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The Mind - The Builder and the Way

The spirit is the life, the mind is the builder, the physical is the result...

This frequently reiterated formula from the Edgar Cayce readings may become trite from repetition; or as a basic premise, it may become a key to understanding some of the mysteries of the universe.

"The spirit is the life" indicates that there is only one force in the universe and that this force is not only the source of all life but is life itself. "The physical is the result" indicates that all we experience in the manifest universe is a projection of energies and patterns from beyond the physical. "The mind is the builder" indicates that there is a mediating process between the spiritual reality of the one force and the manifestations of that force as we experience them in our present three dimensional consciousness.

The role of the mind, from the perspective of the Edgar Cayce readings, is tremendous. This concept is so unusual that even those of us who are the most serious students of this information may underestimate or overlook it. Why? Perhaps because of the very magnitude of the implications of such a concept. We are like a third-grader who, while still struggling to perform one-digit additions and subtractions, learns the word "calculus" from a college student. This child may have no conception at all of the effectiveness of calculus in solving major engineering problems. In the same way, we may learn what someone says about the power of the mind and yet have little, if any, appreciation of a statement such as that given in the Edgar Cayce readings that the mind is nearer limitless than anything in the universe.

Made in His Image

The first premise upon which we must base all of our understanding is the Oneness of all force. Second, we must keep in mind that we are presently working in a three-dimensional consciousness so that our understanding of the Divine and of spiritual matters is enhanced by the utilization of triune concepts.

As we contemplate the triune nature of God with respect to the assurance that we are made in His image, we may in turn ask, "What is the triune nature of our own being which corresponds to that of the Godhead?" In the Edgar Cayce readings, we are invited to consider an answer to this question that is truly amazing. The implications of this answer are so profound and far-reaching that we may too quickly accept or reject them without the deep reflection warranted by an insight of such magnitude. The answer is that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit aspects of God, parallel the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of our own being. Let us examine carefully some of the ways in which the readings articulate this relationship:

... the entity finds itself body, mind and soul, and recognizes--or may become aware of the manifestation of the Godhead in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. He finds himself then a counterpart, a shadow of all that is;... 1776-1

Man finds himself a body, a mind, a soul. The body is self-evident. The mind also is at times understood. The soul or the spiritual portion is hoped for, and one may only discern same from a spiritual consciousness.

The body, the mind and the soul are as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit--just as infinity in its expression to the finite mind is expressed in time, space and patience. 2879-1

The Mind of God

The part of this formula which may most easily be understood is the relationship, indeed the identity, of the Holy Spirit with the spirit within our own inner being. The relationship which may be most difficult to understand is that which parallels the Father with the body. The Father is representative of the oneness of God and thus includes the whole. In an incarnation in the earth, our physical body contains within it the mental body and the spiritual body. Thus the body is inclusive of the physical, mental and spiritual and represents the whole, the oneness as of the Father.

Now the portion of the formula with which we are concerned here is the paralleling of the macrocosmic Son with that attribute within our own inner being which the readings call "the mental" or "the mind." The implications of this are far-reaching. It must be understood that the term "the mind" does not refer to the intellect as we understand it, nor does it refer to the limitations of the conscious mind. As spiritual beings, the readings define us as souls with the attributes of spirit, mind and the will. At this spiritual level, the mind is the aspect of our being which enables us to be co-creators with God. Let us consider the expression "the mind is the builder" as it relates to the macrocosmic trinity.

In the gospel of John, we are told of the vast significance of the role of the Word or the Logos aspect of God:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:1-3

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,..

John 1:14

Thus the creative aspect of the Divine through which everything was made is the Word or the Logos or the Christ. And this aspect of the Divine is, as it were, the mind of God as the builder. There are, of course, other Biblical references to the role of the Christ in the process of creation, such as this about the Son:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Col. 1:15-17

What does it mean to say that the Son, or the Christ, as the mind aspect of God, is the builder or the creator? Let us consider that there is only one force in the universe, which has its primary reality in the spirit plane. The material universe about us that we refer to as physical, is a projection of this one spiritual force into manifestation. The mind is the builder because it is the patterning mediator between the non-manifest reality of the Spirit and the manifest projection of the physical.

Let us consider an analogy to illustrate this sequence: Suppose some people came together for the purpose of educating their children in a new way. Their desire might lead to the formulation of plans to build a new school. They prepare blueprints for the design of the school, and subsequently, the school building is actually constructed. The blueprint level is that phase which mediates or is the transition between the spirit, purpose, desire and the actual manifestation related to that desire. Just as the blueprint constitutes the pattern for the manifested building, so is our mind the builder and our thoughts are true realities which subsequently become manifested in three dimensions. This analogy is three-dimensional. To understand more accurately how the mind works as the builder, we must introduce the concept of other dimensions.

Mind and the Fourth Dimension

The fourth dimension has its reality in thoughts and ideas. The third dimension is populated by projections from four-dimensional realities into three-dimensional manifestations. All creation, as we know it, moves through this sequence of the one force of the Spirit being given direction through desire or purpose or an ideal, then given patterning by the mind and manifestation in the physical. The mind, as mediator, participates both in the physical and the spiritual as indicated:

For, the body, and its soul is hinged upon the mental. For, in material manifestation in a three-dimensional world, mind is the builder... 2850-1

Know that the soul is eternal; the mind is both physical AND spiritual; the body is only temporal. 1788-3

Best definition that ever may be given of fourth dimension is an idea! 364-10

Truly then, do thoughts become the deeds,... truly is there found that the desire must precede the action and that directed thought becomes action in the concrete manner, through each force that the spiritual elements manifest through. And there then becomes the three manifestations in the three manners, in the three ways, all projections from a fourth-dimensional condition into a third-dimensional mind. 106-9

With our minds, we have built what we are and what we are presently experiencing. With our minds, by that upon which we continually dwell, we are building our bodies and experiences of the future. This future includes not only our remaining days in this incarnation but also those levels of consciousness which we will experience when we are released from the earth plane.

The Mind as the Way

Now let us consider an even more challenging concept. If we are made in the image of the triune God, what is the Christ or the Son aspect of our own being? The mind! Now the macrocosmic Christ is not only the builder, as the Logos, but He is also the Way. Just so within ourselves the Son is represented by the mind which, for us as individuals, is not only the builder but also the Way. For each of us, that aspect of our divine and spiritual nature which corresponds with the Christ, and thus becomes the Way, is the mind. The pattern of the Christ is written on that part of our soul which is the mind. When we choose that pattern and awaken it, when the mind is made one with the indwelling pattern, it becomes the Way.

For as in the Godhead, we find the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, so the mind of the entity is the way--as Jesus. The body is the whole, the one. The spirit, that ye entertain, is that which may coordinate with the mind of the Christ and not the mind of self for material desires. 3685-1

Thus as we find in the experiences in the earth, one only meets self. Learn, then, to stand oft aside and watch self pass by--even in those influences that at times are torments to thy mind. Remember, MIND is the builder. Just as Father, Son, Holy Spirit; body, mind, soul.

Then the Master--as the mind--is the way, is the how, that one becomes aware through application, through administration of the hopes, the desires, the faith of the soul itself. For, mind is of body and of soul, and when purified in the Christ Consciousness it lives on and on as such. 3292-1

The central premise from the statements above is ". .. the body-mental is as the savior of man - for it is through the application of the mental influences that we would control, we would build that which finds expression in the physical or in the soul ..." (864-1) From this premise, let us try to summarize and restate the nature and condition of man.

We were made in God's image. This means not only that there is a pattern of the Divine imprinted upon the soul but also that we are a miniature model of the triune God. This means that we have the opportunity to be co-creators with Him through the Logos or Christ within--the mind. The mind is the mediator between the spiritual and the physical. We are destined to be conformed to His image but we are enabled to do that only as we choose that image, that pattern, as the ideal, dwell upon it with the mind and manifest it in our lives.

For, as has been given as one of the immutable laws, that which the mind of a soul--a SOUL-dwells upon it becomes; for mind is the builder. And if the mind is in attune with the law of the force that brought the soul into being, it becomes spiritualized in its activity. If the mind is dwelling upon or directed in that desire towards the activities of the carnal influences, then it becomes destructive in such a force. 262-63

It amounts to this: Salvation is not an external event bestowed upon us, but an internal process of transformation. The atonement, or at-one-ment, is processed into our bodies and our souls by the builder and mediator--the Christ within--the mind. We are given the power and the pattern for that transformation, but we must choose the pattern, dwell upon it, and act upon it if the power is to flow through and transform us. We permit or allow His Power to transform us only through dwelling upon loving thoughts and acting in loving ways toward God and fellow man.

