Levi H. Dowling

Levi H. Dowling (May 18, 1844 - August 13, 1911) was an American preacher. He was born in Bellville, Ohio. His father, of Scots and Welsh descent, was a pioneer preacher among the Disciples of Christ. At the age of thirteen, in his first public debate, he took the negative side against a Presbyterian Elder on "The Everlasting Punishment of the Wicked."

Levi began preaching at the age of sixteen; and at the age of eighteen was pastor of a small church. He entered the United States Army at the age of twenty, as a chaplain, and served in this capacity to the end of the Civil War. In 1866-1867, he was a student at Northwestern Christian University at Indianapolis, Indiana.

The next year he began publishing Sunday School literature, issuing Sunday School Lesson Papers, Song Books, and a Children's Sunday School Paper. Dowling preached President Lincoln's funeral service to Union troops in Illinois. He was the author of two spiritual healing books Self-Culture and Biopneuma: The Science of the Great Breath. The Publisher's Introduction to Biopneuma says that Levi taught chemistry, toxicology, physiology, histology, and lectured on the use of electricity in medicine.

Much of his time was devoted to the cause of Prohibition. He was a graduate of two medical colleges, and practiced medicine for a number of years. He finally retired from the medical profession to resume literary work.

Even as a child, he was impressed with the sensitiveness of the finer ethers, and believed that in some manner they were sensitized plates on which sounds, even thoughts, were recorded. With avidity he entered into the deeper studies of etheric vibration, determined to solve the great mysteries of the heavens for himself. Forty years he spent in study and silent meditation, and allegedly eventually he found himself in that stage of spiritual consciousness that permitted him to enter the domain of these superfine ethers, and become familiar with their mysteries. During the meditation, it was claimed that he was able to repeat events, as many times as necessary, in order to provide us with a perfect transcript. He spent many months transcribing the events he supposedly witnessed – in “The Book of God’s Remembrance” also known as The Akashic Records. His transcription is commonly known as “The Aquarian Gospel.” He allegedly learned that the imaginings of his boyhood days were founded upon veritable facts, and that every thought of every living thing is there recorded. He claimed that as a boy, he also had a vision in which he was told that he was to "build a white city." and this vision was repeated three times with years intervening. The building of the "white city" was The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.