closed against your stomach. Slowly take a few deep breaths and begin to relax. Breathe the air deep into your lungs, hold it for a moment, and then slowly breathe it out. With your mind, search your body for any obvious tension or tight muscles. You can try to relieve the tension by deep breathing, imagining the area is relaxed, or by gently massaging any tightness with your fingertips. When you have become comfortable and more at ease than when you first sat down, you are ready to move on. If you wish, the Cayce readings recommended a breathing exercise to assist in even greater levels of relaxation and attunement. Very simply, it is as follows:

First, breathe in slowly through the right nostril (covering the left nostril with your hand and keeping the mouth closed), then pinch your nostrils and breathe out through the mouth. Repeat this for a total of three times. Second, with your mouth closed, slowly breathe in through the left nostril (covering the right), then cover the left and breathe out through the right. Repeat this, as well, for a total of three times.

When your breathing exercise is complete, begin to focus your mind on one, single, peaceful, calming thought. Instead of thinking about what went on at work or what has to be accomplished with the remainder of your day, try focusing on a single thought such as “I am peaceful” or “I will be still and feel relaxed.” You can also use a Bible verse (such as the Twenty-third Psalm or the Lord’s Prayer) or a thought with a spiritual focus such as “God is Love.” These thoughts are also called affirmations.

The first “stage” of actual meditation involves thinking about the message of your affirmation. In one of the examples cited above, you would think about the words I am peaceful. After a few moments of thinking the words, you should be able to move onto the second stage of meditation, which is feeling the meaning behind those words. For example, you could continue saying the words “I am peaceful”; however, the feeling behind these words can be much more meaningful than the actual words themselves.

In this second stage, try holding the feeling in silent attention, without needing the words of the affirmation. Gently bring your focus back to the words of the affirmation every time your mind begins to wander. That is to say, first begin thinking of the words of the affirmation, and then try to concentrate on the feeling behind them. Don’t let yourself become discouraged when you find yourself thinking more about distractions than you are focusing upon the affirmation. It will take time to teach yourself to be able to think about only one thought. Spend anywhere from three minutes to fifteen minutes trying to hold the affirmation silently. These longer meditation periods will become natural after you’ve had some experience.

To end your meditation, consciously send out good thoughts or prayers to other people or situations in your life. It is at this point that you may wish to open your palms to enable the energy of meditation to flow through them. If you have been focusing upon peace, then try to send a sense of that peace to someone about whom you’re concerned. As you begin to practice meditation daily it will become easier, and you might also notice that the sense of peace inside of you during meditation will begin to carry over into a greater portion of your day.

Sometimes certain physical sensations may occur in meditation: energy rising up the spine, gentle movements of the head and neck in a circular or side-to-side motion, etc. These sensations are simply a result of the movement of energy (often called the “kundalini” or even “spiritual energy”) rising through the endocrine centers of your body: gonads, leydig, adrenals, thymus, thyroid, pineal, and pituitary.

Through the regular practice of meditation you can begin to heal yourself on many levels. As you focus upon a positive affirmation you may find that your negative habit-patterns will begin to change to be more in keeping with your positive affirmation. It is while practicing the silence of meditation, by relaxing your physical body and by quieting your conscious mind, that you can set aside your daily concerns for a moment and attempt to attune yourself to the spiritual side of who you really are. In fact, meditation is simply attuning the mind and the body to its spiritual source:

Meditation is emptying self of all that hinders the creative forces from rising along the natural channels of the physical man to be disseminated through those centers and sources that create the activities of the physical, the mental, the spiritual man; properly done must make one stronger mentally, physically, for has it not been given? He went in the strength of that meat received for many days? Was it not given by Him who has shown us the Way, “I have had meat that ye know not of”? As we give out, so does the whole of man—physically and mentally become depleted, yet in entering into the silence, entering into the silence in meditation, with a clean hand, a clean body, a clean mind, we may receive that strength and power that fits each individual, each soul, for a greater activity in this material world. 281-13

As we take the time, each day, to put away from our thoughts the countless cares we seem bombarded with, we can begin to reestablish an awareness of our own spiritual nature. In one respect, prayer is talking to God, but meditation can be like listening to that portion of our being which is in constant communication with the Divine.

The most important relationship we all share is the one we have with God. In exploring that relationship, we come to know ourselves as well as our connectedness with one another. One of the most beneficial ways we can come to know that relationship is through the regular practice of meditation.

Note: At the beginning of each of the following twelve lessons you will find a MEDITATION AFFIRMATION designed to help you get the most out of the material. It is recommended that you memorize each affirmation and use it in your periods of meditation as you explore that lesson.