Harvey Green's Research of Edgar
Cayce on Spirit Realms
The First Region
In
the First Region of the Spirit Land we are surrounded by
archetypes of material things. From this realm matter is
transformed from the mental to the material. There is life
and activity everywhere in this, the lowest region of the
Spirit Land. Here in the First Region all activity is heard
as music and all of the music blends together in magnificent
harmonies. The physical forms created here appear more as
a presence than as fixed. Gradually the presence is seen
as a distortion and finally as dark outlines against the
colors which emanate from the harmonies.
Steiner commented
that what is considered to be just thoughts in lower realms
become reality in this First Region. Here we move among
the thoughts and we experience their essence. The thoughts
have form, and as we pass through them we experience the
full potential of each one. We now have the opportunity
to see how reality arises in the Earth and how our thoughts
work upon the fabric of reality. Although we live in community,
we no longer have a sense of personality. We have a much
greater sense of membership than we do of self. We feel
a growing unity with our community, our society, and the
entire region. We feel an inseparable union with the archetypes,
all that they transform into reality, and one with the primordial
spirit.
Those in the Earth
who eventually feel one with nature and one with the material
region draw this awareness from the First Region of the
Spirit Land. It is in this First Region we have the opportunity
to see and experience our thoughts as ultimate reality.
In the Earth we experience
thought on a continuum of time and space. This means that
our experience takes place gradually and in measured amounts.
In this First Region of the Spirit Land we experience primal
creative thought in its fullest sense from origin through
manifestation.
In the Earth what
sets clairvoyants apart from others is the ability to perceive
and understand potentials which arise from thought. From
this First Region and onward we experience and are fully
aware of just such potential.
As in the regions of the Soul
Land, there are those in the Spirit Land who are permanent
residents in each realm we pass through. As we work in each
region we are as unaware of their presence as they are of
ours. Those souls that we commune with in each region are
part of our eternal family with whom we have always been
connected. Many souls that we encounter are those we have
lived with in most of our earthly incarnations, while others
have moved with us through successive realms, and many are
members of our soul family with whom we have never lost
touch throughout creation.
The Second
Region
In
the Second Region of the Spirit Land we find the archetypes
of life. Steiner noted that these archetypes transform thought
matter into living things in the Earth. Here in this region
we see the relationship of life in the human family and
all other living creatures. We develop an appreciation and
respect for the oneness of all life and how any one life
affects all other life. Unity takes on a whole new meaning
for us in the Second Region where we experience not only
the commonness of all life but the interdependence of all
forms of it. We mix with the life forms as they flow, and
we gain our understanding in part from personal experience.
Our communities are now becoming wider, and we are more
likely to live with members of our larger soul family than
only those with whom we shared earthly experiences. The
capacity to know ourselves as one with all living things
arises from this Second Region.
It should be born
in mind that as we move from region to region we do not
go anywhere in a time and space sense of the words. All
of life interpenetrates, as all realms do. Our movement
takes place in consciousness rather than in a time and space
perspective.
We have noted that
as we grow in awareness we embody more and more of a single
region and eventually all of the region. This does not crowd
out anyone or anything else and ultimately all of creation
occupies the same space but not the same consciousness of
proximity. If this is difficult to understand let us look
at two individuals in the same automobile. One is driving
and the other is not. The longer one drives the car, the
more opportunity one has to use all of one's driving skills,
the more familiar one becomes with how the automobile reacts
to one's skills, the more intimate a part of the machine
one will feel. Likewise, the longer one remains a passenger
in the automobile, the more comfortable one gets, the more
one enjoys the experience, the more a part of the purpose
of the auto one feels he or she has become. Further, each
occupant is approximately in the same area but because of
the focus each views differently all that is within and
all that each passes through. By virtue of each individual
focus each rider of the automobile can be said to occupy
the same point but differ in proximity to the reality of
the journey. In reality our awareness can occupy the same
time and space as some one else but each individual awareness
would exist in its unfettered purity.
The Third Region
As we enter the Third
Region we experience the archetypes who are transforming
mental substance into soul qualities as used in the Earth.
Passions, instincts, desires, wishes, sensations, and feelings
within the incarnate soul all arise in the Third Region
of the Spirit Land. These soul qualities not only arise
from this region but their expression in the Earth can be
seen here in their true essence. One may be startled by
light storms here which give off discordant sounds and disrupt
the harmony of the archetype's creation. This is the counterpart
of sorrow, vengeance, and jealousy, when soul qualities
are lifted up in the expressions to the Third Region.
Here in the Third
Region we learn how to use the pulls on our souls. We learn
to direct our instincts and desires of every kind in a totally
unselfish manner. Those who have used their aspirations
as benefactors in the Earth have drawn this knowledge from
the Third Region of the Spirit Land. Ultimately anything
of a selfish nature will be lost in the Third Region, transformed
by the archetypes and sent into the Earth to be used for
good.
The Fourth
Region
When
we leave the Third Region and have rid ourselves of our
last traces of any self-centeredness, we are now prepared
for what Steiner described as the Fourth Region of the Spirit
Land. Here we no longer participate directly in the affairs
of materiality but in the care and maintenance of the archetypes
in other realms. At the same time spirit from higher realms
is drawn into the Fourth Region and transformed into usable
substance for archetypes to work on in other lower regions.
In the transformed spirit sent from the Fourth Region the
very creative forces of the archetypes may be found, and
even within those forces exists the pattern for creativity.
In the material world
each creation is imbued with the pattern for its perfect
manifestation. The pattern may be found as a fiber in the
life which emanates from higher realms. It is not fed once
into each living thing or even renewed periodically.
