In order to begin a life reading, the person conducting the readings for Edgar Cayce (usually his wife, Gertrude) would give a suggestion that enabled him to tune in to the soul history of the person and access the relevant information from the akashic records. In part, that suggestion stated that he would be able to provide “the former appearances in the earth’s plane, giving time, place, name and that in that life which built or retarded the development for the entity, giving the abilities of the present entity and to that which it may attain, and how.” (254-21 and others) Once he had obtained that information, Cayce would respond, “Yes, we have the records here of that entity now known as or called [giving the individual’s name].” Thereafter, Cayce would describe soul strengths and weaknesses and provide an explanation of those lifetimes that were having the greatest bearing upon the present.
In addition to the will being an irrefutable factor in the process of soul growth, Cayce emphasized the importance of establishing spiritual ideals with which an individual could direct and evaluate the course of a life.
In 1944, he told a fifty-one-year-old woman that one of the first priorities she needed in her life was to set an ideal. Apparently the woman had a propensity to gossip and to make slighting comments about others. Obviously that tendency was causing a strain in her personal relationships.
During the course of her reading, Cayce mentioned that the woman had exhibited this same frailty in a previous life, when her motto seemed to be “I’ll forgive you but I won’t forget it,” prompting her to speak unkindly of those with whom she was having difficulties. He told her to remember that any fault she observed in others was actually a reflection of the same problem she possessed within herself—otherwise, she would have been unable to perceive it with such clarity in the first place. Instead, she needed to refocus her perception, learning how to minimize the faults she saw in others while magnifying their virtues. As she established an ideal against which she could measure her own actions, her life would inevitably begin to change:
But if the entity will take self in hand and just don’t say, don’t do anything about or to another that you would not like to have others do about you, you will find there will be a change in the outlook, there will come to thee opportunities, possibilities that have been denied. For the law of the Lord is perfect and it converts the soul. And when the soul is converted the mind and body changes and leads in the straight and narrow way. 5255-1
At the heart of this spiritual transformation process is the necessity for personal application. Frequently, the readings admonished people to simply begin doing what they knew to do or to apply guidance that had previously been given. While reviewing the past lives of an architect, Cayce informed the individual that he had once been a creator and a lover of all kinds of art and sculpture during a Grecian incarnation. The man had gained in that experience for his efforts at presenting ideals to others. His failure had come, however, by not applying those very ideals in his own life (2108-1).
In another instance, a forty-nine-year-old man inquiring about his health and asking how he might be of greater assistance to humankind was told:
. . . It is not how much one knows that counts, but how well one applies that it knows; in just being, doing, thinking, that which is pointed out to self through such constant, consistent, practical dependence upon the Creative Forces that have promised ever to meet one—every one—when sought. And there will come that which is for the greater development in the soul forces of such an one that seeks. 270-33
The Cayce information on spiritual growth maintains that one of the greatest lessons facing all of humankind is one the readings identified as “cooperation.” Amazingly, that lesson is not simply gaining an understanding of how to agree or work with other people; instead, it is a state of being that somehow sets aside personal agendas, beliefs, motives, and desires and enables an individual to become an agent of spirituality in the lives of others. In other words, true cooperation is learning to work with God so that the Creator can work through you.
This notion that the Creator desires to become an active participant in each person’s life was no more clearly described than in the case of a small group of individuals from Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia, who began receiving a series of readings from Edgar Cayce starting in 1931. Coming together as a “study club” to explore psychic and personal development, the group was promised by Cayce that they could become “light to a waiting world” (262-2) if they simply worked at practically applying spiritual principles in everyday life. The group met for years, receiving readings and discussing such topics as soul development, meditation, prayer, and service. In the end, not only had the group members learned how to cooperate with spirit in their everyday lives, but they also ended up compiling a series of essays regarding the lessons they had explored and their personal experiences. That compilation was published in 1942 as A Search for God and is still being studied by small groups around the world, making Cayce’s prediction that they could become light to the world both personally and globally significant.3
Rather than implying that a close connection to spirit is somehow dependent upon religion, dogma, or personal beliefs, the readings are adamant in their stance that the Creator’s unconditional love is available to everyone without exception. To be sure, even in Cayce’s cosmology, it is understood that the more frequently an individual attunes to spirit, the more successfully that person will be able to experience God’s presence, but achieving that level of awareness exists in potential within each individual. In fact, the readings suggest that every single soul will eventually complete the entire curriculum, achieving soul growth and obtaining personal enlightenment in the process. With this destiny in mind, Cayce asked a thirty-five-year-old attorney, “Can the will of man continue to defy its Maker?” (826-8) When one considers our inevitable destiny as children of a loving God, it is sadly ironic that many religious movements preaching the existence of an all-loving Creator continue to be adamantly opposed to the notion that everyone will eventually make it.
Ultimately, only one thing stands between each individual and a personal awakening: the human will. This thought becomes even more sobering when it is taken into account that in Cayce’s cosmology, out of the entire cosmos, humankind stands out for a reason. In exploring how the human creature has set itself apart, the readings suggest that the acorn knows the purpose for which it was created. The oak remembers the reason it has been given expression. The angels on high are in tune with the rationale behind their existence. All the animals and plants of the earth maintain an awareness of what they are to be about—except for one. Only humankind has forgotten the purpose behind its creation. What was that purpose? It was simply to become a companion and a cocreator with God.
2For the most part, all names used within this volume have been changed to maintain confidentiality.
3A further discussion of this group and the transformational lessons they received is covered in greater detail in the chapter “Light to a Waiting World.”
2
Spiritual Growth Case Histories
Know that life is a river or a stream which is constant and each appearance is as a pool that may refresh, in which others may be refreshed . . . make the world a better place because ye have lived in it. Ye can only do that by the hour, by the moment, by the day ye live. For ye are not promised more than one day in the physical consciousness at a time. Use it—don’t abuse it!
5392-1