The Essential Edgar Cayce (29 page)

Readst thou how the sons of God came together, and Satan came also? “Hast thou considered my servant? Hast thou seen his ways?” And the answer, even from the evil force, “Put forth thine hand—touch him in those things that pertain to the satisfying of desire that is flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” Then, “He is in thine hand, but touch not his soul—touch not his soul!”

So we see how that the coming into the earth has been and is for the evolution or the evolving of the soul unto its awareness of the effect of all influences in its experience in the varied spheres of activity; and that only in Him who was the creator, the maker, the experiencer of mortality and spirit and soul
could
this be over come.

Then, the necessity. For, has it not been said, has it not been shown in the experience of the earth, the world, from any angle it may be considered, that He has not willed that any should be lost—but has prepared the way of escape in Him, the Maker?

But who is the worthy servant? He that has endured unto the end!

Then, He has come in all ages when it has been necessary for the understanding to be centered in a
new
application of the same thought, “God
is
Spirit and seeks such to worship him in spirit and in truth!”

Then, as there is prepared the way by those that have made and do make the channels for the entering in, there may come into the earth those influences that will save, regenerate, resuscitate,
hold
—if you please—the earth in its continued activity toward the proper understanding and proper relationships to that which is the making for the closer relationships to that which is in Him
alone.
Ye have seen it in Adam; ye have heard it in Joshua, Joseph, David, and those that made the preparation then for him called Jesus. Ye have seen His Spirit in the leaders in all realms of activity, whether in the isles of the sea, the wilderness, the mountain, or in the various activities of every race, every color, every activity of that which has produced and does produce contention in the minds and hearts of those that dwell in the flesh.

For, what must be obliterated? Hate, prejudice, selfishness, backbiting, unkindness, anger, passion, and those things of the mire that are created in the activities of the sons of men.

Then again He may come in body to claim His own. Is He abroad today in the earth? Yea, in those that cry unto Him from every corner; for He, the Father, hath not suffered His soul to see corruption; neither hath it taken hold on those things that make the soul afraid. For, He
is
the Son of Light, of God, and is holy before Him. And He comes again in the hearts and souls and minds of those that seek to know His ways.

These be hard to be understood by those in the flesh, where prejudice, avarice, vice of all natures holds sway in the flesh; yet those that call on Him will not go empty-handed—even as thou, in thine ignorance, in thine zealousness that has at times eaten thee up. Yet
here
ye may hear the golden scepter ring—ring—in the hearts of those that seek His face. Ye, too, may minister in those days when He will come in the flesh, in the earth, to call His own by name.

We are through.

SUMMARY
of Edgar Cayce’s Esoteric Christianity

Edgar Cayce invites us to consider a new way of understanding Christ. At the heart of his Christology is a distinction between
Jesus,
the most recent incarnation of a soul who had many lifetimes on earth, and the universal
Christ Consciousness,
the awareness of the oneness of all life. Jesus is “our elder brother” in the sense that he is a soul like us who has been on the long, difficult journey of growth of the soul. And Christ Consciousness is not something far off but instead resides already in the unconscious mind of each soul, waiting to be awakened by free will.

CHAPTER EIGHT

SOCIAL VISION

EDGAR CAYCE BECAME FAMOUS IN THE LATE 1960s WITH SUCH books as
The Sleeping Prophet
that crowned him a prognosticator in the Nostradamus mold and as the visionary of a new world order. Had he lived to see his legacy understood in this way, he probably would have been uncomfortable—not because his readings lacked prophetic insight and social vision, but because they made up such a tiny percentage of his life’s work. He would wish us to place less weight on the prophecies, more on his pioneering work with holistic healing and his simple, direct methods for achieving personal spirituality.

Even though only about one percent of the readings address world events or social issues, they are an important part of his teaching and essential in understanding his message to the world. He saw the problem as people who were trying to force “one portion of the world to think as another” (3976-8). This sort of intolerant coerciveness was bound to lead to suffering on an unprecedented planetary scale unless counterbalanced by a more humane vision.
He saw how the world could evolve in a constructive way.

In this chapter, we explore several of Cayce’s famous visionary readings. They have been saved for last because it keeps them in perspective, having already examined the other elements of his philosophy. Taken out of context, these readings can mislead the reader who is looking for the sensational in Cayce’s work.

Two key principles are worth keeping in mind.

First, Cayce’s prophecies have a long-term perspective.
Admittedly, some, especially the early ones, targeted 1998 as a pivotal year. For the most part, they didn’t come true. Instead, Cayce’s insights unfolded and even changed somewhat as he grew older and his vision matured. It makes more sense to look at his later work and invest it with more credence than the earlier work. For example, many of the predictions from the late 1920s and the mid- 1930s involved catastrophic changes to the earth. From the late 1930s to early 1940s, we find the changes predicted are more likely to be gradual than sudden. Here’s a case in point from September 1939:

Q
Three hundred years ago Jacob Boehme decreed Atlantis would rise again at this crisis time when we cross from this Piscean Era into the Aquarian. Is Atlantis rising now? Will it cause a sudden convolution and about what year?