As spirit, life is
permanently flowing new into all living things; so too is
the pattern for its perfect manifestation. As creatures
in the Earth we draw upon this spirit and use it to meet
the daily challenges of material manifestation, as well
as to build creatively in the many realms intimately connected
with materiality. It must be borne in mind here that the
Earth is not an inferior realm. It is in fact where all
realms representatively come together. There is nothing
in any of the realms we experience that cannot be compared
to its representation in materiality, and that includes
life in the Fourth Region of the Spirit Land and beyond.
Here in the Fourth
Region we find an opportunity, previously unequaled, to
selflessly devote our lives to the care and maintenance
of all living things that do not owe their existence to
us. Those gifts for genius in arts, science, and government
are drawn from the Fourth Region; one who manifests any
of these talents well in the Earth has previously worked
in this region. If we did not pass through the Fourth Region
between incarnations, we would have no interest in things
common to all of humanity.
The Fifth Region
The Fifth Region
of the Spirit Land is bound up mostly in intentions and
purposes. Having discarded all earthly imperfections, we
exercise judgment differently than we formerly had imagined
possible. Now we truly fill the spirit region with our lives,
loves, and hopes. In the Fifth Region prophecy is an integral,
inseparable part of life; we are free to view as many of
our future incarnations as we wish. If one does not experience
this region between material incarnations, the person will
be found to be lacking direction in the next Earth life.
The Sixth and
Seventh Regions
The
Sixth and Seventh Regions of the Spirit Land are also intimately
involved in creation by drawing spirit from higher realms
and transforming it so it can be used by the archetypes
for an infinite variety of manifestations in the lower realms.
In the Seventh Region of the Spirit Land we reach the very
center of the three realities of Spirit Land, Soul Land,
and Materiality. Here we live in the presence of the seeds
of life which Steiner and Swedenborg called "life
kernels" (or "soul-seeds"). We now recognize ourselves
as our own life kernel. From the Seventh Region we have
a complete view of life unfolding in each successive realm;
the Spirit Land, Soul Land, and Materiality.
Returning to
Materiality
As
we discussed, there is a certain order in which we move
through realms and that order is dictated by sympathetic
resonance as well as proximity. Sympathetic resonance is
the overriding factor in our journey through reality, and
proximity is the shading influence. The timing for our return
is first and foremost a personal choice, while the influence
which makes this a longer or shorter, a more difficult or
easier journey is proximity. All throughout our spiritual
journey between earthly incarnations we live and grow in
communities with those we consider to be our soul family,
with whom we have shared experiences. There is no level
of reality where we do not have members of this soul family
of ours, and we commune with them wherever in creation we
go. We even plan together for our next incarnation and this,
of course, greatly influences our return. We do not plan
our return with certain members of our soul family simply
because we like them or they like us. Such plans are conceived
because of karmic considerations and because such a relationship
is vital to what we hope will be accomplished in our next
earthly life.
We do not sit down
at a certain point in creation, take a view of what is in
Earth, assisted or otherwise, with the options, and make
an instant decision regarding our next incarnation. We do
not make informed decisions in the Earth that way nor do
we do so outside of the Earth. We take into consideration
relationships with those who have preceded us into materiality
as well as those who will follow us. It would be foolish
to think that decisions of such magnitude for each of us
would be so poorly planned. Such a choice is made little
by little as one grows in reality, and the final step is
a small one indeed. Gradual planning to be part of a family
unit, a community, and a nation takes place over what we
would conceive of as time from an earthly perspective. The
Edgar Cayce discourses make a very strong case by insisting
that we choose our families, our parents, and even make
agreements, where possible, to choose our spouses and children.
This is not to infer that changes in plans will not occur,
but we should be aware of the vast amount of planning that
is done before our earthly incarnation.
When we are making
most of our plans and agreements for our next incarnation,
we do not have physical details before us. Instead we have
before us relationships to others, to situations, and to
those forces which have prepared us.
In our decision-making
process about our next material incarnation we deal largely
with two factors. First we work with motivation, then with
potential, and all the rest is the great adventure we call
life. Let us not think that we incarnate for the adventure
alone. For life and its living can be just as exciting for
all who incarnate, whatever their goals may be. For life
to be truly constructive we must deal with the motivation
and potentials which are best for us at the time; thus we
not only experience the adventure our God has prepared for
us, but we do so for our greatest good. As we move through
the realms around the Earth, motivation is laid bare before
us. Soon it is the most obvious condition and the framer
of all experience. We learn to identify motivation very
easily and accept it as the creative essence of the soul.
Respect for this primal motivational cause becomes inescapable
early on in our journey between Earth lives, and we learn
that motivation is the first condition in reality. In the
realm ruled by cause and effect, motivation is the fulcrum
through whose action all things come into being.
So here we have it;
we made plans bit by bit, as we traveled through reality,
regarding our next material incarnation, and we were drawn
to the proper timing just as we were drawn by correspondence
to the realms in which we resonate. When the proximity is
correct, when conditions are best, we then make a final
decision and in so doing we gain immeasurably. Half the
gain in life is "showing up"; consequently, according to
Edgar Cayce, half the gain in an earthly incarnation is
in deciding to do it. Throughout the whole of the experience
the angels of grace are there to give us all that we have
need for at any time. They are likewise ever present to
help us in our decisions regarding our next material incarnation.
There are those of
us who have so squandered our opportunities that we do not
have the fullness of freedom as do others. In such situations
our route through spiritual realms is not full enough for
us to enjoy the lessons which would be learned by a slower,
more wholesome period of recovery. As a result, some of
us cannot clearly see motivation and potential while others
may not even care. There are those of the angelic ministry
who guide such myopic souls toward their next incarnation,
but it is always the decision of the individual to incarnate
or not.
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