Edgar Cayce (pronounced Kay-Cee, 1877-1945) has been called the “sleeping prophet”, the “father of holistic medicine”, and the most documented psychic of the 20th century. For more than 40 years of his adult life, Cayce gave psychic “readings” to thousands of seekers while in an unconscious state, diagnosing illnesses and revealing lives lived in the past and prophecies yet to come.
This post focuses on a collection of Cayce’s readings entitled REVELATION: A Commentary Based on a Study of Twenty-Four Psychic Discourses by Edgar Cayce. While in trance, Cayce imparted these readings to a group that included his wife Gertrude.
The lengthy series explained the meaning behind the symbolism of Revelation (a book in the New Testament). In a nutshell, they revealed that Revelation was an account of the spiritual significance of “perfectly synchronizing” the human endocrine system.
The readings also directed the preparation of a volume based on the interpretations and definitions Cayce supplied during these readings. Years later, a study group in New York produced the resulting Commentary. References below are to the 1993 printing of the Commentary (ARE Press).
Begin with the sex glands
Cayce’s source maintains that if one cleanses and purifies the forces of the gonads (reproductive centre), one can bring about complete regeneration (perfect operation of the endocrine system). This, according to the readings, is the key to the riddle of the Tree of Life referred to in Genesis. (p.153)
But how exactly does one cleanse the reproductive force? Spoiler alert: Sexual self-discipline. According to the readings, the answer is difficult to accept, but can be found through a combination of contemplation, experimentation and greater knowledge of the endocrine system. (pp.41, 50)
Interestingly, in recent decades neuroendocrine research has revealed much about sex and the endocrine system. Indirectly, it delivers some unwelcome news: passion is not the key to lasting bliss. In fact, it can lead to dissatisfaction, degeneration and disharmony.
The good news is that selfless affection also has endocrine effects. It can improve health, soothe cravings, promote harmony, and lay the groundwork for heightened spiritual awareness.
We’ll come back to these endocrine, actually neuroendocrine, discoveries and their implications later. First, let’s have a closer look at the Commentary.
Summary of Concepts in the Commentary
Chapter 2
The ‘Tree of Life’ is the power of regeneration inherent in a perfectly synchronized endocrine system. (p.153) Real knowledge of the body is sealed within the endocrine system. (p.169)
The original purpose of the sexual force has been lost, and it needs to be cleansed and return to its original purpose through self-discipline. Anyone who can do this will experience regeneration. (p.153)
Humankind’s creative, sexual potential is unlimited, but it has been curtailed by misuse. A period of purification is required. (p.155)
As the reproductive force moves upward it affects the other spiritual centres of the body, and activates the endocrine system to regenerate the body. (p.157)
At each level, we must choose to align with Divine Will, using our energy for spiritual ends, not for personal satisfaction. The latter creates imbalance and degeneration. (p.159)
Chapter 3
When the energy reaches the pineal, all our motivations stand out in bold relief. If they are pure, we connect with God-consciousness. (p.163)
The pituitary is called the master gland, but for the moment it has adapted to the limitations imposed by our current habits. We can choose to awaken it to its original potential. (p.165)
Chapter 4
We can only come into harmony with our higher self if our emotions are as calm as a ‘sea of glass.’ This means the senses [passions] relinquish their control over us. (p.167)
Chapter 5
The average person lacks the ability to open the endocrine seals of the body (raise the energy through the chakras). He must first develop Christ consciousness through experience. He is ready when the senses and the four lower centres acknowledge his control. This calls for the death of selfishness and self-will. (p.169)
Chapter 6
Once the centres open, there are grave repercussions from misusing one’s enhanced powers. (p.171)
Chapter 8
The awakening of the centres is a dramatic experience. It begins in the gonads, but the pituitary actually recharges the entire system. (p.175)
Chapter 9
The process clears out all old blocks. (p.177)
Chapter 10
One enters a timeless state. We must apply this knowledge, rather than simply contemplate how sweet it will be to awaken. (p.179)
Chapter 11
Intellect is a block because it is a belief in limitation, and a denial of ideals. While intellect rules, our capacity to regenerate remains latent. (p.181)
Chapter 12
Our will holds the key to breaking this hold, when we use it to control our rebellious physical urges. (p.183)
Chapter 13
It is vital to stay focused on our spiritual goal. Otherwise, the collusion of our intellect and selfish desires keeps us prisoner through our emotions. (p.185)
Chapter 14
The perfect souls in the world, acting as teachers, will bring about new experiences relating to the lower natures and the senses. (p.187)
Chapter 15
The new experience is dependent upon the exercise of self-control. Compliance with Divine Law (correct use of Creative Forces?) keeps the teachers stable. (p.189)
Chapter 16
Instructions on how to purify the reproductive force will be issued. When ignored, and sex is misused, disease follows because regeneration is not possible. Misapplied love will consume individuals. Propaganda (based on misuse of life force) will conflict with universal truth. [Think how our media touts the benefits of passion today.] (p.191)
Chapter 17
Lust adversely affects intelligence and keeps humankind’s rebellion against the Divine alive. It also saps our energy and ‘possesses’ us [Consider the World Health Organisation’s ICD-11 diagnosis Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Disorder]. We are creating this situation ourselves. However, these urges can be overcome. (p.193)
Chapter 18
Eventually self-gratification will lead to unworkable circumstances, and we will realize that we have been deluded and weakened by following a course of self-gratification. Due to over-indulgence, the senses will experience a sense of loss of stimulation and excitement. (p.195) [Consider how much Levitra®, Cialis® and Viagra® are sold every year, quite apart from sexual enhancement drugs for women.]
