Most entities elect to return to the same worlds from which they came. Individuals often relate to places where they have been born, lived, and died over many lifetimes. Good or bad, it is home.
The evolution of a world is much like that of its individuals. From infancy a toddler learns to walk, becomes cognizant of others, and grows into rambunctious adolescence. Dreams give way to reality. The psyche bends to the pressures of peers and family. Ultimately the core becomes adult. Experience brings wisdom and maturity. So it is with the world plane. Some planets are reckless juveniles; others are old and wise.
We are finished for the time being.”
Q: Will a woman arise in the Middle East to become a proponent of education and the rights of women?
A: “The question strikes to the very heart of the cure for Middle Eastern turmoil. Woman was created to leaven the masculine propensity to impulsive actions. There have always been women leaders, at least as far back as 3000 BC, when Egyptian queens ruled. In 2500 BC, Ku-baba governed the Mesopotamian state of Ur. In more modern times, in 1960 when Sri Lanka was Ceylon, the first female prime minister was elected. Isabel Perón of Argentina became the first woman president in 1974. By 1999, Sweden had more female ministers than male; in the Finnish government, six of ten ministers were women. As of the twenty-first century, there were thirty-two female leaders in thirty countries. The United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands all had queens. Female presidents hold office in twelve nations ranging from Argentina to Switzerland. Women leaders are in the ascendancy worldwide.
Where women rule, generally speaking, peace reigns.
If the present trend continues, America will have a woman president, possibly of African descent, within the present century.
Worldwide, women have had a hard time achieving national leadership positions. Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi are two of the more famous woman killed by political opponents, but there have been others, like Maria Elena Moyano of Lima, Peru.
To answer the question directly, there will be women elected to leadership roles in the Middle East, but it will be a full century before any woman in that area achieves power and avoids assassination long enough to alter the flow of her nation. Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran will have women leaders in the next two hundred years.
Will they inculcate a respect for the rights of women? Some will and some won’t. Education of women will improve, lapse, and improve again as Muslim societies slowly adapt to the reality of the day.
When women do achieve parity with men in the desert countries, peace will at last be established and hold fast. How soon? There are too many variables within the human condition to predict an answer.”
Q: Will there be a World War III in my lifetime?
A: “The war is current and ongoing. The conflict is driven by ideological and theological motives coupled with economic ambitions, similar to past wars with religious overtones such as the Islamic expansion, the Crusades, the Thirty Years War, the French Revolution, and the Iranian Revolution.
Current battles against terrorism have the potential to flare into global conflict. From the vantage of the Universal Wave such a war does not appear likely at this time, although battles will persist for decades under one pretext or another.
Man has been fighting Man since the beginning of Man. It is not likely to end until the Coming of the Savior and the final battle before the Resurrection, metaphorically speaking. Resurrection is a term fabricated by humans. Spirits do not die and thus they cannot be raised from the dead.
For the overall benefit of mankind, culling the herd would ease the strain on society. Winnowing wheat does more than remove chaff. It also eliminates weevils and other pests. In the broad scheme of things, thinning the masses would be good. Whether by war or disease, bringing overpopulation under control would have benefits. Fewer people mean less demand for scarce resources; also, world war tends to generate a sobering appreciation for life.
The one thing mankind can count on is the continued existence of Man. The prospect of shifting power centers should not trouble the citizens. Dominant empires have come and gone over the centuries. The rise and fall of great nations is going to happen. America has had her day in the sun and for the most part she handled it well. There are events for which the nation can be ashamed: usurpation of Native Americans from their tribal homes, slavery, racism, and occasional wars for purely selfish reasons. But no other assembly of citizens can be prouder of themselves for overcoming past injustices.
In the century just ended, Americans championed democratic reforms at home and abroad. For good and righteous reasons, the blood of patriotic youths soaked the soil on battlefields around the globe. Having defeated her enemies, America lifted them to their feet and financed recovery of Japan and Germany.
No nation ever did more for the health and welfare of others. Thanks to the United States, many diseases have been vanquished. Advances in agriculture managed to produce food for a burgeoning world populace. People live longer more productive lives in large part because of American generosity.
Americans are quick to forgive, always available to assist their friends. No other nation will so quickly bristle militarily if one or two of her citizens are wronged anywhere in the world.
The U.S. legal system is available to every citizen when inequities have been perpetrated against them. Any American can go to court for any reason if he thinks he has been wronged.
