Leader: Eric
Reader: Eric
We completed the first chapter in the SFG book on Meditation. Next week we will begin the chapter on Cooperation.
The experiment for the following week is:
Use what we learned from the John Van Auken Meditation Techniques DVD to improve upon our own techniques during the week.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Who is the Author of your Beliefs?
Throughout the Cayce readings, he tells us that we need to be not only aware of what our beliefs are, but where they came from. It appears that most of the time this question is asked in relation to an ideal.
As we decide what our opinions are on societal issues like the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage, or justifying our religious faith, we are advised to understand whether our beliefs are spiritually-based or ego-based (simply to make us feel good or important). If the basis is spiritual, they are constructive.
This advice on knowing the source of beliefs is in many of the readings, but here are a few:
Reading 2002-1:
As we decide what our opinions are on societal issues like the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage, or justifying our religious faith, we are advised to understand whether our beliefs are spiritually-based or ego-based (simply to make us feel good or important). If the basis is spiritual, they are constructive.
This advice on knowing the source of beliefs is in many of the readings, but here are a few:
Reading 2002-1:
21. Study then thine own self, in relationship to that thou dost set as thine ideal. Know in WHOM as well as in what ye believe. When ye say, when ye give expression as to a belief or a conviction, know WHO is the author of same and as to whether that author has in his own experience made same practical in a material world, - and if it is constructive.Reading 2995-1:
6. Hence the first injunction to the entity is to analyze self. What does the mind of this entity hold as its ideal in the spiritual world? What is the source of the entity's information? Who is the author of same? Is the author of thy faith, of thy belief, able to keep that ye commit unto it against any experience, be it spiritual, mental or material? Whoever is the author must himself have experienced spiritual, mental and material life. This must of itself, then, be the author of life, it must be the builder of mind as well as of material things.Reading 254-101:
3. As has been so oft indicated for all, first know in what and in Whom you have believed. When you say you believe this or that, know Who is the author, Who is the finisher of same.Reading 303-39:
4. And unless its source is of such a nature that it is in keeping with Him that is the Author of Life itself, reject same! For these must be as the principles of Life itself!
5. This does not necessarily mean to become indifferent, but in the physical and in the mental and in the spiritual, there is required first the SURETY within self. Know not only what ye believe but Who is the author of same; not because, merely, this or that may have been said by this or that person, but - according to the true spiritual law - because "My Spirit beareth witness with thy spirit - where two shall agree as concerning anything, they shall ask my Father in heaven and He will do it, that I may be glorified."Reading 1499-1:
13. Hence all the more there is the necessity that the entity within self find what is its ideal. Not only in what it may believe, as for moral, religious, social or business associations and activities, but as to WHO is the author of such a choice. Is it founded in a growth from within as of a spiritual nature, or is it founded in self-indulgence or self-gratification, or self-glorification?Reading 1523-1:
12. This does not indicate, then, that the entity is to become long-faced, morose or goody-goody as might be termed. But know in what and in WHOM ye believe; and then act, in thy associations with others, in such a way and manner that thy good purpose, thy desires, thy goodness may not be evilspoken of - or that there is never a question within thy own individuality, thy own conscience, as to whether the choice thou hast taken in thy activities is a thing to be questioned.
13. For if ye know in Whom and in what ye believe, then ye may give - in thy manifested activity - a constructive influence ever.
22. The entity being grounded and founded, though, in that which must be the criterion of the entity - Know in Whom and in what ye have believed, and that it, the belief, is founded in a spiritual import - then the strength of the promises in the Creative Forces, or God, will be able to keep thee in thy disturbing periods.
65. Hence turmoils were caused; and all the more reason why it is necessary in the present to hold to that which has been indicated: Know in what ye believe and WHO is the author of same!
Monday, June 18, 2012
A.R.E. Meeting for 6/18/12
Leader: Eric
Reader: Greg
In the Search for God Book 1 Meditation chapter, we read from section "C. The Spirtual Body" up to "V. Methods of Meditation." (Page 15 in the old-style books.)
The experiment for the following week is:
"At the beginning of each meditation period take a few moments to become aware that there is consciousness within each cell of your body. Suggest to or ask your body to join the mind and spirit in this period of seeking."
Next week, if everyone is willing, we can watch part of the John Van Auken DVD "Meditation Techniques to Boost Soul Growth." The section where John goes into meditation is 1 hour and 13 minutes long, but we may be able to speed it up during certain parts.
Reader: Greg
In the Search for God Book 1 Meditation chapter, we read from section "C. The Spirtual Body" up to "V. Methods of Meditation." (Page 15 in the old-style books.)
The experiment for the following week is:
"At the beginning of each meditation period take a few moments to become aware that there is consciousness within each cell of your body. Suggest to or ask your body to join the mind and spirit in this period of seeking."
