I had been born again in 2158 A.D. in Nebraska. The sea apparently covered all of the western part of the country, as the city where I lived was on the coast. The family name was a strange one. At an early age as a child I declared myself to be Edgar Cayce who had lived 200 yrs. before. Scientists, men with long beards, little hair, and thick glasses, were called in to observe me. They decided to visit the places where I said I had been born, lived and worked, in Kentucky, Alabama, New York, Michigan, and Virginia. Taking me with them the group of scientists visited these places in a long, cigar-shaped, metal flying ship which moved at high speed. Water covered part of Alabama. Norfolk, Virginia, had become an immense seaport. New York had been destroyed either by war or an earthquake and was being rebuilt. Industries were scattered over the countryside. Most of the houses were of glass. Many records of my work as Edgar Cayce were discovered and collected. The group returned to Nebraska taking the records with them to study.
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The second key to Cayce is the difference between prediction and prophecy. Prediction is about what will happen in the future. Prophecy is about what could happen if things don’t change, especially as seen in the Old Testament, so dear to Cayce’s heart and which surely influenced his own work. A prediction says “Here is the way it’s going to be,” a prophecy says “The future can still be worked out but here’s what will happen if you don’t use your free will and start making things different.” Prophecy empowers the individual, and that is exactly what Cayce wants to do with these readings.
In June 1940, for example, as World War II raged in Europe and simmered in the Pacific, Edgar Cayce was asked what was going to happen to America. The question came from a group of sixty-four people who had come to Virginia Beach to see him. The answer came in the reading as a promise: They had the power to directly influence the course America would take, but only if they prayed with conviction and then acted on those prayers. This is prophecy in the deeper sense of the word.
Let thy voice be raised, then, as in praise to thy Maker; not in word alone but rather in the manner in which ye meet thy fellow men day by day. For the prayer, and the living of same by those sixty and four who are here gathered, may even save America from being invaded—if that is what ye desire. 3976-25
And so with these two key principles in mind, keeping a long-term perspective, and knowing the difference between prediction and prophecy, we are equipped to explore the Cayce readings.
DEALING WITH CHANGE
Many of Edgar Cayce’s readings were delivered during some of the most tumultuous times in history. Reading 1723-1 was given in the summer of 1938, yet what makes it especially relevant for us today is its theme of how to deal with change from a spiritual perspective.
In 1938, the world was still in the throes of the Depression, and in the United States, despite Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, severe economic hardship was the norm. Too, war loomed on the horizon in Europe. In fact, World War II began just ten months after Cayce gave this reading.
The message about dealing with change was delivered not to an economic pundit or political leader of the time but to a common fellow instead, a twenty-five-year-old who drove an oil truck. While the man’s estate was a modest one even for his time, the themes were universal and speak to our time as well.
Two themes in particular stand out. First is the dynamic tension between that which changes and that which is changeless. It’s something which each of us must wrestle with, how to be a part of the exhilarating process of change and yet stay connected to the changeless, the eternal. Second is the power granted us by the exercise of free will, the ability to change ourselves, the tough work of choosing daily to be the best we can be.
The reading opens with a description of Mr. 1723’s personality traits. First, the bad news. The comments are brief but blunt, and it probably wasn’t easy for him to accept: “material-minded, hard-headed, stubborn.” Then the good news, which is considerably longer. Using the language of astrology to describe temperament, Cayce portrays the man’s strengths and weaknesses, then gives him some hopeful advice about using his talents constructively. He presents him a vision of what his soul is here on earth to contribute.
Bridging the good and the bad news is some insight about habit. The only thing that gets in the way of our spiritual progress is our inclinations—that is, “what we lean towards doing,” just like a ball will roll down a hill due to the momentum innate to the incline of that hill unless we stop the ball and make it roll back up. Any of us can change because free will makes change a real option. And each of us has had some experience with change personally, so we know it’s possible.
What makes all this information about habits important is this psychological principle: In times of change, either our strengths or our weaknesses come to the fore. The choice is up to us. Think about what happens in times of natural catastrophe, economic chaos, or war. For some people, it sparks loving deeds of extraordinary caliber; for others, it triggers pitiful acts of selfishness. Think about your own experience: In times of stress, do your best or worst qualities come out? The better you get to know yourself, the more likely you will exercise your free will to make sure it’s your best and not your worst. The more potently clear your spiritual ideal, as Cayce points out, the more likely the results will be good.