Even the U.S. Constitution is a living document, subject to amendments as circumstance may dictate.
In the face of disaster anywhere in the world, Americans donate money from their personal income. Additionally, Americans give of themselves through organizations like the Peace Corps.
It is only in recent years that American politicians have allowed U.S. generosity to slip. Of the twenty-two richest nations, the United States ranks last in the quality and quantity of foreign aid offered to poor nations. American politicians tell their citizens that the U.S. gives the most aid of any nation and it is true. But the government demands that recipients use American money to purchase U.S. products, thereby using U.S. aid to further U.S. commercial interests. It is a practice that breeds hatred for America.
Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden allocate more of their gross domestic product for foreign aid; relative to gross domestic product America is the stingiest of them all. Over the last several decades, America’s generosity has been more and more militaristic. The U.S. has become selective in funding, giving mostly to middle-income Middle East nations, with Israel receiving the greatest sum.
But this will change.
The poor have always been more generous than the wealthy. As American influence and prosperity wane, by the end of the century, the U.S. will be more accommodating to the less fortunate.
Individual Americans are generous. They are also easily deceived by their politicians. Until the perfidy of the President Richard Nixon, by and large Americans accepted the word of their elected representatives. After Nixon, skepticism cast a dark shadow over anything claimed by government officials. As a result of various lies, called false flag tactics, such as the Bay of Tonkin incident used to start the Vietnam War, Americans no longer believe their politicians without question. And yet, under false flags, new wars have been started in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Americans lent support to their leaders.
History damns duplicity, but by the time history reveals subterfuge, the deed has been done. James Madison was quoted as saying, ‘If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.’
How true, how true.
This reading is ended.”
Q: Mr. Cayce, this is a long one, but a good one: Science describes emotion as being controlled by chemicals in the physical body. Being a woman who has gone through pregnancy and childbirth, as well as one who has studied the data as a psychologist, I can vouch for the truth in what is described by scientists. However, from patients who have (died and) �
�come back” from the other side, we hear of tremendous emotion: joy, peace, anger, fear…the list is actually rather long. Many scientists have studied this in order to disprove these (after-death) experiences—after all, they question, how is emotion possible without a physical body to control it? What is the truth concerning emotion beyond the physical world? How do the theories of metaphysical dualism come into play? They must, must they not? Do physical properties—the brain and its chemicals and the firing of synapses—truly control emotion? Or is emotion a completely different thing still in existence beyond the realm of the physical?
A: “Do not confuse emotion with judgment. The mind is reason; emotion is sensory. An aroma can evoke emotion. Music, the odor of a puppy, flowers, the scent of citrus, may bring back memories or titillate an olfactory response. These sensory responses to sounds and scents are the physical reactions brought about by the firing of synapses, as you put it. Without the physical body the entity does not have the ability to react to the physical stimuli. But let us define emotion. Feeling something without benefit of identifiable cause—that is unadulterated emotion.
Therefore, faith, sympathy, patriotism, or symmetry of dance with sensuous moves can bring about an intellectual response that we might deem as emotion.
Emotion in the physique is a vibratory reaction from one portion of the body to another. Emotion can be a glandular response provoked by gonads, spleen, or thyroid sending signals to the brain. All of this is in the three-dimensional world of the Earth plane. A scientist reasons that without the physical body there could be no joy, sense of peace, anger, or fear.
He is correct on the physical plane.
It is the yearning for those emotions that lures an entity back from the Universal Wave to endure the angst and agonies of life on Earth. As a spirit, the entity remembers sensations fondly in the same way living entities are drawn to fast automobiles or dangerous mountain peaks in search of adrenalin that makes them feel ‘alive.’
Does this mean that there is no emotion in the spirit world? Yes, as indicated, he feels no fear, anger, or other destructive impulses. What he does feel, are tragedies of war, peace, and serenity, and the comfort of physical freedom. Like a fledgling bird taking first flight, the wind in pinfeathers, the buoyancy of soaring, the newly-arrived spirit zips about the universe in complete abandon. It is fun. It also gets old. The entity begins to think of the physical world with its tactile sensations of sex, the fervor of hatred, the tranquility of lazy afternoons in a summer hammock. Is that not emotion?
Gazing upon the physical world and seeing tragedies of war and disease, a spirit is cloaked in sad empathy. That is emotion, isn’t it?