Chapter 19
When we turn away from selfish gratification, the senses and the lower centres will once again align with the Divine. Everyone must eventually make this adjustment. At this point the evolved Man (collective mankind) attains Christhood, and moves into a position of stability, power and judgment. He nourishes himself correctly, rejecting former errors and lusts. (p.197)
Chapter 20
For a long time, balance, peace and harmony prevail. Then those souls who have not mastered the transition from self-gratification to balance return and create havoc. Eventually they destroy themselves physically through tampering with natural forces and must again stop reincarnating. Collective Man makes his final choice (judgment) and all souls are freed. There is a purge of all creatures, mental forms and patterns not formed by Divine Will. (p.199)
Chapter 21
There is a final vision of perfected consciousness within a regenerated body and the elimination of all unstable emotional behaviour. Man is reunited with the Divine. When self-control is established, regeneration is restored and man is freed of all limitation. (p.201)
Chapter 22
The Creative Forces are finally flowing in alignment with Divine Will. We are reminded to worship the divine only, not external religion. (p.203) There are no safe shortcuts to raising the life force energy through the body. Meanderings have dire consequences. (p.203)
Was Cayce on target?
People used to think of the endocrine system as a series of ductless glands, like the gonads, adrenals, thymus, thyroid, pituitary and pineal. However, as the Commentary readings pointed out decades before scientists acknowledged it, every organ may be considered an endocrine gland. (p.30) This is because they each constantly signal the brain and other organs, and receive signals from them via neuroendocrine signals, in an infinitely complex, continuous feedback loop.
As Cayce correctly stated, we are activated by all our emotions through neuroendocrine secretions, which “flow into the whole system”. (p.30) The endocrine system is thus the link between our emotions and our physical bodies – and the relationship is circular. That is, our emotions have a powerful physical effect on our body via shifting neurochemical levels, and our neurochemical balance in turn powerfully affects our emotions.
The significance of this insight is that our neuroendocrine system is the mechanism by which the choices we make, for good or ill, show up in our body. (p.41)
Choosing an endocrine response (via sex)
The Commentary clarifies that there are two fundamental ways to employ our sexual energy. One is to use it instinctually and impulsively, as animals do. To achieve this result we simply yield to the neurochemical commands of the mating programme, which evolved with the brain’s limbic system (mammalian software program). We let sex control us.
Unfortunately, in the process, we set off neurochemical cycles of highs and lows, which temporarily alter our perceptions and priorities without our awareness. Fiery desire can over-stimulate the reward mechanism in the brain. A key neurochemical (dopamine) soars and then drops sharply after orgasm. Plummeting dopamine can alter mood and outlook profoundly. Other neurochemical changes also occur before and after climax.
Together, these pronounced fluctuations do much to explain why 9 out of 10 participants in a convenience sample of hundreds reported negative feelings after sex. “The most common symptoms in women were mood swings and sadness, whereas in men, it was unhappiness and low energy”.
As gratifying as orgasm feels in the moment, over the following days or even weeks, some people experience periods of defensiveness, emotional over-reactions, depression, irritability or uncomfortable symptoms. Most don’t connect these changes with the neurochemically-induced mood swings, feelings of scarcity, or cravings initiated by climax.
Urged by these uncomfortable feelings, humans often do things they later regret. Biology sees to it. For example, scientists recognise a phenomenon known as the Coolidge effect. It is the tendency to lose interest in a mate after sexual satiation while continuing to find novel partners enticing. Thus the Commentary appears to be correct that the “union of bodies through desire” can give rise to “suffering, hate, malice and injustice”, and bring into human experience the emotions that are the reverse of love, hope, patience and all spiritual attributes. (p. 41)
Pursuing sexual gratification, therefore, leads not to lasting contentment, but rather to recurring dissatisfaction, short-term thinking, and even addictions, all of which can bring out the worst in us. This is the way humankind currently uses its reproductive force. And according to the readings it constitutes misuse. In this way we unwittingly generate the recurring thought patterns of selfishness and scarcity that shape our experience of the world. We also tend to lower our spiritual sights, perhaps clutching onto external rules instead.
Cleansing desire with a “period of purification”
According to the Commentary, humans’ decision to use each other to gratify their physical appetites put them out of alignment with the Divine. Humankind can correct this error and synchronise body, mind and soul only if it manages sex the other way – by spiritualising the senses instead of gratifying them. (pp. 36,1)
Indeed, the Commentary suggests that humans must completely change their physical desires and aims if they would purify sexual desire, balance the endocrine system, and awaken spiritually.
