. . . we would administer those activities which would bring a normal reaction through these portions, stimulating them to an activity from the body itself, rather than the body becoming dependent upon supplies that are robbing portions of the system to produce activity in other portions, or the system receiving elements or chemical reactions being supplied without arousing the activities of the system itself for a more normal condition. (1968-3)
Quiet, meditation, for a half to a minute, will bring strength—will the body see physically this flowing out to quiet self, whether walking, standing still, or resting. Well, too, that oft when alone, meditate in the silence—as the body has done. (311-4)
. . . the Spirit is of the Creator, and thy body is the temple of that Spirit manifested in the earth to defend or to use in thine own ego, or thine own self-indulgence, or to thine own glory, or unto the glory of Him who gave thee life and immortality—if ye preserve that life, that Spirit of Him.
(2448-2)
Here are a few examples of Cayce’s insight into the effect of emotions and attitudes on the body:
To be sure, attitudes oft influence the physical conditions of the body. No one can hate his neighbor and not have stomach or liver trouble. No one can be jealous and allow the anger of same and not have upset digestion or heart disorder. (4021-1)
For the powers within must be spiritualized. Not that the body is not spiritual-minded, but there is the necessity to be spiritual-minded and then able to gain control sufficiently over the power of mind in the body as to cause the vibrations from the atomic structures to produce health-giving forces, rather than taking the continual suggestion, “I’m sick and going to stay sick.” These reactions should be brought about by suggestion as well as application. For know, as was given from the beginning, it is necessary to subdue the earth. Man is made, physically, from every element within the earth. So, unless there is a coordination of those elements of the environs in which the animal-man operates, he is out of attune—and some portions suffer. He must contain and command those elements. These are subduing, using, controlling; not being controlled by, but controlling, those environs, and influences about same. (3455-1)
... keep the mind in that condition through the means as has been outlined for the developing of the physical, mental and spiritual forces; keeping those contacts in that manner that brings the awakening of the physical in its ability to re-create in itself that necessary for the developing of the soul and spirit forces through the mental man; ever remembering that the physical must be kept in that way that the mental may manifest . . . (294-10)
Dr. John A. Schindler of Monroe, Wisconsin, author of the bestseller How to Live 365 Days a Year, claims that between 35 to 50 percent of all sick people are sick because they are unhappy. His estimates may have to be revised upwards in the light of the important work on stress done by Dr. Hans Selye, director of the University of Montreal’s Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Selye subjected rats to a variety of stresses: cold, fatigue, frustration, noise, poisons, hatred, anxiety, and fear—experiments that revolutionized medical thinking: “No matter what the nature of the stress, the same type of internal wreckage resulted. Blood pressure soared. At autopsy the rats showed gross enlargement of the all-important adrenal glands, shrunken thymus and lymphatic glands and peptic ulcers.”1
The United States Office of Vital Statistics in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare classifies the following as psychosomatic illnesses: ulcerative colitis, hypertension, chronic constipation, headache, fatigue, arthritis, insomnia, backache, and a host of other illnesses, including asthma and allergies.
Modern and more esoteric research techniques with Kirlian photography, a process first developed by the Russians for photographing the bioenergy fields in and around a living organism (which Edgar Cayce could see and called the “aura”), now postulate scientifically that illness shows up in one’s energy field before the symptoms manifest in the body.
A number of notable, respected American scientists are working on this field of research, including Dr. William Tiller, a physicist at Stanford University; Dr. Thelma Moss at UCLA; Drs. Stanley Krippner and Montague Ullman of the Dream Laboratory at Maimonides Hospital in New York City; and Drs. Gerald Jampolsky of Tiburon, California, and Gary Poock, who have developed the first Kirlian motion-picture process in the United States.
Let us now examine the means Cayce used to achieve the goals of normalizing assimilation, elimination, circulation, and relaxation. Despite his lack of formal education, when in trance, Cayce’s terminology and understanding of the body processes were medically correct. His physical readings usually contained an analysis of the blood system, the nervous system, the state of the organs and their functioning, and the causes of the symptoms and prescriptions for their relief. Where mental, emotional, and spiritual problems existed, he analyzed them and related them to the physical diseases.
When asked how he could diagnose for a person thousands of miles away whom he had never seen, Cayce replied as follows:
. . . it is as necessary to keep the body coordinating and clean as it is to keep the mental attitude right as well as [to maintain] the correct spiritual purposes and desires and, most of all, keep all three consistently; and don’t be one thing in one way and another in another way... Do right yourself, physically, mentally and spiritually and the best will come to you.
(5203-1)
The information as given or obtained from this body is gathered from the sources from which the suggestion [which was given verbally to Mr. Cayce by the conductor of the reading] may derive its information.
In this [trance] state the conscious mind becomes subjugated to the subconscious, superconscious or soul mind; and may and does communicate with like minds—and the subconscious or soul force becomes universal. From any subconscious mind information may be obtained, either from this plane or from the impressions as left by the individuals that have gone on before . . .
Through the forces of the soul, through the minds of others as presented, or that have gone on before; through the subjugation of the physical forces in this manner, the body [Edgar Cayce] obtains the information. (3744-2)
Cayce’s explanation that the correct diagnosis and the healing knowledge lies in the subconscious of the sufferer is not too far from the technique used by the practitioners of Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis and psychiatry to treat their patients. Cayce expressed it thus:
All healing comes from the Divine within . . . Thus, if one would correct physical or mental disturbances, it is necessary to change the attitude and to let the life forces become constructive and not destructive. Hate, malice and jealousy only create poisons within the minds, souls and bodies of people.
(3312-1)
Each day our bodies must manufacture millions of new cells. Our health and youthfulness depend on our ability to do so. When we can no longer do this, we age and die.—H.J.R.
On the subject of the body’s capacity to heal itself he said:
... within each physical being [there exist] the elements whereby the organs . . . are enabled within themselves to supply what is needed for replenishing or rebuilding. (3124-1)
Each day our bodies must manufacture millions of new cells. Our health and youthfulness depend on our ability to do so. When we can no longer do this, we age and die. We can see that here again Cayce was far in advance of medical thinking of his time and right up to date with the latest cellular research.
In Nutrition Against Disease, Dr. Roger Williams says, “It is common knowledge that the cells in our bodies get their supply of raw materials largely from the circulating blood. It is not so generally known that each of us has a circulatory pattern of his own and that the dispensing of suitable amounts of oxygen and about forty nutrients to billions of diverse cells all over the body is a huge logistic undertaking.”2
Since