Some years ago, I had the good fortune to attend several workshops with John Upledger, the creator of Cranio-sacral Therapy. At the time I was well rooted in academia, and filled with a kind of doubt that is so valued by (and has been so useful to) academic science. But I was on the path, and I was trying.
According to scientific accepted beliefs at the time, the bones of the cranial vault, the skull, were cemented shut early in life. John disagreed, and felt that they were moveable, and in fact that they pulsated in response to the outpouring of, and the absorption of, the fluid which surrounds the brain and spinal cord. This is the fluid within the cranio-sacral sac.

Accordingly, he taught us to put ourselves into a state of relaxation, a state of peace if you will, and to feel the skull very, very lightly.
I was amazed, for I perceived the flaps of the skull opening wide, then retreating; opening wide and then retreating. Without going into detail about the usefulness of this type of perception and indeed the usefulness of cranio-sacral therapy, I will say that this movement of actually one or two millimeters of the skull plates, has been scientifically proven. The movements which I felt were those few millimeters, plus the movements of the subtle field, which can be perceived when in a state of sensitivity -- a state which can also be smothered by doubt or released by the suspension of doubt.

There are many similar experiences that allow us to open these new gates of perception. Two days ago, my big brother arrived from Florida. We decided to pray ritually together. Putting on our prayer shawls and the phylacteries (wooden boxes and leather thongs which contain our holiest prayers), we stood together in front of an altar that I have in my home. We prayed ritually; we prayed together. There was a great, great peace in the room, a surrounding envelope of togetherness, an egg containing us both. This was a perception which arrives on the scene only when we fear not and doubt not. It is a perception that resides in the Superworld of the Supermind.

This opportunity is available to all of us all of the time. However, there is a mass inferiority complex, I believe, when the time comes to challenge the established beliefs of society. And so we are filled with doubt. We close our eyes and ignore the subtle perceptions which would lead to these new and all-important data. Picture yourself in an elevator. The door has opened. Someone has come in. We move to a corner in order to create the proper space. Is this simply courtesy -- or is it not also a response to the felt perceptions of the subtle energies that surround both the new arrival and ourselves. The new arrival leaves and we move to expand our space. In this common experience, we are sensing and obeying the perceptions of our subtle apparatus.

Observe the birds on a telegraph wire, equally spaced. How do they know? Are they not obeying their perceptions of the subtle fields which surround them? When we meditate and quiet the mind, achieving the peace which is our closeness to the soul, there comes a time when inpourings of inspiration enter. We tend to doubt them, calling them "only imagination." But often they are inspired messages.
The gates to the Supermind have been opened -- and let us doubt not and fear not, for it is through these same gates that have come momentous discoveries of such as Archimedes and Galileo, the beautiful creations of Shakespeare and Dante, the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, and the dauntless courage of a Winston Churchill which saved a nation (indeed, the Western world) from what logic would have said was a most certain victory of the evils of Nazi-ism.
Fear not -­ doubt not -­ open the gates to the Supermind, and enter the peace of your soul.
Here are some guidelines and exercises that I have used. They have helped me on my way. Perhaps they will help you as well.

GUIDELINES AND EXERCISES
Meditate by:
1. quieting the body. Take a relaxed position, relaxing enough so that you can forget your body.
2. quieting the emotions. Let yourself calm down without struggle until you are relatively peaceful. Do not struggle, simply let it happen. As you do so, you will be developing psychological muscle to withstand the onslaughts of emotion in your daily life.
3. letting your mind go blank. If there are intruding thoughts or perceptions, let them "float" away, until there is a beautiful void. If the blankness is only momentary, you have achieved the beginning of it and can continue to enlarge it, both today and from this day forward.
4. awaiting the state of peace. Now you are close to the soul. You have opened the gates to the Supermind. Now if inspiration comes in, value it. Do not judge it as either great or worthless. Just let it be, and await again in the quiet of mind. This is a message for life itself. It is the way of the great saints, I believe.

We can all become saintly as we try, as we practice the lessons of inner peace and outer service.

Some of this material will be found in Dr. Pressman's newest book, Enter the Supermind, to be published in September, 1999 by Sterling House of Pittsburgh.

Maurie D. Pressman, M.D. is Emeritus Chairman of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center. He is Medical Director at the Center for Psychiatric Wellness, clinics that operate in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, N.J. These clinics bridge traditional and spiritual psychotherapy. Dr. Pressman can be reached at 200 Locust Street Philadelphia, Pa. 19106 215-922-0204 email: mauriedavid@earthlink.net.

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