Question:
Dear Rabbi,
I've wanted to ask someone in your position whether or not you've
ever read any of Edgar Cayce's philosophy which developed as a
result of his clairvoyant experiences or "readings".
One warning I've always taken into consideration when dealing
with what may be a communication or discourse from a spirit is
that every entity on 'that side' has a job and having long conversations
with us isn't one of them! Discernment of the dangers of such
an encounter - whether in a meditative state or waking - is another
concept I've been very interested in knowing about as well. Is
it your feeling or would you strongly believe that any contact
for someone like Mr.Cayce with a spiritual entity would be inherently
evil or detrimental?
Dana
Answer:
Dear Dana,
According to our understanding the spiritual world is complex
and dangerous. The Torah specifically forbids contacting the dead.
Any form of black or white magic that uses contacting the spiritual
world is restricted and defined in Jewish Law. You are not permitted
to do whatever you feel like in these matters.
An added problem is that the spiritual world is not wholly good.
There are positive and negative forces there. Someone contacting
the spiritual world will not easily be able to discern whether
or not they’re being told the truth. A spirit may pretend
to be your dead aunt. Therefore you need a very astute and holy
person to do the contacting in order trust the information gleaned
from the spiritual realm. Even the prophets had to be trained
by more experienced prophets to learn how to tell the difference
between trustworthy revelation and untrustworthy revelation.
In short, in our circles, the activity of contacting the spiritual
world is either forbidden or discouraged because of the many dangers.
Rabbi Max Weiman
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