The Macrocosmic and the Microcosmic

Since ". .. the body and its soul is hinged upon the mental .. ." (2850-1), it is of the utmost importance that we understand the role and function of the mind. What is it and how does it work?

The physical universe about us seems so vast, real and stable that it is almost impossible for us to conceive of an act of creation in which, by thought, there was a movement from pure energy into manifestation of the entire physical universe. It is even more difficult for us to imagine how the Creator of a universe of such magnitude could be equated with an identity in the way in which the first verses of John indicate that all that was made was made through Him, and He became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Edgar Cayce readings express the same concept, sometimes in unusual terms such as, Who was the greatest: He who made the worlds or He who washed His disciples feet? Thus we find this information not only supporting and reiterating the Oneness of the Spirit manifesting in the life of Jesus and the Spirit through which the worlds were created, but also a far more difficult challenge: We, as children of God and brothers of this Son, are joint heirs in this sonship of the Divine and are indeed purposed to be co-creators with Him. Thus, the potential power of our own minds is so vast that it remains essentially unthinkable and, therefore, unexplored by us in our ordinary consciousness.

Again, let us contemplate this perspective: There is nothing in the universe nearer to limitless than the mind of man.

The Microcosmic Pattern

We have previously suggested a model for understanding the nature of man in which the primary dimension of being-consciousness-is depicted as a cone. This funnel-shaped model indicates the potentials both to focus on the finite and to have access to the Infinite. We have suggested that we are cut off from God by barriers of our own making. We may conceptualize our present separated levels of awareness as conscious, subconscious and superconscious. Along with these processes, we have also indicated parallel structures, namely the physical body, the mental body and the soul or the spiritual body.

Furthermore, we have indicated the following relationships in the physical body: the conscious is related to the sensory system, the subconscious to the autonomic nervous system and the superconscious to the endocrine system. Remember, as we have developed this special concept of the mind, we have stressed that by the mind we are referring neither to the intellect nor to the conscious mind.

As we extend this model a step further, we come to see a special relationship between the macrocosmic trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the microcosmic pattern of physical, mental and spiritual.

These correlations present us with the consideration of some very strange, yet very important, relationships between the subconscious processes, the mind, the mental body, the autonomic nervous system and the Christ within. These almost unthinkable correlations may puzzle us at first; however, let us illustrate with an example from hypnosis. It is possible, with a good hypnotic subject, for the hypnotist to touch the subject with a pencil eraser, suggesting that it is a lighted cigarette, and to see an actual blister being raised on the skin. The system mediating between the verbal suggestion and the physical manifestation by the power of suggestion (as we call it) is the subconscious mind, physically mediated by the autonomic nervous system. The suggestion is patterned by the imaginative forces of the mental body and manifested in the physical body. Just as the imaginative forces of the mind may mediate a physical suggestion into a physical manifestation, it may also mediate between the flow of energy from the Spirit into manifestation in our own physical bodies, as in spiritual healing.

The Power of the Mind: Spiritual or Occult?

As we begin to study the phenomena of psychical research or, in Biblical terms, the miracles, we observe occasions when the flow of this force extends through and beyond the individual body. Prayer, distant healing, psychokinesis and the power of projected thought in its various forms are all examples of how the mind may mediate, transform and project the One force so as to impact on physical things at a distance.

As spiritual beings who have free, (and rebellious) wills, we are not always properly motivated by high purposes and ideals. When the forces of the mind are projected to influence others or conditions, without respect to spiritual purposes, we have what the readings refer to as "occultism." There is considerable confusion about this. Some people who have discovered the power of the subconscious mind think just because it works, it must be right. Not so!

Mankind has produced a number of stories about someone receiving three wishes. Typically, the recipient needs the last two wishes to get him out of the trouble caused by the first! The moral is that the conscious mind doesn't know what is best. Rather than the conscious trying to program the subconscious, the conscious should invite the superconscious to express freely its high ideals.

Remember ". .. the key should be making, compelling, inducing, having the mind one with that which is the ideal." (262-84) The power, God, the Spirit, is love. There is within us the pattern of love. When we set that pattern as the ideal and dwell upon it with the imaginative forces of the mind as in meditation, we are transformed by and become that power and pattern. As the spirit flows through us, we are healed physically, mentally and spiritually and we become channels for aid and healing to others. The mind IS the builder and the way. Therefore:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

If you have questions about this lesson, please contact me.

Yours in peace and fellowship,

Herbert Bruce Puryear, Ph. D.