The Science of Deep Trance Meditation (cont'd.)

iv. Merging of Minds

We can. For one who is prepared to work hard at achieving deeper and deeper levels of dissociation, to truly abandon the ego in the search for a larger consciousness, hypnotic induction may indeed be the "gateway" to not only higher powers of mind (such as remote viewing, ESP, empathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc.) but also to that "merge-point" at which all consciousness and knowledge is shared - but at which, ironically, time and space themselves would have very little meaning. This "merging of minds" in the absence of time/space constraints is, exactly as Edgar Cayce said, the key.

Of course, as with all great riddles, sometimes finding the answer only ends up raising new questions. If "merging minds" provide the answer, then whose minds, which minds, minds from where? Both Douglas Cottrell and Edgar Cayce are fully in agreement on this point also - the answer is "all minds," independent of the cycle of birth and death as we know it.

Which brings us back, full circle, to the issue of the Superconscious or Overself - the only metaphysical "launch pad" from which these sorts of contacts are believed to be possible, according, at least, to the most ancient texts on the planet. Interestingly, in the classic Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Second Century BC) the Superconscious is specifically referred to, literally, as the "rain cloud of all knowable things."

But let us not fool ourselves - these topics can never be proved conclusively, any more than one can prove, in a laboratory setting, the existence of the soul, or life after death [with full apologies to the Hollywood writing community, who, nonetheless, seem to be able to accomplish these impossible tasks every few weeks, within the pages of a movie or TV script!]. What we can do, however, is create a working postulate and then see if the evidence supports it.

And, in fact, that is precisely what appears to be happening. In a special reading done by Douglas for this article, I took the opportunity to "challenge" Douglas, yet again, by, in the course of the reading, asking him to locate a herbal tea, held in the questioner's own hand at the time of the session, given me by a Chinese acupuncturist who spoke almost no English.

"What effect on my body is this substance having?" I asked.

"Give us the name," said Douglas in DTM, after acknowledging that he had "located" the herbs held in my hand, while the question was being asked.

"I don't have a name. It is a Chinese compound, and I was not given the name."

There was a three- or four-second pause; always an indication that "something is happening" in the context of the DTM. "We have consulted with a mind knowledgeable in Chinese herbs," said Douglas. "This compound has the quality of thinning the blood, increasing blood flow, and allowing those substances that weigh heavily in the system - the drosses, the excesses - to be more readily carried to the organs of elimination."

The next day, I asked the acupuncturist what the tea was for. "Improves circulation," was his succinct two-word answer.

Similarly, working with the DTM, we must resist the urge to allow the strangeness of the phenomenon to put us off what is really important. We must, at the same time, expand our cosmology not only to include the Superconscious, and those so-called Akashic Records - a cosmic chalk board, if you like, that records everything we do and think - but we must, at the same time, learn to give up our fear of death, for in Douglas' world, ideas and the souls that created them never die.

At one level - a level arguably outside the scope of this work - Cayce and Cottrell are clearly demonstrating, via their unique abilities, the immortality of the soul, beyond our parochial notions of time and space, to a degree that leaves even those intuitives who "talk to the dead" standing in the cosmic dust, so to speak.

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