sources would associate the four lower chakras—root, navel, solar plexus, and heart—with the Living Being (Nefesh). These chakras are also associated with the four children of Horus in Egyptian mysticism, as well as the four beasts in Ezekiel, in Daniel, and in Revelation. (Much more on these will be covered in chapter 13.) The three higher chakras—throat, third eye, and crown—would be associated with the Soul Mind (Ruach) and the Soul Being (Neshamah). See illustrations 27 and 28.
In Cayce’s teachings the throat chakra is associated with the will and is thus the first step to reconnecting with heavenly awareness and oneness with God. As one subdues his or her personal will and seeks God’s will, one turns from this outer, lower reality to the inner, higher ones. The crown and third eye are luminaries of higher consciousness and renew energy in the body. This energy flows from heavenly realms through the crown (the soft spot in the head of our body as infants). When flowing, it opens the closed third eye, the mind’s eye. This is also the region of the large frontal lobe of our brain, which so distinguishes us from animals. This area contains most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons associated with reward, attention, long-term memory, planning, and drive. In the frontal lobe resides the ability to conceive of future consequences resulting from current actions, to choose between good and bad actions, to recognize the best choice from among several options, to override and suppress unacceptable social responses, and discern similarities and differences between things or events.
Cayce recommended meditation for improving one’s bodily condition and raising one’s level of consciousness. He spoke of drawing up the energy and consciousness from the lower chakras to the higher ones. In his meditative method, the energy and consciousness rise up from the base of the spine to the base of the brain; then to the center of the brain, where the crown chakra awakens (the soft spot); and then flows over to the great frontal lobe, where the hypothalamus and pituitary glands (the master glands of the body) are located. Interestingly, Cayce associated the seven chakras with the body’s seven endocrine glands, which secrete their hormones directly into the blood system. The root chakra corresponds with the gonads (testes in males, and ovaries in females), the navel with the Leydig cells, the solar plexus with the adrenal glands and pancreas, the heart with the thymus, the throat with the thyroid, the crown with the pineal, and the third eye with the pituitary gland.
The Origin of Evil
Cayce also teaches that the three lower aspects of being—Soul Being, Soul Mind, and Living Being—existed long before we ever contacted the third dimension and physical life, clarifying that original sin was not a sin of the flesh, as is so often taught, but occurred in the spirit, in the soul, before it entered physical life. Souls brought their lower urges with them; flesh did not cause these urges, but it certainly facilitated a heightened expression of them. (EC 262–52)
Kabbalah teaches the same idea. When there is sin, darkness, or a defect in the creation, it is caused by a separation of what should be united. Souls may become, by misuse of their free wills, so completely focused on themselves that they become separated from the Whole. Of course, there really is no way that we can be outside of the Whole, but we can become unconscious of our oneness with the Whole. When this occurs, the mediating flow between the Creator and the created is broken, disrupting the creative flow and bringing darkness, evil, illness, and a sense of separation and aloneness. Even angels fall when this occurs.
The Counter to Evil
However, there is a countering influence to this separation. Both Cayce and Kabbalah teach that the higher aspects of our being, Spirit Mind and Spirit Being, are as pure and perfect as the moment they were conceived by God in God’s image. These higher portions have never left the presence and “throne of the Most High.” Even the least among us has his or her pure being in God’s presence.
The Zohar teaches that only the Nefesh is capable of sin. But that sin occurred before carnal life. This is why so many spiritual teachers purport that sin occurs in the heart and mind before it is manifested in the life of the body.
Changing the Name of God
Let’s conclude by reviewing stages of our Creation as expressed by changes in the name for God.
The Scriptures begin, breshit bara elohim [there is no distinction between lowercased and uppercased letters in Hebrew], “In the beginning God . . . ” The first name for God, as seen is this first line of Genesis, is Elohim. It is a plural Hebrew word that may be interpreted as “the Deities,” and the verse about creating us is translated in the plural as well : “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26; emphasis mine) By using the plural form, the authors were likely attempting to convey the collective nature of the Creator, to keep us from thinking that God is a divine individual, projecting individuals in its image, and that God is in some way a separate Being from us. Rather, it is a collective consciousness within which all the Creation was conceived and in which all exists. Elohim may be likened to the great assembly spoken of in Psalm 82:1, indicating all exists within this collective: “God is in the assembly of God; he is judging among the gods.” Curiously, though, when this plural name is used, it is commonly construed with singular verbs and adjectives, adding to the belief that this is not polytheism but the collective nature of God. Before we leave this psalm, consider verse 6: “I said, ‘You are gods, all of you are sons [and daughters] of the Most High.’” This is clearly a reference to our highest level of being, the Spirit Being with the Spirit Mind.
Kabbalah uses another name for the highest of God’s qualities, a name that does not appear in any Scripture. It is Ein Sof, which relates more to God beyond the Creation. This is God transcendent (ad le-ein sof). Gershom Scholem (December 5, 1897 to February 21, 1982), widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah and the first professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, taught that Ein Sof is the emanator of the emanations (sefirot). Sefirot are God’s energy and consciousness emanating throughout creation and found in the Kabbalah Tree of Life, which we will study in a later chapter.
Let’s continue with God, ourselves, and the evolving changes in the name of God.
As the Creation progresses, the name of God is changed. Changing the name of the God reflects changes in our relationship to God, not God’s changing condition. God is unchanged. Originally, we were created in God’s image, in Elohim’s image. (Genesis 1:26) Then, in chapter two, Yahweh Elohim (often interpreted as “Lord God”) creates us out of the dust of the earth and breathes life into us. (Genesis 2:7) In chapter four, Yahweh (Lord) is used during and after the birth of Cain and Abel. As the Bible story continues, God is called Adonai (Master), El (Mighty One), El ‘Elyon (Most High God), El Shaddai (God Almighty), El ‘Olam (Everlasting God), El Hai (Living God), and Avinu (“Our Father,” as found in Isaiah 63:16; Jeremiah 31:9; Psalms 103:13; and 1 Chronicles 29:10). In the New Testament, Jesus continues the Jewish concept of God as Father, using Abba (“Father” in Aramaic and in colloquial Hebrew at the time of Jesus).
All of these names reveal our shifting relationship with God as we grow away or toward oneness with our Creator. Consider how God identified Him-Herself to Moses on the mount when answering Moses’s question about His name: “I am that I am.”
And Moses said unto God, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?” And God said unto Moses, “I AM THAT I AM”; and he said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
Exodus 3:13–14
