Modern theories of the origin of the universe fall chiefly into three groups. The first is materialistic Monism, which maintains that the world is just an accident; it is purely mechanical, self-existent, eternal—underived from and independent of any external cause. By a gradual process of evolution from a simple state, and by chance alone, it has attained its present complexity. The idea is not new but was first taught by Epicurus in 306 B.C. This is Evolutionism, and since it never quite explains what the original “simple state” was or how it came into being, the theory only defers the problem rather than answers it.
A second modern view asserts that the world is derived from an extraneous cause, either by emanation from or evolution of a Divine Being. This is pantheism. Spinoza, who lived in the seventeenth century, went so far as to declare boldly that everything in the universe is the manifestation of God, and that all existence is embraced in one substance: God, or Nature. Evil exists only for finite minds, he said, and dissolves when seen as part of the whole. Spinoza was thrown out of the synagogue for his views; he was called “intoxicated with God.” Nevertheless, he offered some sober and provocative ideas.
A third modern belief is one of outright creation of the world from nothing. This is Creationism and is the traditional religious viewpoint. God, as the Creator, is indivisible and therefore emanation is an impossibility. Further, the universe is not self-existent but was created and not from some primordial substance. The big-bang theory of modern science is corroborative, and the two are slowly moving close together. Matter is atoms, atoms are energy, energy equals spirit, spirit is of God.
Christian ideas about the origin of the soul subdivide into two classifications. Traducianism, first taught by Tertullian in about A.D. 200, is the doctrine that the soul is created from other souls or physical beings in the same way and at the same time the body is formed from other bodies at conception. Creationism holds that God creates a new soul for each body. For the church, the question has never been satisfactorily resolved. Even Augustine and Luther were undecided about the nature of the soul. The traditional philosophy of the church maintains that the soul is created at the moment when it is infused into the new organism.
Among the early Greek thinkers, Plato believed in the pre-existence of souls and their subsequent incarnation in bodies. A little later Philo and Origen, who also was excommunicated for his views, taught the Divine source of the soul and also its pre-existence and transmigration from spirit to matter, matter to spirit.
Indian philosophies, Brahmanism, the world’s oldest religion, and Buddhism, make a distinction between body and soul (Dualism) and teach that physical life is merely a transitory episode in the evolution of the soul. A few Indian sects believe, however, that incarnation takes place in the animal kingdom as well as in the human. The Jewish Cabala and the Gnostics (a mixture of early Christian and Jewish elements) taught much the same ideas, except that the reincarnation of the soul was confined to the human race.
The ancient Israelites were divided into two main schools of thought. The Pharisees believed in a spiritual existence and in immortality, including the pre-existence of the soul and its incarnation from spiritual to human life. The Sadducees were the Materialists, denying immortality and all spiritual existence. Men were born, they lived, they died; that was all, they said.
Although modern science has propounded many theories as to how some primeval gaseous substance evolved into the present harmony of the universe, it bestows no such attention upon the existence of the soul. If it exists at all, it says, it is unproved and unidentified—and, ipso facto, unlikely. In recent years, however, startling advances have been made in this very field (parapsychology), although the psychic powers of man have not yet been officially related to the soul or spirit in man by name.
Thus scholars have long struggled with the problems of the nature of man and the universe. They have in turn upheld, denied and compromised with the Mosaic Cosmogony as briefly outlined in that remarkable book, the Bible. Throughout the whole debate, the Genesis version of creation still stands firm and unrefuted. Because much of it is symbolic rather than literal, its profound depth and breadth—its esoteric meaning—escape the minds of those who would confine it to a literal interpretation.
The Edgar Cayce readings generally follow the Mosaic pattern in principle if not in detail. This is to be expected, since detail is lacking almost entirely in the Genesis account. The Cayce readings, however, throw a great deal of light on some of the missing elements. More than that, they supply sound and convincing explanations for shadowy passages that have long remained in the realm of speculation. Out of this wealth of material in the readings emerges a version of creation that is both comprehensive and understandable. Indeed, here is a simplified description of a complicated series of events that normally are almost beyond the reach of the human mind.
Much of the best knowledge of man is corroborated in the Cayce readings; but there are also areas of disagreement, especially as to the modern materialistic concepts of creation. This is not surprising, since its adherents not only disagree among themselves but reject any ideas of a spiritual concept. Their arguments are almost altogether theoretical because so little concrete evidence exists. Yet both schools of thought could be right.
In the theory of evolution we have a paradox: The evolutionists say man evolved from the animal; theology says he is the offspring of God. The readings say both, in a sense, are right: the soul of man is indeed the child of God, and the physical body was patterned after, and in one branch, evolved from the animal kingdom. The earth, too, was both created and has evolved. But the “missing link” has not been found because there is no missing link.
Man is believed to be from three to ten million years old, and the dates are far from certain. The oldest evidence, a jawbone and tooth found in Kenya, dates to only five million years, and this recent find is three times the age previously believed by most scholars. Gradually, the veil of mystery is being pushed back.
In a sense even the skeptic is right; man actually knows little for certain about the nature of creation; but what he has reason to believe probable is all-important as a guide for his ideals, his patterns for growth. One can only consider, select and accept that which has the ring of truth for one’s self. The concepts in the Cayce records appear to be as solidly founded on reason and plausibility as any yet imagined by man. And they not only tell how, they tell why.
What follows then, is the story of creation that emerges from the readings. It contains no outside sources and little speculation; in one or two instances, certain assumptions and interpretations, which the material seems to support, appear advisable for the sake of continuity and completeness.
From the Cayce Records
In the beginning was the Spirit: a vast sea of mind force, of discerning energy, occupying all space, all time. Omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, this was the source of all: the First Cause, the Universal Force. This was the Whole, the essence of life, the I AM THAT I AM. This was the eternal God
The mind of God embraces the total life energy, for all in its elemental form is One. All time, all space, all power and matter essentially are one and are based on the force of attraction and repulsion, the positive and negative law around which the universe revolves. The movement, the vibration of this atomic structure, is the manifestation of the Creator. During its nebulous activity, the gathering of positive-negative forces becomes the creative power. Atoms, molecules, cells, and matter change; but the essence, the spirit, does not change. Only the form of manifestation changes—not its relationship to the First Cause.
The second cause was desire: desire for self-expression, desire to create, desire for companionship. The Spirit moved, and by moving Itself out of Itself created a separate vibration: a separate manifestation. Thus, into this sea of peaceful and harmonious vibration came one Amilius, the Light: the first expression of divine mind, the first manifestation of the spirit, the first Son who emanated in spirit from the Source as a beautiful thought