For Mr. 1723, the reading specifically identifies kindness as key to his ability to change. And in learning to change, he can discover the reality that is changeless, even in the face of a world shifting so fast that he can’t keep up with it. Sounds a lot like now.
So how do we connect with this elusive changeless side of life? By doing deeds that are so kind and loving they create something that “lives on and on in the heart and soul.” Inward, meditative retreat isn’t enough if we want to make a connection to the changeless. We need to be good for something, to reach out to those in need with a kind word, a moment of attention, some hope. Unpretentious as it sounds, that’s the key to dealing with change, and it’s the essence of Edgar Cayce’s social vision.
THE READING
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THIS PSYCHIC READING, 1723-1,
WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON NOVEMBER 1, 1938.
The conductor was Gertrude Cayce.
GC: You will give the relation of this entity and the universe, and the universal forces; giving the conditions that are as personalities, latent and exhibited in the present life; also the former appearances in the earth plane, giving time, place and the name, and that in each life which built or retarded the development of the entity; giving the abilities of the present entity, and that to which it may attain, and how. You will answer the questions he submits, as I ask them:
EC: Yes, we have the records here of that entity now known as or called [1723].
In giving the interpretation of the records as we find them, these are chosen with the desire and hope to make the experience a helpful one in the entity’s application of self in the present toward a mental and spiritual development with reference to the material—which should be the result of such application.
Then, in viewing the records generally—but without respect to what the entity has done or may do regarding the urges which arise—we find the inclination for the entity to oft be called material-minded, hard-hearted, stubborn, and without any thought of these things which bespeak of affections for affection’s sake.
These as given are inclinations. The entity has altered and may alter such inclinations—or they arise as conditions which may be magnified, and thus—though bringing material gains, even at times positions of importance—unless there is the development of the milk of human kindness within the experience it may be, it may become a very lonesome, a very disturbing experience throughout this sojourn.
In the interpreting of the astrological aspects, which are as reference to the interims of experiences, not all experiences are given but rather those which have the greater bearing upon the entity in this present period of activity in this sojourn.
/> And as first indicated, these are given with the desire that the warnings, the information may be made to be a helpful influence in the entity’s application of its dealings with its fellow man.
Jupiter we find as the greater ruling influence. Hence in any endeavor in which the entity’s activities are to serve the masses or groups of people, the entity will find a channel through which the greater material and mental as well as spiritual forces may arise.
Hence in those channels where there is the sale of products which are to have their effect or activity among the many—or the gathering of data as a statistician, or records of any nature. All of these become a part of the entity’s development, and channels through which the greater influence may come for greater helpful experiences; provided those characteristics as indicated become a part of their application.
In Mercury we find with the adverse influence in Venus, with Mars as well as Saturn, there are the influences which become a part of the entity’s environs or surroundings.
Hence of high mental abilities is the entity—with the liking for or desire for study—the liking or desire for knowledge. But such knowledge as statistics, such knowledge as of the natures where the influences or activities of individuals or groups are to be maintained, is not to be used wholly for self in self-aggrandizement or self-advantage taken over others.
To be sure, it may be used in such measures as to bring greater material opportunities, greater material successes, but at the behest—and not at the advantage taken over less fortunate ones or those who have not applied themselves.
In Venus we find the necessity for the cultivation of influences wherein not merely ideals or idealistic principles are held, but ideals to be adhered to—in mental, in material, but based upon spiritual attributes. These are to be cultivated. So, the doing and being virtuous for the very nature of that impelling influence which it brings into the experience of the entity is necessary for cultivation in the activities.
These in their first applications may bring some disturbing influences, yet to know that obligations are opportunities as well as duties, as well as privileges, is a lesson the entity should learn—and it will make for greater contentment, greater peace and happiness in its experiences as it deals with the changing influences and forces which arise.
Then know that while the life is in a changing world, with changing friendships, changing environs and changes of every nature—unless there is accomplished that which lives on and on in the heart and soul, little has been or may be accomplished by self in its dealings with its fellow man.
Be acquainted, then, with that home beyond. Take time not merely to be holy or good, but good for something—good in that ye bring each day some new hope, some new opportunity, some new experience in the life of someone—a boy, a child, a babe, an old person who has lost the way in one manner or another. Thus ye will gradually build those steps which may carry you beyond the vale of those who see only the material blessings. For ye will know of Whom, in Whom ye have heard that “His words passeth not away.”
So, though changes come, though the heavens may be in turmoil, though the earth and all the activities may be in riot, thy deeds done in such a way and manner will not change but live in the heart and the mind in such a manner as to bring that peace and harmony which comes only to those who take thought of just being kind to the other fellow!