Next week, if everyone is willing, we can watch part of the John Van Auken DVD "Meditation Techniques to Boost Soul Growth." The section where John goes into meditation is 1 hour and 13 minutes long, but we may be able to speed it up during certain parts.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Asking for Healing
The question comes up occasionally in our study group as to whether we need the approval or the request of someone we wish to send healing energy. Sending healing energy is different than surrounding a person in light and love, which we typically do after a meditation. Here is a conversation that Edgar Cayce had with a member (2112) of the original Glad Helpers on December 3, 1931:
From Reading 281-3:
From Reading 281-3:
20. (Q) [2112]: Could Carrie Everett, Colonial Ave., Norfolk, be healed through me? and in what way?
(A) By gaining first that sincere desire on the part OF Carrie Everett TO be, WANT to BE, healed! Then there may be raised within self that that will overcome those destructive forces that are EATING at the vitals of the physical body.
21. (Q) In what way?
(A) By first - there MUST be the DESIRE, that can only come within self.
22. (Q) I have four ways of healing. Which shall I use?
(A) There must first be the DESIRE on the part OF Carrie Everett to be healed! You cannot create them, no matter what thou hast! GOD cannot save a man that would NOT be saved!
Monday, June 11, 2012
A.R.E. Meeting for 06/11/12
Leader: Eric
Reader: Eric
In the Meditation chapter, we read from section "B. The Mental Body" up to "C. The Spirtual Body."
You have your choice of two experiments this week, depending on which you are drawn to:
Experiment 1 (page 11): As an activity separate from your meditation period, each day have a period of prayer (thanksgiving, confessional, petitionary, or whatever form you find meaningful that day).
Experiment 2 (page 13): For your daily meditation period choose a specific aid for attunement or approach to preparation. Let it be something that you have not used in a regular fashion before (e.g., a specific chant, incense, exercise, music, method of cleansing, or abstinence from a particular activity). Complete this activity each day as part of your meditation period and keep a record of your experience in using it.
Reader: Eric
In the Meditation chapter, we read from section "B. The Mental Body" up to "C. The Spirtual Body."
You have your choice of two experiments this week, depending on which you are drawn to:
Experiment 1 (page 11): As an activity separate from your meditation period, each day have a period of prayer (thanksgiving, confessional, petitionary, or whatever form you find meaningful that day).
Experiment 2 (page 13): For your daily meditation period choose a specific aid for attunement or approach to preparation. Let it be something that you have not used in a regular fashion before (e.g., a specific chant, incense, exercise, music, method of cleansing, or abstinence from a particular activity). Complete this activity each day as part of your meditation period and keep a record of your experience in using it.
Monday, June 4, 2012
A.R.E Meeting for 06/04/12
Leader: Eric
Readers: Eric and Greg
We started at the beginning of the Search for God, Book 1, with the topic of meditation. A definition was given, and we covered how to prepare the physical body. Next week we will start on page 11 (of the small book) with the preparation of the mental body.
The experiment for the week is: "Take time at the end of each day to write down that which you thought, did or experienced during the past 24 hours which you feel was especially valuable."
Welcome to Lawrence who joined the group tonight.
Readers: Eric and Greg
We started at the beginning of the Search for God, Book 1, with the topic of meditation. A definition was given, and we covered how to prepare the physical body. Next week we will start on page 11 (of the small book) with the preparation of the mental body.
The experiment for the week is: "Take time at the end of each day to write down that which you thought, did or experienced during the past 24 hours which you feel was especially valuable."
Welcome to Lawrence who joined the group tonight.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The Cayce Remedies on Health and Healing
From "Introduction to the Cayce Remedies on Health and Healing" by Mark Thurston, Ph.D.
No matter what illness or ailment concerns us, certain basic principles about health and healing are relevant. These are the premises upon which all of the Cayce health information rests. The first fundamental idea about healing requires that we maintain a creative balance between two principles:
All healing comes from the infinite -- that is, from attunement and harmony with our spiritual source. The infinite is just as accessible and available in the visible, physical world as it is in the invisible realm. At the same time, each person must take responsibility for his or her own healing process. No one can simply sit back and wait passively for healing to occur.
This second principle -- the need for self-responsibility -- can take many forms. For example, healing requires attunement, and no one knows better than ourselves exactly what has gotten us out of attunement in the past. Often, if we'll look closely at our lives, we can see (without needing a gifted medical clairvoyant such as Edgar Cayce) what's causing our illness.
To illustrate self-responsibility further, the human body has a marvelous, innate drive to heal itself, but we've got to do our part to help. A broken bone will naturally try to mend; however, the fracture needs to be set properly for the healing to be complete and effective.