As each soul completely changes its physical desires and aims, it experiences a new vision and comprehension. Those who have put away earthly desires enter a holy place. (p. 28)
The key is mastering sexual self-control, and the process necessitates a “period of purification”. (p. 155) As Chapter 4 of the Commentary hints, they can only come into harmony with the Divine if their emotions are as calm as a “sea of glass”. In this way, the senses (passions) relinquish their control over them.
In practical terms, lovers may benefit from an extended period of sexual meditation in their unions. Such a gentle, non-driven approach is indeed a radical change for most of us. We have taught ourselves to pursue the fleeting gratification of passion by all means. Habits can be tenacious.
Fortunately, the Commentary states that as desire is spiritualized toward a mate, it alleviates demanding physical urges. (p.37) Calm emotions and loving connection allow the neuroendocrine system to function optimally. In the process, humanity apparently brings forth the very best emotions in itself: contentment, patience, gentleness and kindness.
Neuroendocrine potential
Research on meditation may be relevant for any who want to understand the physiological benefits of spiritualising their unions via sexual meditation. Our minds exercise a surprising amount of control over our bodies. Our state of mind can influence heart rate, blood pressure, and the production of neurochemicals that determine stress levels and mood. For example, did you know that the practise of meditation triggers neuroendocrine activity that reduces psychological disorders such as anxiety? Meditation is also associated with cognitive benefits, and helpful with depression and substance abuse.
The key to the benefits doesn’t lie in any particular neurochemical according to Stanford professor Lumba-Brown, MD. “There are overall changes in … combinations of neurotransmitters that reflect a more positive, relaxed, and even contented direction”. And benefits go beyond what the standard medical model can so far measure. Researchers are just beginning to grapple with how to measure the transformative experiences that meditators often report.
Might relaxed affectionate exchange someday be acknowledged as a drug-free approach to reduce a variety of stress-related conditions and depressive mood disorders? These have become all too common in the 21st century. Certainly, relationship counsellors already recommend relaxed affectionate exchange by the name of “sensate focus”.
Oxytocin is also likely a key neuroendocrine player in the physiological benefits of serene union. This hormone (and neurochemical) appears to be one of the physiological mechanisms by which love and companionship positively affect wellbeing. The exact mechanism is not certain, but the key seems to be oxytocin’s ability to counteract the effects of stress (cortisol).
Perhaps this is why Cayce’s Reading 4082-1 advises that treating others kindly is the source of life, the source of love, the source of peace, the source of harmony, and the way in which we receive these benefits ourselves. It may be that as lovers choose oxytocin-promoting behaviours during their “us-time” the feeling of connection with each other, with others, and with the Divine all grow more pronounced.
Let’s get to it!
Is regeneration possible? Can we transform our unions into spiritual vehicles to higher states of awareness if we tap the hidden potential in our endocrine systems? There’s really only one way to find out. For better or worse, initiating endocrine regeneration apparently calls for time, self-discipline and consistency. And, of course, a suitable partner who shares the goal!
For now, at least we possess important neuroendocrine keys for understanding why sexual self-discipline+affectionate intimacy could potentially initiate endocrine regeneration. We know that our neurochemical state can dictate our emotional responses. What we haven’t generally realised it that we aren’t helpless puppets. We choose whether sex controls us or we control it. This is how we select which neurochemicals and which emotions we generate in our unions.
Our sexual choices have powerful physiological and spiritual implications according to the Commentary. In effect, whenever we unite sexually we choose between higher consciousness and mere instinctual expression. The outcome of our choice then shows up in our state of mind, our wellbeing and our unions. This is not a matter of dogma, but a neuroendocrine reality.
Neuroendocrine activation both shapes and mirrors our thoughts, feelings and expectations. Add to this Cayce’s repeated assurance that we mould our experience of the material plane with our minds, and suddenly the allure of the passion roller coaster declines. Surely it’s at least worth experimenting with a period of calm affection with a partner (and no solo sex). There’s not much to lose other than passing up some orgasms. If the Commentary might be right that regeneration and spiritual clarity are, in fact, at stake, let’s go for it!
If you’re fortunate enough to have a lover, make your own experiment. Just don’t try to rush the regeneration process. Apparently, human will must be sufficiently aligned with Divine Will to open the spiritual centres of the body safely. Otherwise there’s a risk of misusing the creative forces as they arise (p. 7), which would leave both partners worse off. Selflessness seems to be the best preparation for safely opening the spiritual centres.
Remember that the Commentary formula calls for a “period of purification”. Sexual meditation, with or without genital contact, seems a sound way to go about this resetting or “cleansing” process. History buffs may be intrigued to learn that controlled loving union, often without intercourse, has been employed in the past for spiritual ends under such names as “spiritual marriage”, fin’amor and asidhārāvrata.
Each may use such information as a helpful influence – first in their OWN experience, and then in assisting others to understand their purposes, their desires — physically, mentally, spiritually — in human relationships. (p.50)
