Even the Light-bearing souls have to struggle to maintain their hold on the Light. It is difficult to be pure channels of the Light in this life, in our families and workplaces and in our own hearts and minds. It is a terrible battle between selfishness, contention, and faultfinding versus loving care for others and for self, and valuing the light of truth, hope, and love.
Cayce’s readings warn the Children of God, the Children of the Law of One (as he often referred to them), to seek and maintain their awareness of the Divine Forces, for these will protect them from dark motivations within themselves and dark intentions in others.
As experienced by many, in opening self to the unseen forces about us, yet warred ever by those influences save when in the presence of His [God’s] influence, then as the forces are raised in self know—without doubt—there are His protecting influences, able, willing, capable, and will aid in that direction in which such vibrations, such influences, are raised to those individuals to whom they be directed, even by the spoken word; for, as is seen, as is understood by many, by most, the unseen forces are the active forces, the active principles.”
EC 281–7
To avoid the influence of evil and selfishness, even the best among us must seek the protection and assistance of the Divine’s influence, that consciousness of the Divine with us in our daily lives. “The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak,” taught the masterful Jewish teacher Jesus, who faced Satan’s temptations and walked away, free from the temptations. (Matthew 26:41 and Mark 1:3) And when we fail to maintain our mindfulness of the Divine and the higher bodily vibrations of the Divine awakened within us, we must get up and try again, never condemning ourselves or limiting the Divine’s ability to redeem us, to cleanse us, and to make us stronger. Cayce taught:
Be not faint hearted because failure seems to be in thy way, or that self falters—but “how many times shall I forgive, or ask forgiveness—seven times?” “Yea, seventy times seven!” or, “not how I faltered, but did I seek His face again?” “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” The man crying out! “Sleep on, now, and take thy rest, for the hour cometh when I shall be even alone.” So we find the changes, the weaknesses in the flesh—yet he that seeks shall find, and as oft as ye knock will the answer come. Seek to be one with Him [God], in body, in mind, in soul!
EC 281–7
Life is a challenge. It is a dance between the loneliness of self-consciousness and the cooperative consciousness that is aware of and seeking the guidance of the Creative, the Good Forces, and the higher vibrations.
Consider the challenges Jesus, a Jewish-trained master, faced—as described in this Cayce discourse.
In sending such forces out, then, be mindful that there is no doubt that these will bring that as He [God] sees fit, “Not my will, Of Father, but Thine be done!” What did this bring to Him [Jesus]? The cross, the burdens, the crown of thorns—yet in its essence it brought those abilities to overcome death, hell and the grave. So, as in our raising ourselves to that understanding that His [God’s] presence is guiding and directing those influences about those to whom we would direct His cause (for they have called on us), then know His will is being done in the manner as thou hast sent same to that individual!”
EC 281–7
Why the struggle? Why the confusions and misgivings? Because we are godlings in the making, lost angels with the potential to become God’s companions forever. We are not simply newly born humans trying to live our lives so that our deaths will lead us to a good afterlife. We are celestial entities that have been alive from the moment our Creator said, “Let there be Light” (Genesis 1:3), “Let us make them in our image, after our likeness,” (Genesis 1:26) and “You are gods, sons and daughters of the Most High.” (Psalm 82:6). We come into this incarnation with many, many karmic influences from preincarnation activity. We need to become aware of our lives as celestial souls, not just our lives as physical personalities.
Our present reality is too terrestrial and too physical. Deep within us is a celestial soul that has existed before, exists now, and will exist after our physical death. The transition from terrestrial, self-conscious beings to celestial souls and minds consciously one with the forces of Life and Light requires some adjustments, some breakthroughs. Holding us back are deep, karmic habit patterns that we have built over many incarnations and even in sojourns in nonphysical dimensions of life. These transitions can be compared to a woman pregnant who is attempting to adjust her body to deliver a new life. We have conceived in the wombs of our consciousness our true selves, our divine nature, yet we have to dilate our minds and hearts sufficiently to deliver this soul self, this resurrected, wiser self, which is destined to be an eternal companion to the Creator of the entire Cosmos.
Reincarnation
It may not be widely known, but the reincarnation of souls is not only an Edgar Cayce concept, it is also a Kabbalistic teaching (gilgul neshamot, meaning “cycles of the soul”). Much of the unseen influences in life are from our souls’ many experiences before this life.
Kabbalah teaches that the destiny of every soul is to return to the source whence it came. Those who have not developed the purity and perfection necessary for gaining access to their heavenly source must undergo incarnation in a subsequent body and even repeat that experience more than once before they are permitted to return to the celestial region in a purified form.
This idea of correcting one’s condition by trying again is expressed in Plotinus’s often quoted lines in The Enneads, I.6.9:
Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown his work. So do you also: cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labor to make all one glow or beauty and never cease chiseling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendor of virtue, until you see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine.
Kabbalah uses the term cycle (gilgul) for reincarnation. However, there is another type of reincarnation. It involves receiving a new (higher) soul during one’s lifetime, that is, a new soul comes into a person’s heart while he or she is still incarnate. This is called ibbur (pregnancy or incubation), because it is like gestation or pregnancy. The incarnate person becomes “pregnant” with this new soul while he or she is still alive. This is an explanation of how some people go through dynamic changes in their perception and character. They undergo a change of mind, a change of lifestyle, and thereby ascend to the next spiritual level. They are now hosting a “new” soul—or, more accurately, a higher part of their own soul. This is what occurs when a person is ready to advance in soul evolution. This is why the soul has five parts, each higher than the other. This is not possession by a different soul, not a “walk-in,” in the sense that some write about today, though some may confuse ibbur to be such. It is more aligned with being “born anew,” as Jesus explained to Nicodemus (much more on this in chapter 3.)
Soul Growth
Each day, each situation, each relationship, each conversation, each thought in our heads is an opportunity to move closer to the Divine or away from it. As Cayce’s readings often point out to us, it is our free will that must be engaged, engaged with the help of the unseen forces that emanate from the Divine. The greatest gift given us for resurrection and enlightenment is the will to choose and the help of the unseen forces of the Divinity, our Creator, who loves us and seeks our conscious companionship.
It is not, as so many have portrayed