Rather than seeing life as simply a precursor to an inevitable reward or punishment, the Cayce information saw every life experience as a potentially purposeful and necessary stage of development leading to an almost unfathomable realization of one’s true connection to God. A reading told one twenty-six-year-old army sergeant: “For you grow to heaven, you don’t go to heaven. It is within thine own conscience that ye grow there.” (3409-1) With this as his undergirding perspective, Cayce believed that it was through an individual’s life experiences and relationships—accruing over a series of life-times—that each person was destined to undergo soul development; grow spiritually; overcome shortcomings, weaknesses, and flaws; and eventually reawaken to the true self.
In 1941, a thirty-four-year-old writer asking a series of philosophical questions dealing with the nature of humankind wanted to know the reason behind the Creation of the universe. In the reading, Cayce replied that it was out of “ . . . God’s desire for companionship and expression . . . ” (5749-14) From this same perspective, the Cayce information describes an incredible possible worldview regarding the purpose of life in the earth and the evolving nature of the soul. For ease of expression, we might call this worldview the Cayce cosmology.
In this cosmology, the destiny of each individual is nothing less than soul growth, transformation, and enlightenment. Essentially, the primary function of the earth is as a testing arena that enables the soul to exercise the dynamics of freedom of choice played out against the influences of cause and effect, and to experience whatever understanding and development have already taken place. Although Cayce definitely saw the prospect of soul retrogression (loss) in any given life, generally each lifetime allows for the possibility of advancement in learning. In fact, the readings contend that wherever a person finds him- or herself in the present, that very situation has the potential to be a purposeful one; whether or not the person decides to use the present as a positive learning experience, however, is always a matter of free will.
Because the nature of the soul is spiritual, not physical, it is erroneous to believe that the earth offers the only learning curriculum undertaken by each soul. Instead, Cayce’s cosmology describes “sojourns in consciousness” in which the soul chooses to experience focused lessons in what might be called “awareness development.” These lessons do not take place in physicality but in other dimensions of consciousness. With this in mind, Cayce informed a group of approximately thirty people who had gathered for a reading in 1933: “For the earth is only an atom in the universe of worlds!” (5749-3) Echoing the New Testament (John 14:2), Cayce told another individual, “‘In my Father’s house are many mansions’—many consciousnesses, many stages of enfoldment, of unfoldment, of blessings . . . ” (2879-1)
Cayce advised others that it was also a mistake to believe that our solar system is the only place in the cosmos in which souls are undergoing a developmental process. However, once a soul enters the earth, there is apparently a mandatory lesson that must be attained before the soul is free to continue its curriculum elsewhere. Essentially, that lesson was described as being one of love and service. On other occasions, the readings used biblical terminology to describe that lesson: “For the whole law is to love the Lord with all thy heart and soul and body, and thy neighbor as thyself!” (1603-1)
In Cayce’s worldview, the inevitable destiny of every soul is to become cognizant of its true individuality while maintaining an awareness of its oneness with God. For all of humankind, this state of enlightenment is seemingly achievable in one of two ways: either by learning the lesson of love and then moving on to other stages of consciousness development or by literally attaining perfection in the earth. Of the thousands of individuals who received readings from Edgar Cayce, fewer than twenty were told that they had so mastered the lesson of love that another earthly incarnation would not be necessary unless they chose to return. Apparently, there are “many mansions” in which they could continue their individual growth process. In terms of manifesting perfection in the earth, the example repeatedly cited by the readings was that of Jesus.
In 1944, a fifty-three-year-old housewife named Agnes2 contacted Edgar Cayce and inquired as to why she had come into life with such a broken physical body. For much of her life, she had suffered from heart, back, hearing, and intestinal problems, often causing her severe pain. In spite of these problems, she had managed to take care of a home and family and raise two sons. She obtained a life reading and was told that her soul had made tremendous strides in spiritual development for she had “ . . . advanced from a low degree to that which may not even necessitate a reincarnation in the earth.” (5366-1) Not that she was perfect, for she wasn’t, but somehow she had learned how to love.
Her present difficulties were traced to a low point in her earthly sojourns when she had been a companion of Nero and had taken part in the physical persecution of individuals associated with the early Christian Church. From that experience, Cayce advised her that she was now “meeting self” in terms of her own pain and suffering. Aside from that one period of soul retrogression, however, Agnes was told that throughout her earthly incarnations, she had generally been of service to others in her attempts to be of service to God. As a result, in spite of her physical pain, she had still managed to love, striving to hold to a high ideal and frequently assisting others in doing the same. For that reason, when asked to comment on her abilities, Cayce told her:
Who would tell the rose how to be beautiful; who would give to the morning sun, glory; who would tell the stars how to be beautiful? Keep that faith! which has prompted thee. Many will gain much from thy patience, thy consistence, thy brotherly love.
In spite of how Agnes’s life and physical circumstances might have appeared to others, the reading assured her that she had accomplished much.
Within the vast repository of the Cayce material, those factors that lead to a person’s soul growth or retrogression in any given lifetime are indexed by case history for ease of reference. In addition to service and love, qualities that prompt soul growth include consistent application, establishing spiritual ideals, developing the will, positive human relationships, personal attunement, selflessness, and cultivating virtuous traits such as patience, forgiveness, understanding, and tolerance. The flaws and weakness pointed out as leading to soul retrogression and failure include self-gratification; self-exaltation; selfishness; intolerance and condemnation; indecision and laziness; creating contention, oppression, and strife in the lives of others; holding grudges or seeking revenge; and being too material minded. Negative traits also include such attitudes and emotions as spite, stubbornness, self-pity, and resentment.
Rather than thinking that the soul is somehow separated or disconnected by each of its earthly experiences, the Cayce readings emphasize the ongoing process of life. Because the soul is eternal, life does not begin and end with each physical incarnation. For ease of understanding, imagine for a moment that the soul is like an individual’s entire lifetime and that each period of that person’s life is like a different incarnation. There may be a period of childhood, of going to school, of being a parent, of having a job or a series of jobs, etc. Although the core individual does not radically change, outward identity frequently changes. It is not that each life begins anew like a blank slate, but rather that the soul takes with it talents, experiences, relationships, and weaknesses from one lifetime to the next. All weaknesses need to be overcome or transformed, while all strengths need to be further cultivated and expressed. This fact is repeatedly illustrated in the case histories of individuals who received readings.
One woman learned that she had lost spiritual ground centuries ago during a lifetime in India because she had often forced others to accept her personal beliefs and religious tenets. However, that same ability to persuade and mold others had been transformed during a Colonial American incarnation in which she had cultivated the talents of a teacher and instructor and had been instrumental in directing the lives of young people (2910-1).
A very small, thin, frail-looking shoe salesman who suffered from a number of physical problems, including anemia, learned that he had abused his physical prowess, beauty, and strength during a Roman incarnation when he had often subjugated others to his own will. Conversely, during that same incarnation, he had often found favor with the opposite sex by his desire to be