Dr Sir John Whitman Ray Anniversary Message
2004
Hello everyone.
Each year on the 21st of April I send out a short note to mark the anniversary of the passing of Dr Sir John Whitman Ray, founder of Body Electronics. Each year I wonder what can be said that hasn't already been said and each year I find that I don't have to go far because the message has a knack of seemingly writing itself.
I have spent much time over the last few months listening to audio recordings made by Dr Ray made in the early 1980's. This has been quite something for me who only knew John since 1994. In some ways for me it is as though he is still around as I hear things with new ears and with new perspectives.
John certainly changed his views about some things over the years while others he held steadfast to. And so I recall one oft-used statement, "Prove all things and hold fast that which is true," and reflect on those ideas he discarded and those he continued to prove true and thus maintain.
I now reach my own conclusions; what is true is that which is alive. The teaching that is true is that which lives; the teaching that is false is that which has no life. False doctrine is that which we have accepted and enact without question but also without faith. Thus the act of "proving" is not a one-off; proving is a moment-by-moment exercise of faith.
False doctrine is thus of two forms: that which we accept and do not prove and that which we accept and prove for a time but then cease to prove in our own lives.
If we are observant and honest, we will frequently find ourselves perpetuating false doctrine for various reasons: unwillingness to admit error or to accept correction, unwillingness to let go of our egoic desire to be right and to be seen to be right; unwillingness to let go of that which we can intellectually or logically "prove" and attachment to physical explanations and sources of knowledge; lack of discernment as to what or who is a reliable source of knowledge; lack of receptivity to the Light of God, the ultimate and only source of all true knowledge; and a host of other reasons that are uniquely ours.
Thus we read something in a book, hear it on a tape or at a seminar or someone tells us and we accept it. What is true or real in our world is what we accept into our world but that "truth" can yet be falsehood, thus enslaving us to compulsively being the effect of that falsehood we blindly and sometimes knowingly consider to be true. Often we have too much "invested" in a falsehood or we feel it serves us well enough for now, yet digging ourselves into deeper submission to the falsehood. Over time, not only do we perpetuate the untruth in ourselves, but we share our ignorance with those we associate with and accrue a karmic burden for doing so. Often we share this falsehood idly, without consideration of the consequences.
This physical world is meaningless other than that we learn to overcome our creative resistances and attachments to it so that we may be master over all physical energies and manifestation. Identification with matter begins to occur when we attribute truth to the physical universe instead of to our inner essence. No observation of matter, the universe, alone can reveal the truth.
Thus in proving that which is true we must turn inwards and upwards. Even the living words of a true prophet of God will turn to dead lies if we reject the spirit in which the words are given, for words alone are but a third of all creative power (the other two thirds being the feeling and thought patterns given with the words). Whenever we turn to the outer for objective proof, as justified as it may seem, we accept a lie.
We are thus responsible for consciously choosing our words which we feel in our heart to be true and correct and coming from a motivation of love to reveal a truth we hold in our mind as a mental picture in economic perfection to another person or else hold our silence. Anything less is being given in falsehood. Let us yet be keen observers and realise when a message is intended for us and take it to heart or realise when it is meant for another and let it pass without judgement so that we do not receive in falsehood.
So when I consider the wealth of information starting to surface now about topics John was out on an unpopular limb with 20 years ago, I begin to recognise just how far John was ahead of his time when he recorded these tapes. In fact, I wonder what limb he'd be out on today; what far out concepts, nutrients or teachings would he be talking to us about?
For a time I considered that the loss of this true pioneer was also the loss of an authority. Yet subsequently I have found that knowledge, even regarding the principles of Body Electronics, continues to flow and that if Body Electronics is to remain a true teaching we must each continue to prove it true in our daily lives, rather than accepting an understanding we adopted some years ago without a faithful proving or because of something we think we remember John once saying. Thus we need to be careful not to enshrine the truth as we know it today into stone, lest it become tomorrow's lie. This does not mean the principles change, only our understanding and ability to apply them.
I am often asked what I think of this supplement or that philosophy and think back to how John always had an answer, seemingly having studied and experienced every field of endeavour imaginable to man. I still recall mentally calling John's bluff over his casual reference in a seminar to having been a bee keeper. "No John, you were not a bee keeper," I thought as I laughed to myself. Several years later I noticed some bee keeping books on his library shelf and had to eat some mental humble pie. It's the best kind and I can heartily recommend it.
It is thus up to us to come up with our own answers, to prove all things and hold fast that which is true, to not be daunted by the unbelief we are sometimes met with. Does it make you feel good or does it produce or support a healing crisis? Does it lead to eye colour or structure change? Does it lead to regeneration and the specific memory of what has been buried and the memory of oneself as the only cause or the further suppression of symptoms and memory? Finally, not just "did it do it once?", but does it continue to do it?
In continual gratitude to Dr John Whitman Ray for showing me the irrepressible truth, I send blessings to you all.
In Love, Light and Perfection,
"I AM"
Graham Bennett