Balance among body, mind, and spirit is another key to Cayce's philosophy of healing. For healing to be complete and lasting, we must recognize and meet the needs of each of these three levels. Virtually no illness or disease can be treated successfully at only one of these three levels.
What's more, Cayce affirms that the human body will naturally stay healthy -- and even rejuvenate itself -- if a kind of internal balance can be maintained. "Dis-ease" starts when one part of the body draws energy from another part. One portion of an organism may become overcharged with the creative life force, while another portion becomes undernourished. The result is a gradual disintegration of the body and the onset of illness.
The opposite of this sort of disintegration is rejuvenation. The readings assert that we are continuously rebuilding our bodies. Within any seven-year period, each cell is replaced. If we'll allow it, our bodies will transform any problem and resuscitate any condition. But our ingrained habits usually block this healing potential -- the habits of action and, even more potent, the habits of mind.
What role do drugs and medicine play in the healing process? Cayce's philosophy clearly sees a place for them, but warns of misunderstanding how they work and of expecting more of them than is possible. Any healing method attempts to create an experience of oneness, in hopes of then stimulating a similar response in the body. For some people in some situations, a drug may be the best way to accomplish this -- just as in other cases, surgery may be the best way to stimulate healing. Medicines can be a practical application of the one life force. Occasionally they must be very potent in their reactions in order to get the patient through an acute illness. But Cayce from time to time encouraged people to consider the herbal formulas he recommended to be tonics and stimulants, rather than medicines.
The dangerous side of medicines is their potential to diminish the body's own healing work. This is what Cayce alluded to when he warned about "palliatives" that deceive the soul with half truths and temporary relief. It's also what he meant when he warned that we shouldn't come to rely on any condition outside of ourselves that could be assimilated by the body inwardly. All of this is to say, take the medications prescribed by the physician you trust. But keep in mind this thought: what those chemicals can do is temporarily -- and somewhat artificially -- give your body an experience of greater oneness. Healing that really takes hold and lasts must come from changing one's inner consciousness and vibration. That happens most effectively from consistent and persistent human effort (i.e., engaging one's desires, purposes, and will) -- something that pills all too easily allow us to skip.
Cayce's healing philosophy includes other insights that can help us avoid misunderstanding. For example, one principle states that the best treatment procedures sometimes cause a temporary worsening of conditions. If we didn't recognize this possibility, we might give up just before the benefits begin to appear. A closely related principle states that when a body is re-establishing its attunement, it tends to be more sensitive. Again, if we misunderstand that heightened sensitivity, we might not see the good that is slowly being effected.
The mind is a focus of other healing principles. The unconscious mind plays a role in many illnesses and diseases. One example of this is the karmic factor in health problems. Memories from previous incarnations, stored in the soul mind, can trigger problems in the body. Of course, we shouldn't go so far as to suppose that every health challenge has past-life roots; nevertheless, the perspective of reincarnation can help us understand what we could possibly be dealing with as we seek healing.
The familiar Cayce axiom, "Mind is the builder," leads us to wonder exactly which attitudes and emotions best foster healing.
The readings emphasize several:
• Self-acceptance. As we rid ourselves of self-condemnation, we make room for healing forces to enter.
• Optimism and hope. We're encouraged to expect healing.
• Patience.
It's much easier and quicker to destroy health than it is to rebuild it. We need to be willing to patiently invest whatever time is require.
Perhaps the most important principle of the mind's relationship to healing concerns purposefulness. A person can experience temporarily an outer healing -- that is, in the physical body only -- yet still be spiritually sick. What cures the soul? A commitment to a purposeful life. Not just any purpose, but instead one that reflects care for other people.
On occasion a reading from Cayce would pose this question to the person who was ill: What would you do with your life if you were healed? The position of Cayce's psychic source was simply this: Why correct the physical condition unless there's also going to be an inner correction? People who are looking for both inner and outer healing are the best candidates for restored health and vitality. In Cayce's philosophy, healing should equip us to be more useful to others.
For, all healing comes from the one source. And whether there is the application of foods, exercise, medicine or even the knife-it is to bring [to] the consciousness of the forces within the body that aid in reproducing themselves-[which is] the awareness of creative or God forces.
Edgar Cayce Reading 2696-1
No matter what illness or ailment concerns us, certain basic principles about health and healing are relevant. These are the premises upon which all of the Cayce health information rests. The first fundamental idea about healing requires that we maintain a creative balance between two principles:
All healing comes from the infinite -- that is, from attunement and harmony with our spiritual source. The infinite is just as accessible and available in the visible, physical world as it is in the invisible realm. At the same time, each person must take responsibility for his or her own healing process. No one can simply sit back and wait passively for healing to occur.
