Fifteen years ago, on February 1, 2003, Elmer began a letter with, “Greetings from Lakewood Hills,” (his neighborhood in Kansas) and then he wrote,
“One heavy-duty personal task that we have nowadays is to counter the feeling that we are powerless in world affairs because individually we have only one voice. I learned from The Teacher, though, that that isn’t true. We aren’t voters, we are Thinkers.

 Explanation: The reason we have power to significantly affect the world, in spite of being only one person, is that Mind Makes the World, and every mentally-organized and focused Visualizer, who keeps his or her Mind ‘steady in the Light’ when facing chaos, has more effect on the Planetary Psyche than thousands of feeble thoughtforms that swirl in the prevailing wind.

 We, and others like us from around the Earth, who are gathering on the ‘World Mountain’ in our SOUL Bodies at this very moment, are the Planetary Channel…through which the Fellowship of Light radiates the Will of God, not through force of arms, but through Force of Mind.”

 It is even more important today to take on the “heavy-duty personal task” that Elmer wrote about because the sense of helplessness, of the futility of individual effort, has only grown since he wrote that in 2003. With Thinking – the capital T is intentional and signifies a clear, high level of thought – we can open up new perspectives on what is real and discover greater possibilities for what humans are able to do. Elmer was interested in countering the beliefs that we accept without question, the beliefs that become obstacles to knowing how powerful we can be.

Once again this week I heard a commentator say, “Facts don’t matter in elections, but playing on emotions – especially fear – does swing votes.” Increasing fear is a major way for authoritarian leaders to gain power, to make us feel “feeble” and powerless. Fear isolates us from each other because we become concerned only with our own individual survival, and it makes us easy to manipulate. Autocratic rulers thrive when they can direct our thinking.

In the Spring 1992 issue of ISSSEEM’s publication BRIDGES, Elmer and his wife and colleague Alyce wrote about using biofeedback training to free ourselves from ignorance about the true nature of reality and our human potential:
“… freedom for the average person can start … in a simple way through learning of psychophysiologic self-regulation for control of stress-related physiologic dysfunction.”

That’s where we can begin, and then we can go on to ask the essential questions – “Who am I?” and “What can I do?” – as we continue to develop awareness. Elmer and Alyce wrote,
“The idea and feeling of self-reliance, rising above a bad start in life, of accepting moral responsibility, developing our wills and converting afflictions into challenges, of using stumbling blocks as stepping stones – all these are affirmations of light, love, power, and joy – transpersonal affirmations that resonate in the environment.”

They added,
“At the beginning of self-regulation training in our Center for Applied Psychophysiology we do not tell clients that they will receive lessons in self-reliance, will disidentify (from some old beliefs) and establish transpersonal control in their lives – but that, in fact, is what they get, and what they begin to do….”

Becoming masters of our own thinking, discovering how to effectively help our own bodies, and generating change for ourselves, lead to self-reliance, a central concept in Elmer’s work. He and his colleagues at the Menninger Foundation found in clinical biofeedback a way to help us become “Thinkers” who can “keep our minds steady in the Light.” Elmer was as much an explorer of the many dimensions of reality as a researcher of psychophysiology – the mind-body interface. He was known first as a scientist, and then, when he no longer had to maintain a “professional” reputation, as a mystic or advanced yogi. His interest in self-reliance and human potential was to further knowledge about the transformation in consciousness that we are born to experience.

Steadied minds empower us and bring us together to form the Force of Mind that can counter the power grab by demogogues spreading fear, greed, and hate around the world. Elmer ended his letter with this,

“When international selfishness is replaced by sufficient international justice, The Teacher once told me, the so-called Millennium of Peace will be underway. He also said, “An injustice done to anyone anywhere on this planet is an injustice done to you.” And when I asked the reason, He said that all of us are connected to every other person by etheric, emotional, mental, and spiritual bonds. Individually we are the “cells” of the planet, and collectively we are The Planetary Mind.”
All the best from here,
Elmer

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