Know that if you would be forgiven, if you would have friends, if you would know peace you must make friends, be kind, be joyous, be content—but never satisfied! For that longing which arises to better thyself is not merely that thy body may take ease, or that ye may gratify the appetites thereof! but it is rather that glory of the hope within for the greater knowledge of the spiritual life to grow and bloom in thy workaday life.
For only that character of spiritual thought that is a practical thing, that may be lived and experienced day by day, is worthy of thy acceptation.
And it is thy nature—but cultivate it! For this will bring greater opportunities physically, mentally, and open the door of thy consciousness to the unseen forces that make men not afraid!
THE SPIRIT OF NATIONS
Twenty-nine discourses between 1921 and 1944, the so-called World Affairs readings, contain some of Edgar Cayce’s most significant comments on the international scene, including clairvoyant perspectives on and prophecies for individual nations. In June 1944, just after D-day, came reading 3976-29, delivered at the annual gathering of the leaders of Cayce’s organization. It was prompted by the request for information about the group vibrations of specific nations—that is, the spirit of a nation and its people.
Compared to the familiar stereotypes—the reserved nature of the English, the French love of life, the Japanese work ethic—Cayce’s descriptions cut deeper, portraying national group consciousnesses in light of collective karmic fault and collective aspiration. As we study the reading, it’s important not to be overly judgmental about the faults of given nations, because we may have had a role in the making of those faults: For Cayce, reincarnation suggests that each of us has contributed to national group consciousness in some lifetime or another.
The reading opens with the cosmic picture. Before individual nations were established, souls faced a spiritual choice. On the one hand was companionship with God, his intentions for us; and on the other hand was the impulse to defy God. That spirit of defiance brought confusion to the world and out of that confusion emerged the nations.
As each nation’s consciousness evolved over time, so, too, a consensus slowly arose among its people. It’s what we might call the spirit of a nation—that is, what that nation aspires to and holds dear.
Cayce suggests America as a good illustration of this spirit. Although our national consciousness has had much less time to emerge than many other nations, one central value is clear: freedom. Inherent in freedom, however, is the possibility for error, since freedom so closely aligns with free will, and free will can be exercised improperly. So easily when helping another nation that helping becomes coercion of that nation and its people. This is something to which America has been especially vulnerable.
What’s more, free will can be misused in subtler ways. Edgar Cayce asks us to consider the words of Jesus: “He shall know the truth and the truth then shall make him free.” The key to freedom is to live and apply the truth in one’s own life. By implication, Cayce is saying that Americans often fail to live or apply the truth, especially the most important truth of all: In God We Trust.
But why is America so at fault? People all over the world fail to trust in God. Why did Cayce single out America? Because it’s what the founders and leaders have aspired to. To hold up freedom as a national ideal makes America even more accountable to properly use free will, whether that means respecting the freedom of all people or just remembering that our nation was founded on the principle of trust in God.
Reading 3976-29 goes on to identify the shortcomings of nations other than America, although in less detail. The English would seem to hold up the idea that they are a little bit better than everybody else. The French err by overindulging the body. The Italians are given to dissension (for which Cayce even offers a prayer that “a few might just agree, that a few even might declare their oneness with the higher forces”). The Chinese are isolated and self-satisfied. And the East Indians apply what they know in an exclusively inward way.
This reading also includes two of Cayce’s most dramatic prophecies. First, Russia is depicted as the hope for the world, although not because of any merits of communism but because of its leadership and the opening up of friendly relations with America. With the collapse of the old Soviet Union and the establishment of more freedoms in the new Russia, it looks like Cayce’s prophecy may eventually be fulfilled. Perhaps he perceived a broader spiritual trend, one that will have several false starts before the collective will of Russia and America can make a new kind of relationship permanent.
Edgar Cayce’s second dramatic prediction is tha
t China would one day be the cradle of Christianity, at least in the application of its doctrines if not the doctrines themselves. Is China’s opening up to the West and adopting its ideas and lifestyle a sign of this new role? Probably not. Even though the reading was given in 1944, and even though Cayce wasn’t specific, sixty years wouldn’t seem to qualify as “far off as man counts time,” as he intoned. So even more extraordinary changes may be in store for China in the twenty-first century and beyond.
THE READING
THIS PSYCHIC READING, 3976-29,
WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON JUNE 22, 1944,
The Essential Edgar Cayce Page 23