Steps to Awareness of the Akashic Field
“Our relationship to the universal awareness often seems paradoxical. In one way, we are a part of it, for we are part of the whole. And yet, on the other hand, we also experience ourselves as being unique individuals… Except for those rare instances of psychic or spiritual experience, our existence as conscious physical beings usually seems to be cut off from the universal awareness. We frequently fail to see the unity of all life, and we tend to see ourselves as independent, although very limited creatures.” (Mark Thurston, Ph.D.)
As the saying goes, God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. When we look back on our lives, we can often see a thread that weaves through our seemingly independent experiences. For me, it began with hardship and the effort to help my daughter overcome a serious health issue, and it has led to me speaking with some authority on the topic of the psychic or spiritual world and the mysteries of consciousness.
When I was growing up in working-class Toronto in the 1960s, psychic phenomena and E.S.P. were the furthest from my realm of experience. I wasn’t much interested in philosophy or psychology, and I considered myself a pragmatist and a skeptic. I was the guy who would berate my sisters for going to see a local fortune teller. Until the age of twenty-three, I had never heard of Edgar Cayce, and I had pretty much come to the conclusion that psychic phenomena was a bunch of bunk.
At that time, I was already married with a young family, working as a tradesman on the printing presses of the nation’s largest newspaper. My daughter, Cheri-Anne, had been in and out of hospitals for most of her life. She was prone to seizures. She wasn’t able to walk properly. She could not speak properly. The doctors had prescribed sedatives to keep her manageable, but they were unable to tell us what was wrong. They strongly recommended putting her into an institution for handicapped children, with little hope of recovery. For four years, Cheri-Anne’s body deteriorated in the Plainfield Home for Crippled Children in Belleville, while my wife and I watched helplessly.
But we were given hope, when one of my co-workers handed me a book called There Is A River: A Biography of Edgar Cayce. It opened my eyes and was the first step on a path that I continue to walk this very day.
After learning about Cayce’s amazing abilities, my awareness was receptive to spiritual truths. I was ready. But more than that, I was actively searching for answers. Seemingly “at random” and “out of the blue,” individual after individual came into my life to further my education. The first was a man from Michigan named Ross Peterson. He was the guest on a television show that I happened to turn on one day. It was hosted by Allen Spraggett, author of a series of books about unexplained phenomena (including a biography of Peterson). Peterson was called “the new Edgar Cayce” and he could demonstrate the same amazing ability to put himself into a sleep-like state of consciousness from which he could give accurate health information on subjects, no matter where they were. In short order, I had my own psychic reading with Peterson (largely about Cheri-Anne), and eventually I came to study with him.
I was inspired and encouraged by these demonstrations of intuitive ability that could be proven. This was well beyond tarot cards and tea leaves. This was something different. Something special. Something real. Just the same as Cayce, Peterson often said that the development of intuitive ability is the prerogative of everyone. I took it to heart and began my own experiments with meditation and altering my consciousness. As I began to see glimpses of things beyond my own physical perception and understanding, I was encouraged that I could do this, too, and that I was not just making it all up.
In 1984, I had my abilities put to the test by the Association for Research and Enlightenment. By this time, I was already giving four deep meditation readings (what I now call Quantum Meditation™ readings) per day to the public, and I was making a decent living at it. Gina Cerminara, author of a number of Cayce books, had recommended me for this project, after I had given her a reading. Unfortunately, I did not receive the detailed assessment I had hoped for, as the research project “dealt only with psychological and spiritual issues… [and] physical diagnoses and questions related to physical problems were not allowed” (Mark Thurston, Ph.D., 1985). Largely, the ratings were subjective, but according to one A.R.E. source, I scored “very high” among the test subjects.
My motto is “faith is built upon belief and belief is built upon evidence.” There is no other way. My evidence comes in the way of doing readings for people on an experiential basis. If the information you intuitively “see” can be validated or confirmed though one of the five physical senses, then it has some merit. It is the evidence we all need to continue to develop our intuitive abilities. You may get glimpses of the future. You may be given information about someone you do not know, whether they are in your house or on the other side of the world.
There are no secrets, no special diets, no conditions that preclude you from developing your own intuitive abilities. But there are steps to be taken. Taking the steps in controlling your breathing and your heart rate lead to unlocking that intuitive current that runs through you. Each of us has that Middle Mind capability which leads to opening the doors to all of the intuitive or spiritual gifts. The real key is tenacity. It is like learning to play an instrument or creating a piece of fine art. You can be taught the skill, but you need the predisposition as well, coupled with practice, practice, and more practice.
And, of course, you need a mentor.
When I was twenty-four, my mentor was a forty-nine-year-old man named Ross Peterson. Today, at sixty-four, I teach students from around the globe how to quiet the intellectual, chattering mind, and to connect to the larger mind — the Superconscious mind, the soul mind, or the Contemplative mind. At the end of a week-long intensive seminar, my students are able to feel that spiritual connection we all share, yet which eludes so many. From this, you can see someone at a distance you have never met or you may witness a world event that has yet to take place. You can do all of this because I can show you the steps to take, the same as the same steps I took. Simple steps, one building upon the other, to access that powerful mind. The only thing holding you back is your own doubt. I encourage you to take your steps, just like I did.