The concept I believe most foundational to Edgar Cayce's work is:

“The awareness within each soul, imprinted in pattern on the mind and waiting to be awakened by the will, of the soul’s oneness with God.”

-- Edgar Cayce reading 5749-14

In this concise statement, given as the definition of the Christ Consciousness, Cayce answers who we are, why we are here, and gives us the purpose and meaning of life. No limiting reference is made to a particular individual or religious tradition. The pattern of oneness is embedded within each and every one of us.

When we were created as souls, we were created from the oneness consciousness. We were created by an infinite God as part and parcel of that infinite consciousness. Cayce references the “many mansions” of which Jesus spoke of as being the many states of consciousness that are in God’s consciousness. So we come from an infinite consciousness, a “mansion” of consciousness, so to speak. As souls eventually entered the earth, it was akin to moving from a mansion into a three bedroom apartment. In such a move, not everything will fit. The earth is a three-dimensional plane of consciousness. Much would need to be placed into storage, which is a metaphor for the subconscious. So while we are in the waking state, we are aware of but three dimensions of our infinite consciousness. We have a sort of spiritual amnesia. Before birth, we are oneness conscious. Then once born into this world, we slip into three-dimensional consciousness, and soul consciousness slips into the subconscious realm. When we sleep, the ego/ three-dimensional consciousness is set aside, and we contact our soul consciousness. When we awaken, we largely download soul contact through dreams. Cayce used hypnosis to “subjugate” the ego to access the soul realms.

This is what is meant in the quote about the oneness pattern “waiting to be awakened by the will.” The oneness pattern is “asleep” so to speak. It rests in the subconscious realm. Cayce now adds the idea that the sleeping oneness pattern must be awakened by the will. What is the will? It is the muscle of choice. “Choose Thou!” the entranced Cayce oftentimes advised. Hugh Lynn Cayce would often say during a lecture, “You really have one choice today. That choice is about whether you will meditate or not.” So how does meditation fit? In order to access the sleeping oneness pattern, we must reach into the subconscious and awaken that pattern. In meditation, we attune our worldly ego to the vibration of the soul oneness consciousness. The more you meditate, the more you awaken that consciousness into your waking state. What is it that is awakened? The Oneness/God vibration can best be described by the fruits of the spirit. As you meditate, you eat of the fruit of the spirit and assimilate that vibration into your waking life. What is oneness/God like? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If you knew people who reflected those virtues, wouldn’t you want to spend time with them? This is the company we keep when we use the will to choose to meditate daily. Did Jesus meditate? Did He not say, “I eat of the meat of which you know not of.” In my version of a Bible, it would read, “I eat of the fruit you know not of!”

So, to awaken the sleeping oneness, we must practice awakening techniques that help us reach into the subconscious soul realm. Meditation, prayer, dream study, and even hypnosis regression done with spiritual intention help us awaken that oneness pattern and live from it.

If this was a class, you might ask the question, “Can you give an example? What would this awakened pattern look like?” Cayce would answer that Jesus was a pretty good example of the awakened oneness pattern. When His mother and brother came to His gathering, and Jesus was interrupted, He answered: “Is not everyone here my mother and brother?” Jesus was speaking from the awakened Christ Consciousness of oneness. Cayce tells us that Jesus spent “the lost years” in India, Persia, and Egypt and He learned and practiced meditation and even deeper techniques to awaken the dormant oneness pattern. Buddha, for example, means the awakened one.

Let me close with two sources that inspired the title of this column. The first is from Carl Jung: “The one primarily in need of redemption is not man, but the deity who is lost and sleeping in matter.” The second, of course, is from the classic fairy tale. We are all indeed Sleeping Beauties in the process of awakening from our slumbers and remembering our dormant oneness.

Reprinted from the Oct-Dec 2018 edition of Venture Inward magazine, this blog is Lesson 11 of our 2018 Enlightenment Series. Members can access all of the available material, which also includes an online video and downloadable monthly practice with homework, in the member-only section of our website at EdgarCayce.org/members. Not a member? Join now.