Essentially, the Search for God has two primary aspects – attunement within and service outward into the world. In this lesson we will focus on attunement, which in the simplest possible terms, consists of prayer and meditation.
Prayer has been defined as talking to God whereas meditation is listening for God. Both prayer and meditation can be either an individual or group experience. They can be combined in a conversational way so as to allow a dialogue with God, if that is desired.
Prayer may take on the form of praise, thanksgiving, submission, petition, a request for guidance or forgiveness, or for intercession on behalf of others. Meditation as an aid or method for spiritual awakening has a long and varied history. Whether the yogic practices of Hindus, the contemplation of Buddhist or Christian monks, the whirling dervishes of Muslim Suffis, varied meditative techniques and practices have been used for inner attunement.
Indigenous peoples from around the world have used rituals and visioning to alter consciousness and attune to the unseen realm of spirit – bringing that inner experience back into the community or tribal setting in some useful way. Thus there are many ways and traditions for achieving inner attunement and making it practical in daily life. The exercises for this lesson will provide detailed recommendations on how to use prayer and meditation for attunement based on the Cayce readings. However first let’s lay a conceptual foundation so that we can appreciate the meaning of attunement with relation to the soul – and how the soul manifests in a material body.
With respect to our Search for God, spiritual attunement is the means by which the soul maintains its connection to its Source. We will be considering the creation story provided in the Cayce readings in many of the lessons that follow. For now, the important point is that we recognize the origin and destiny of the soul.
Each soul was created in the beginning to be a co-creative companion with God. With spiritual rebellion came the soul’s journey through materiality. Thus each soul is making its way through eternity, finding its way back to its source.
During the soul’s journey through materiality, attunement, through prayer and mediation especially, provides a means for communion with God, for maintaining a conscious connection with the Source. For the soul, life on earth is a three-dimensional experience, not only in spatial dimensions, but in consciousness as well. Thus we tend to perceive and conceptualize in triune patterns.
With regard to the incarnation of the soul in a material body, the essential triune is that of physical, mental, and spiritual. These are one in the physical body and yet we can analyze each aspect of the triune, body-soul connection – in terms of anatomy and physiology. This connection provides the soul with the means to function in a material world and yet maintain its association with the realm of spirit.
The physical aspect is readily apparent. It is the flesh and bones of our musculo-skeletal system. It is the vital internal organs – such as the heart and lungs; liver and kidneys – that keep us alive from moment to moment and sustain the physical body throughout its lifespan.
The mental aspect of the body-soul connection manifests through the nervous systems of the body. This is not so strange considering that modern neuroscience recognizes that mental functioning is associated with the activity of nerve cells. There are some important distinctions, however, that must be made.
Neuroscience tends to focus almost exclusively on the brain as the source of the mind. The brain is NOT the mind – the mind uses the brain. Furthermore, the mind uses other nerve centers throughout the body, and especially along the spine and in the abdomen.
The spiritual aspect of the body-soul connection manifests through the glands of the system. Specifically, with regard to the manifestation of the soul – that individualized expression of spirit – the primary interface in the physical body is the endocrine system. Endocrine glands secrete hormones directly into the circulation for distribution to the entire body. The endocrine glands are sometimes referred to as spiritual centers within the body.
There are two very special endocrine glands that deserve our attention: The Leydig gland (also sometimes called the lyden); and the pineal gland. In the Cayce readings these glands are called the seat of the soul in the body.
Now that we have covered the basic anatomy of the body-soul connection, let’s consider physiology – or the way these anatomical structures FUNCTION as the body-soul connection, and especially their significance during deep meditation.
Spirit is the life or lifeforce in the body. It is a low electrical vibration that operates at a cellular level to reproduce and regenerate the system. However this Creative Energy, which is synonymous with God in a material sense, can be raised in its intensity, resulting in altered consciousness, powerful healing effects, and increased creativity and productivity. Or, if the energy is misused or misdirected, it can have powerful pathological effects.
At this higher level of intensity the Creative Energy is sometimes called Kundalini, in reference to the practice of kundalini yoga or kundalini meditation, a traditional approach to working with this potent force. With the opening of the spiritual centers, and especially the closed door of the Leydig gland, this kundalini energy moves upward along the spine to the pineal gland in the center of the brain. As it moves along the spine it is distributed through certain key nerves plexuses and to the endocrine glands that we have described previously as spiritual centers.
In the eastern spiritual traditions, the interaction of kundalini energy through the nerves and gland centers has been witnessed by adepts with psychic vision who have designated these whirling vortexes of energy as chakras. The Cayce readings assert that this kundalini, lifeforce energy, moving through these centers, is responsible for the development of the fetus in the womb of the mother during pregnancy.
Thus, when the kundalini is activated during deep meditation, the primal pattern of creation is again taking place within the inner self – the soul in its connection with the physical body. The creative energy that formed the body is accessible for regeneration. Therefore, the potential for healing – of self and others – is available to those who know how to use deep meditation for this purpose.
The raising of this lifeforce energy also provides a channel for communion with the divine within. In meditation, the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of the soul entity are brought into attunement with their Source. Persons practicing deep meditation sometimes report mystical encounters with God – of being in the presence of the divine. In the application portion associated with this section you will be encouraged to practice some basic forms of meditation for guidance, mindfulness, and communion with God.