This second principle -- the need for self-responsibility -- can take many forms. For example, healing requires attunement, and no one knows better than ourselves exactly what has gotten us out of attunement in the past. Often, if we'll look closely at our lives, we can see (without needing a gifted medical clairvoyant such as Edgar Cayce) what's causing our illness.
To illustrate self-responsibility further, the human body has a marvelous, innate drive to heal itself, but we've got to do our part to help. A broken bone will naturally try to mend; however, the fracture needs to be set properly for the healing to be complete and effective.
Balance among body, mind, and spirit is another key to Cayce's philosophy of healing. For healing to be complete and lasting, we must recognize and meet the needs of each of these three levels. Virtually no illness or disease can be treated successfully at only one of these three levels.
What's more, Cayce affirms that the human body will naturally stay healthy -- and even rejuvenate itself -- if a kind of internal balance can be maintained. "Dis-ease" starts when one part of the body draws energy from another part. One portion of an organism may become overcharged with the creative life force, while another portion becomes undernourished. The result is a gradual disintegration of the body and the onset of illness.
The opposite of this sort of disintegration is rejuvenation. The readings assert that we are continuously rebuilding our bodies. Within any seven-year period, each cell is replaced. If we'll allow it, our bodies will transform any problem and resuscitate any condition. But our ingrained habits usually block this healing potential -- the habits of action and, even more potent, the habits of mind.
What role do drugs and medicine play in the healing process? Cayce's philosophy clearly sees a place for them, but warns of misunderstanding how they work and of expecting more of them than is possible. Any healing method attempts to create an experience of oneness, in hopes of then stimulating a similar response in the body. For some people in some situations, a drug may be the best way to accomplish this -- just as in other cases, surgery may be the best way to stimulate healing. Medicines can be a practical application of the one life force. Occasionally they must be very potent in their reactions in order to get the patient through an acute illness. But Cayce from time to time encouraged people to consider the herbal formulas he recommended to be tonics and stimulants, rather than medicines.
The dangerous side of medicines is their potential to diminish the body's own healing work. This is what Cayce alluded to when he warned about "palliatives" that deceive the soul with half truths and temporary relief. It's also what he meant when he warned that we shouldn't come to rely on any condition outside of ourselves that could be assimilated by the body inwardly. All of this is to say, take the medications prescribed by the physician you trust. But keep in mind this thought: what those chemicals can do is temporarily -- and somewhat artificially -- give your body an experience of greater oneness. Healing that really takes hold and lasts must come from changing one's inner consciousness and vibration. That happens most effectively from consistent and persistent human effort (i.e., engaging one's desires, purposes, and will) -- something that pills all too easily allow us to skip.
Cayce's healing philosophy includes other insights that can help us avoid misunderstanding. For example, one principle states that the best treatment procedures sometimes cause a temporary worsening of conditions. If we didn't recognize this possibility, we might give up just before the benefits begin to appear. A closely related principle states that when a body is re-establishing its attunement, it tends to be more sensitive. Again, if we misunderstand that heightened sensitivity, we might not see the good that is slowly being effected.
The mind is a focus of other healing principles. The unconscious mind plays a role in many illnesses and diseases. One example of this is the karmic factor in health problems. Memories from previous incarnations, stored in the soul mind, can trigger problems in the body. Of course, we shouldn't go so far as to suppose that every health challenge has past-life roots; nevertheless, the perspective of reincarnation can help us understand what we could possibly be dealing with as we seek healing.
The familiar Cayce axiom, "Mind is the builder," leads us to wonder exactly which attitudes and emotions best foster healing.
The readings emphasize several:
• Self-acceptance. As we rid ourselves of self-condemnation, we make room for healing forces to enter.
• Optimism and hope. We're encouraged to expect healing.
• Patience.
It's much easier and quicker to destroy health than it is to rebuild it. We need to be willing to patiently invest whatever time is require.
Perhaps the most important principle of the mind's relationship to healing concerns purposefulness. A person can experience temporarily an outer healing -- that is, in the physical body only -- yet still be spiritually sick. What cures the soul? A commitment to a purposeful life. Not just any purpose, but instead one that reflects care for other people.
On occasion a reading from Cayce would pose this question to the person who was ill: What would you do with your life if you were healed? The position of Cayce's psychic source was simply this: Why correct the physical condition unless there's also going to be an inner correction? People who are looking for both inner and outer healing are the best candidates for restored health and vitality. In Cayce's philosophy, healing should equip us to be more useful to others.
For, all healing comes from the one source. And whether there is the application of foods, exercise, medicine or even the knife-it is to bring [to] the consciousness of the forces within the body that aid in reproducing themselves-[which is] the awareness of creative or God forces.
Edgar Cayce Reading 2696-1
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