The birth of a healthy child, at the point where he sheds the fourth level of awareness, he is the embodiment of innocence, if only for a little while. This is cause for joy, and that is an emotion.
There are two kinds of emotion: the glandular and chemical stimulus of the physical plane, the purely sentient cause and effect of impetus and response. Then there is the metaphysical reaction, more difficult to comprehend without the fourth level of awareness that is lost upon birth into the Earth plane. The spirit emotion is nevertheless emotion. It is rectified by an overview of the world and its inhabitants. With the joy of a baby’s healthy birth there is also the awareness of troubles that will eventually come, of failures, pains and disappointments, loves lost and ambitions thwarted. Knowing the inevitability of future unhappiness, the observing spirit feels sadness mixed with the natal joy. That is emotion.
Be wise in your lifetime. Seize upon the good days and relish them. Bask in pleasures of the flesh. Absorb the affection of fellow beings. Love and be loved, caress and be caressed. Take every peaceful moment as a treasure to be enjoyed and never trivialized, because luck’s a chance and trouble’s sure.
And yet, in troubled times, remember these traumas will pass. Endure misfortune with philosophic forbearance. Good experiences are memories to be stored for less happy times. In the midst of turmoil and pain, summon those joyful reminiscences and remember—this will pass.
Of all the animals, only Man is born knowing he will eventually die. That is precious knowledge not to be squandered. This means every experience should be treasured, good or bad. Make the most of the physical sojourn. You are here by choice. This is what you wanted. Appreciate the experience, value the instant, and emphasize the growth that comes out of adversity and loss.
Pray not for what you want, but that God’s will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Pray for others. Say to God, ‘If it is Your heavenly purpose, please help this unfortunate soul…’ and every day give thanks for your blessings, peace, health, and prosperity.
Recognize the celestial and universal system of life, the majesty of creation and the masterful strokes bestowed upon us by the Creator.
Scientists describe the beginning of the universe as the Big Bang, and they are correct. God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and (bang!) there was light.
You do not have to flaunt your faith to be religious. It is not necessary to proselytize in search of errant souls— they will find their way in time. Concentrate on self. Build the temple that is within you.
Welcome others, but do not feel you must drag them into awareness against their will.
Many sins have been perpetrated in the name of religion. Oratory and bombast are not proof of sincerity. Quiet personal faith is no less a monument to the glory of God. Give thanks. Show that you recognize and admire what He has done on our behalf.
And yes, do it with emotion.
One does not have to be psychic to predict some of what is coming in this century. Severe weather that once occurred every fifty years will become more intense and will recur every ten years. There will be more hurricanes and tornadoes, each disturbance progressively more devastating than storms of decades past. By the time this entity takes a breath in the year 2050, the world will be assailed by increasingly damaging meteorological events. Corporations and pundits with selfish agendas will claim these are normal historical cycles that have come about in centuries past. They are right. Similar cycles have caused ice ages and centuries of tropical heat.
The difference this time is that the natural course of ocean currents and atmospheric responses has been unbalanced by activities of mankind. Before fragile equilibrium is reestablished there will be decade after decade of increasingly ferocious storms. Concurrently, as the globe adjusts to the new mix of overheated summers and more frigid winters, there will be an increase in earthquakes and tidal waves, and sea levels will rise.
With every cold month, cynics will say this proves there is no global warming. In fact, colder winters are a direct result of diminished ozone and warmer summers; consider deserts, which scorch by day and freeze at night.
Do not be afraid. Put your faith in God and trust in the ingenuity of Man to find ways to overcome abuses to the environment. Adapt, as has been herein described. Look not to government or corporate entities for solutions, but to yourself as a first step to correct errors of the past.
Do not waste anything; not your time or energy, nor resources that today you use and discard. Especially, do not waste the precious treasure of love. Each day in every way act in a manner that will not embarrass you upon return to the Universal Wave where every entity sees you clearly.
Be kind.
Be gentle.
Be generous to those less blessed than you.
Love your spouse and the children you’ve gotten. Forgive the youthful transgressions young people are prone to make.
Forgive your parents for mistakes they have made. It is not easy to be a mother or father. We all err; nobody is perfect.
Meditate and pray. Let the Creator know how grateful you are for all that He has done for you. If He is guilty of a misstep, remember that even God can make a mistake. Forgive Him.
Forgive yourself.
Make the world happy to have had the pleasure of your company.
Man will survive.
So will you.”
The Return of Edgar Cayce Page 9