A
In 1998 we may find a great deal of the activities as have been wrought by the gradual changes that are coming about. These are at the periods when the cycle of the solar activity, or the years as related to the sun’s passage through the various spheres of activity become paramount or Catamount [?] [Tantamount?] to the change between the Piscean and the Aquarian age. This is a gradual, not a cataclysmic activity in the experience of the earth in this period.
1602-3

Looking further into Cayce’s long-term perspective, one interesting passage deals with the year 2158. In March 1936, Cayce had a dream on a train coming back to Virginia from an ill-fated trip to Detroit where he was briefly thrown in jail for practicing medicine without a license. In a reading after that, he was asked to interpret the dream, and he said it had two meanings: to give Cayce himself hope that his legacy would be remembered and available two hundred years hence; and to offer a prophetic picture of what the world might be like in the mid-twenty-second century. Here is the dream:

I had been born again in 2158 A.D. in Nebraska. The sea apparently covered all of the western part of the country, as the city where I lived was on the coast. The family name was a strange one. At an early age as a child I declared myself to be Edgar Cayce who had lived 200 yrs. before. Scientists, men with long beards, little hair, and thick glasses, were called in to observe me. They decided to visit the places where I said I had been born, lived and worked, in Kentucky, Alabama, New York, Michigan, and Virginia. Taking me with them the group of scientists visited these places in a long, cigar-shaped, metal flying ship which moved at high speed. Water covered part of Alabama. Norfolk, Virginia, had become an immense seaport. New York had been destroyed either by war or an earthquake and was being rebuilt. Industries were scattered over the countryside. Most of the houses were of glass. Many records of my work as Edgar Cayce were discovered and collected. The group returned to Nebraska taking the records with them to study.

294-185

The second key to Cayce is the difference between prediction and prophecy. Prediction
is about what
will
happen in the future.
Prophecy
is about what
could
happen if things don’t change, especially as seen in the Old Testament, so dear to Cayce’s heart and which surely influenced his own work. A prediction says “Here is the way it’s going to be,” a prophecy says “The future can still be worked out but here’s what will happen if you don’t use your free will and start making things different.” Prophecy empowers the individual, and that is exactly what Cayce wants to do with these readings.

In June 1940, for example, as World War II raged in Europe and simmered in the Pacific, Edgar Cayce was asked what was going to happen to America. The question came from a group of sixty-four people who had come to Virginia Beach to see him. The answer came in the reading as a promise: They had the power to directly influence the course America would take, but only if they prayed with conviction and then acted on those prayers. This is prophecy in the deeper sense of the word.

Let thy voice be raised, then, as in praise to thy Maker; not in word alone but rather in the manner in which ye meet thy fellow men day by day. For the prayer, and the living of same by those sixty and four who are here gathered, may even save America from being invaded—if that is what ye desire.
3976-25

And so with these two key principles in mind, keeping a long-term perspective, and knowing the difference between prediction and prophecy, we are equipped to explore the Cayce readings.

DEALING WITH CHANGE

Many of Edgar Cayce’s readings were delivered during some of the most tumultuous times in history. Reading 1723-1 was given in the summer of 1938, yet what makes it especially relevant for us today is its theme of how to deal with change from a spiritual perspective.

In 1938, the world was still in the throes of the Depression, and in the United States, despite Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, severe economic hardship was the norm. Too, war loomed on the horizon in Europe. In fact, World War II began just ten months after Cayce gave this reading.

The message about dealing with change was delivered not to an economic pundit or political leader of the time but to a common fellow instead, a twenty-five-year-old who drove an oil truck. While the man’s estate was a modest one even for his time, the themes were universal and speak to our time as well.

Two themes in particular stand out. First is the dynamic tension between that which changes and that which is changeless. It’s something which each of us must wrestle with, how to be a part of the exhilarating process of change and yet stay connected to the changeless, the eternal. Second is the power granted us by the exercise of free will, the ability to change ourselves, the tough work of choosing daily to be the best we can be.

The reading opens with a description of Mr. 1723’s personality traits. First, the bad news. The comments are brief but blunt, and it probably wasn’t easy for him to accept: “material-minded, hard-headed, stubborn.” Then the good news, which is considerably longer. Using the language of astrology to describe temperament, Cayce portrays the man’s strengths and weaknesses, then gives him some hopeful advice about using his talents constructively. He presents him a vision of what his soul is here on earth to contribute.

Bridging the good and the bad news is some insight about habit. The only thing that gets in the way of our spiritual progress is our
inclinations
—that is, “what we lean towards doing,” just like a ball will roll down a hill due to the momentum innate to the incline of that hill unless we stop the ball and make it roll back up. Any of us can change because free will makes change a real option. And each of us has had some experience with change personally, so we know it’s possible.

What makes all this information about habits important is this psychological principle: In times of change, either our strengths or our weaknesses come to the fore. The choice is up to us. Think about what happens in times of natural catastrophe, economic chaos, or war. For some people, it sparks loving deeds of extraordinary caliber; for others, it triggers pitiful acts of selfishness. Think about your own experience: In times of stress, do your best or worst qualities come out? The better you get to know yourself, the more likely you will exercise your free will to make sure it’s your best and not your worst. The more potently clear your spiritual ideal, as Cayce points out, the more likely the results will be good.

For Mr. 1723, the reading specifically identifies
kindness
as key to his ability to change. And in learning to change, he can discover the reality that is changeless, even in the face of a world shifting so fast that he can’t keep up with it. Sounds a lot like now.

So how do we connect with this elusive changeless side of life? By doing deeds that are so kind and loving they create something that “lives on and on in the heart and soul.” Inward, meditative retreat isn’t enough if we want to make a connection to the changeless. We need to be
good for something,
to reach out to those in need with a kind word, a moment of attention, some hope. Unpretentious as it sounds, that’s the key to dealing with change, and it’s the essence of Edgar Cayce’s social vision.

THE READING

✜
THIS PSYCHIC READING, 1723-1,
WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON NOVEMBER 1, 1938.
The conductor was Gertrude Cayce.

GC:
You will give the relation of this entity and the universe, and the universal forces; giving the conditions that are as personalities, latent and exhibited in the present life; also the former appearances in the earth plane, giving time, place and the name, and that in each life which built or retarded the development of the entity; giving the abilities of the present entity, and that to which it may attain, and how. You will answer the questions he submits, as I ask them: