The Christ soul helped man. As Enoch, as Melchizedek, it took on flesh, to teach and lead. (Since it was to be active it had to be male.) Enoch and Melchizedek were not born, did not die. The Christ soul realized after these assumptions of flesh that it was necessary to set a pattern for man, to show him the way back to himself. It assumed this task and was born of woman, beginning voluntarily a new individuality, a new soul record; though behind this new individuality shone the pure Christ soul. But on this the veil dropped, and the Son of God began His pilgrimage. He was born as Joseph, again as Joshua, again as Jeshua—the scribe of Enoch who rewrote the Bible—and finally as Jesus. He, Jesus, triumphant over death and the body, became the way, laying down the ego of the will, accepting the crucifixion, returning to God. He is the pattern we are to follow.
(At present man is in a state of great spiritual darkness—the darkness which precedes dawn. He has carried his skepticism to the point where it is forcing him to conclusions he knows intuitively are wrong. At the same time he has carried his investigation of natural phenomena to the point where it is disproving all it seemed to prove in the beginning. Free will is finding that all roads lead finally to the same destination. Science, theology, and philosophy, having no desire to join forces, are approaching a point of merger. Skepticism faces destruction by its own hand.)
Man is at all times the total of what he has been and done, what he has fought and defended, what he has hated and loved. In the three-dimensional consciousness of earth every atom of his physical body is a reflection of his soul—a crystallization of his individuality. His emotional and nervous structures, his mental abilities, his aptitudes, his aversions and preferences, his fears, his follies, his ambitions, his character, are the sum of what he has done with his free will since it was given to him. So every personality—the earthly cloak of an individuality—is different from every other personality.
This has been true from the beginning. The first independent thought of each soul was a little different from the first independent thought of every other soul.
So people are different in their likes and dislikes, in their desires and dreams. The law of karma—cause and effect—likewise makes them different in their joys and sorrows, in their handicaps, their strengths, their weaknesses, their virtues and vices, their appreciation of beauty, and their comprehension of truth. Debts incurred in the flesh must be met in the flesh: natural law, not man or God, demands an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
The same law applies to groups of people as they act together. There is karma for families, for tribes, for races, for nations. When the souls who committed a war return to a nation, a war will be committed upon that nation. Only when defeat is endured by a nation with humility and understanding, only when victory is dispensed by a nation with justice and mercy, will the karma of battle be lifted from them.
Every person’s life is shaped to some extent by karma: his own, that of his associates and loved ones, that of his nation and race, and that of the world itself. But these, singly or together, are not greater than free will. It is what the person does about these influences and urges, how he reacts to them, that makes a difference in his soul development. Because of karma some things are more probable than others, but so long as there is free will anything is possible.
Thus free will and predestination coexist in a person. His past experiences limit him in probability and incline him in certain directions, but free will can always draw the sword from the stone.
No soul takes on flesh without a general plan for the experience ahead. The personality expressed through the body is one of many which the individuality might have assumed. Its job is to work on one or several phases of the karma of the individuality. No task is undertaken which is too much for the personality to which it is assigned—or which chooses it. (Some souls choose their own entrances and set their own tasks; others, having made too many mistakes and become dangerously subject to earthly appetites, are sent back by law at a time and under circumstances best suited to help them.) The task is seldom perfectly fulfilled, and sometimes it is badly neglected.
Choice of incarnation is usually made at conception, when the channel for expression is opened by the parents. A pattern is made by the mingling of the soul patterns of the parents. This sets up certain conditions of karma. A soul whose own karma approximates these conditions will be attracted by the opportunity presented. Since the pattern will not be exactly his own, he must consider taking on some of the karma of the parents—relatively—in order to use the channel. This concerns environment, companionship with the parents, and certain marks of physiognomy.
Things other than pattern concern the soul in its selection of a body: coming situations in history, former associations with the parents, the incarnation, at about the same time, of souls it wishes to be with and with whom it has problems to work out. In some cases the parents are the whole cause of a soul’s return—the child will be devoted to them and remain close to them until their death. In other cases the parents are used as a means to an end—the child will leave home early and be about its business.
The soul may occupy the body as early as six months before birth, or as late as a month after birth, though in the latter case it has been hovering over the body since birth, deciding whether or not to occupy it. Once the decision is made and the occupation completed, the veil drops between the new personality and the soul, and the earthly record of the child begins. (The fact that a baby is born dead does not mean that it was refused as a vehicle for a soul. Just the opposite is true: the channel is withdrawn from the soul; no occupation is possible.)
The body is formed in the womb according to the pattern made by the mingling of the life forces of the parents, each with its respective pattern. This is the metaphysical symbolism of the 47th problem of Euclid, the Pythagorean theorem: the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. As soon as occupation by a soul takes place, the pattern of the soul begins to work its way through the body, and the child’s personality begins.
The personality is a highlighted portion of the individuality, experiencing three-dimensional consciousness. The rest of the individuality remains in shadow, giving tone to the personality; urges, appreciation, tastes, avocations, and what is loosely termed “charm”—the background to which intuition responds.
The personality is shaped by three or four incarnations, the portions of the earthly experience on which the individuality wants to work. The emotions and talents of the person reflect these incarnations. The dreams, visions, meditations—the deep, closely guarded self-consciousness of the personality is the pattern of experience among the other states of consciousness of the solar system. The intellect is, roughly speaking, from the stars: it is the mind force of the soul, conditioned by its previous experience in creation outside the solar system, and dimmed or brightened by its recent experiences within the solar system.
Thus a personality is only an aspect of an individuality. A soul, deciding to experience earth again, might assume any of several personalities, each of which would express a portion of itself. As a soul approaches completion of the solar cycle, the personality becomes more many-sided, expressing greater portions of the individuality. This is because each incarnation has less adverse karma, requiring less attention. Finally the personality is a complete expression of the individuality, and the cycle is completed.
(As an individuality succumbs to earthiness, abandoning intellect for emotion and emotion for sensuality, it becomes more and more one-sided.)
The incarnations which influence the personality reflect their patterns in the person’s life. Sometimes they intermingle: a child’s parents may re-create the environment of one experience, while his playmates will re-create the environment of another. Sometimes the influences work in periods: home and childhood may re-create the conditions of one incarnation, school and college those of another, marriage t
hose of a third, and a career those of a fourth. Usually the people and the problems of the incarnations have interlocking relationships, so that the pattern of the personality’s experience is a rational development, and the problems are presented to him as he is prepared to meet them. Because the incarnations only reflect their problems (their blessings as well as their handicaps), usually the karma of more than one can be undertaken in a single life; if the life is successful, considerable progress is made toward freedom from flesh.
When a life is finished the personality vanishes. Its pattern is absorbed into the individuality. Its record is retained, but it becomes a part of the individuality, which at all times is the sum total of what it has been: all it has thought; all it has experienced; all it has eaten, drunk, and felt through the ages.
(Here is an example of how extremes may meet. Both the atheist and the Christian seem to be right. The atheist says the personality does not survive after death; the Christian says the soul is judged after death and returns to its Creator. Substituting personality for soul, both are expressing a truth. The personality is judged, returns to its creator—the individuality—and is absorbed, giving up its own independent existence.)
The general plan for perfecting the individuality in its experience of the solar system then proceeds. Another state or consciousness is assumed, as a trial or as a means of reinforcing the character of a future personality.
So the problems of individualities, the problems of groups, the problems of races and nations, are worked upon time and again until, by free will, they are solved, and the souls go on to other worlds, other systems, other universes. The readings say: “Know that thyself, in its physical state, is a part of the plan of salvation, of righteousness, of truth, of the Creative Forces, or God, in the earth.
“Each person is a corpuscle in the body of that force called God.
“Each person is a manifestation of the Creative Forces in action in the earth. Each person finds himself with a body that seeks expression of itself, and a mind capable of becoming aware of what the body presents, what other men present, and what influences are acting upon the body and upon the mind itself.
“Each soul enters the material plane not by chance, but through the grace, the mercy, of a loving Father; that the soul may, through its own choice, work out those faults, those fancies, which prevent its communion and atonement with the Creative Forces.
“As to whether a soul is developed or retarded during a particular life depends on what the person holds as its ideal, and what it does in its mental and material relationships about that ideal.
“Life is a purposeful experience, and the place in which a person finds himself is one in which he may use his present abilities, faults, failures, virtues, in fulfilling the purpose for which the soul decided to manifest in the three-dimensional plane.
“Know in thyself that there are immutable laws, and the universe about thyself is directed by laws set in motion from the beginning.
“So, as ye condemn, so are ye condemned. As ye forgive, so may ye be forgiven. As ye do unto the least of thy brethren, so ye do it unto thy Maker. These are laws; these are truths; they are unfailing. And because He may often appear slow in meting out results does not alter or change the law. An error, a fault, a failure, must be met. Though the heavens, the earth, may pass away, His word will not pass away. His word is the way, the truth, the light. Each soul must pay to the last jot or tittle.
“How can ye do His bidding?
“Not in mighty deeds of valor, not in exaltation of thy knowledge or power; but in the gentleness of the things of the spirit: love, kindness, long-suffering, patience; these thy Elder Brother, the Christ, has shown thee . . . that thou, applying them in thy associations with thy fellow man day by day, here a little, there a little, may become one with Him as He has destined that thou shouldst be! Wilt thou separate thyself? For there is nothing in earth, in heaven, in hell, that may separate thee from the love of thy God, of thy brother, save thyself.
“Then, be up and doing; knowing that as thou hast met in life those things that would exalt thy personal self—these ye must lose in gentleness, in patience. For in patience ye become aware of your soul; your individuality lost in Him; your personality shining as that which is motivated by the individuality of thy Lord and Master. Thus does your destiny lie within yourself, and the destiny of the world.
“Hold fast to that faith exemplified in thy meditation, in thy counsels, in thy giving out to thy fellow man. For he that hides himself in the service of his fellow man through the gifts, through the promises as are in Him, hides many of the faults that have made him afraid through his experience in the earth. For it is not what one counts as knowledge that is important, nor what one would attain in material realms, but what one does about that which is known as constructive forces and influences in the experience of thyself and thy fellow man. For, as He has given, ‘As ye do it unto others, ye do it unto Me.’ He is the way, the life, the light. He is the Creator; He is the giver of all good and perfect gifts. Man may sow, man may act in material manifestations, in matter, of spiritual forces . . . yet the returns, the increase, must come from and through Him who is the gift of life. It is not a consideration of where or even how the seed of truth in Him is sown; for He gives the increase if it is sown in humbleness of spirit, in sincerity of purpose, with an eye-single that He may be glorified in and among thy fellow man. This is the way, this is the manner that He would have thee follow.
“Let thyself, then, become more and more a channel through which His manifestations in the earth may arise, through thy efforts, in the hearts, the minds, of thy fellow man. For mind—in man, to man—is the builder, ever. That, then, must be directed, given, lost in singleness of purpose, that there may come the greater awakening within the consciousness of thy fellow man that he is in the earth; that His words are as lights to men in dark places, to those that are weak, to those who stumble. For He will give thy efforts that necessary force, that necessary power, to quicken even those that are asleep in their own selfishness, in their own self-indulgences, and bring to their awakening that which will make for glorious activities in the earth.
“Keep, then, the faith thou hast had in Him; for He is thy strength, He is thy bulwark; He is thy Elder Brother. In Him, ye may find that which will bring to thee, and others, joy, peace, happiness, and that which makes men not afraid. For He is peace; not as men count peace, not as men count happiness, but in that harmonious manner in which life, the expression of the Father in the earth, is one . . . even as He is one.
“Keep the faith.”
CASE HISTORIES
The six case histories which follow illustrate the methodology of the psychic readings of Edgar Cayce in diagnosing and prescribing for physical ailments and disturbances. They do not, however, give an idea of the scope of the readings. That can be reckoned only by the measure of human misery itself. Every conceivable kind of trouble has been brought to the Cayce door since that Sunday afternoon nearly forty-three years ago when he first illustrated his powers of clairvoyance.
Generally speaking, Edgar Cayce’s patients are his friends. People invariably like him, and once they have met him, they do not forget him. Sometimes it is difficult for the newcomer to dissociate the impersonal information of the reading from the warm, friendly character of the medium. This is the point which Mr. Cayce, in explaining himself, first brings up and continues to emphasize until the listener understands. “It isn’t I; it isn’t anything with which I have a conscious connection. But I can lead you to it. That is my function. The rest is up to you. Your attitude will govern the kind of information you get.”
This participation of the patient in the experiment, by way of mental attitude, is a point which the readings themselves constantly stress. The person who desires help, and who seeks it humbly and prayerfully, as did the patient in the first of the case histories which follow, will invariably get a better readi
ng than the cynic who wants to be shown, or the person who has lost hope and is willing to try anything as a last resort.
Consequently those who have gotten the best results from their readings are those who have realized the spiritual implications of the experiment in which they have participated. These, for the most part, have entered into the philosophical side of the work, and gained mentally and spiritually, as well as physically. Those who have gotten least from their readings are those who have treated the phenomenon as a freak or a fad, and have but haphazardly followed the instructions given them.
Some people allow the readings to take the place of a family doctor, getting checks for everything from a bilious headache to a head cold. Others use them for emergencies which get beyond the wisdom of their doctors. Still others, the chronically ill, employ them as a sustaining aid, so that they may remain alive and active as long as possible. One woman has been getting checkups regularly for twelve years, during which time her malady has been kept under control and she has enjoyed an active physical and mental life.
The fundamental worth of a reading is, of course, the diagnosis it gives. If the phenomenon of clairvoyance is accepted as fact, the diagnosis is invariably correct. Armed with it alone, most people could get well, for the remedies for almost every trouble are known. The secondary worth of a reading is the basic, far-reaching nature of the treatment it outlines. It aims at eliminating the cause, not the effect, and it assumes for its goal a completely healthy body. For this reason it almost always gives instructions as to diet, eliminations, exercise, and rest. Consequently a great many patients, after they feel a little better, go back to their old habits of eating too much, working too hard, exercising too little, and never achieve the well-being which their readings point out as a possibility. These people waste their own and Mr. Cayce’s time.
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