The Essential Edgar Cayce (9 page)

A
He did not prevent, once having given free will. For, He made the individual entities or souls in the beginning. For, the beginnings of sin, of course, were in seeking expression of themselves outside of the plan or the way in which God had expressed same. Thus it was the individual, see?

Having given free will, then—though having the foreknowledge, though being omnipotent and omnipresent—it is only when the soul that is a portion of God
chooses
that God knows the end thereof.

Q
The fourth problem concerns man’s tenancy on earth. Was it originally intended that souls remain out of earthly forms, and were the races originated as a necessity resulting from error?

A
The earth and its manifestations were only the expression of God and not necessarily as a place of tenancy for the souls of men, until man was created—to meet the needs of existing conditions.

Q
The fifth problem concerns an explanation of the life readings. From a study of these it seems that there is a trend downward, from early incarnations, toward greater earthliness and less mentality. Then there is a swing upward, accompanied by suffering, patience, and understanding. Is this the normal pattern, which results in virtue and oneness with God obtained by free will and mind?

A
This is correct. It is the pattern as it is set in Him.

Q
The sixth problem concerns interplanetary and inter-system dwelling, between earthly lives. It was given through this source that the entity Edgar Cayce, after the experience as Uhjltd, went to the system of Arcturus, and then returned to earth. Does this indicate a usual or an unusual step in soul evolution?

A
As indicated, or as has been indicated in other sources besides this as respecting this very problem—Arcturus is that which may be called the center of this universe, through which individuals pass and at which period there comes the choice of the individual as to whether it is to return to complete there—that is, in this planetary system, our sun, the earth sun and its planetary system—or to pass on to others. This was an unusual step, and yet a usual one.

Q
The seventh problem concerns implications from the sixth problem. Is it necessary to finish the solar system cycle before going to other systems?

A
Necessary to finish the solar cycle.

Q
Can oneness be attained—or the finish of evolution reached—on any system, or must it be in a particular one?

A
Depending upon what system the entity has entered, to be sure. It may be completed in any of the many systems.

Q
Must the solar cycle be finished on earth, or can it be completed on another planet, or does each planet have a cycle of its own which must be finished?

A
If it is begun on the earth it must be finished on the earth. The solar system of which the earth is a part is only a portion of the whole. For, as indicated in the number of planets about the earth, they are of one and the same—and they are relative one to another. It is the cycle of the whole system that is finished, see?

Q
The eighth problem concerns the pattern made by parents at conception. Should it be said that this pattern attracts a certain soul because it approximates conditions which that soul wishes to work with?

A
It approximates conditions. It does not set. For, the individual entity or soul, given the opportunity, has its own free will to work in or out of those problems as presented by that very union. Yet the very union, of course, attracts or brings a channel or an opportunity for the expression of an individual entity.

Q
Does the incoming soul take on of necessity some of the parents’ karma?

A
Because of its relative relationship to same, yes. Otherwise, no.
Q
Does the soul itself have an earthly pattern which fits back into the one created by the parents?

A
Just as indicated, it is relative—as one related to another; and because of the union of activities they are brought in the pattern. For in such there is the explanation of universal or divine laws, which are ever one and the same; as indicated in the expression that God moved within Himself and then He didn’t change, though did bring to Himself that of His own being made crucified even in the flesh.

Q
Are there several patterns which a soul might take on, depending on what phase of development it wished to work upon—i.e., could a soul choose to be one of several personalities, any of which would fit its individuality?

A
Correct.

Q
Is the average fulfillment of the soul’s expectation more or less than fifty percent?

A
It’s a continuous advancement, so it is more than fifty percent.

Q
Are hereditary, environment, and will equal factors in aiding or retarding the entity’s development?

A
Will is the greater factor, for it may overcome any or all of the others; provided that will is made one with the pattern, see? For, no influence of heredity, environment or whatnot, surpasses the will; else why would there have been that pattern shown in which the individual soul, no matter how far astray it may have gone, may enter with Him into the holy of holies?

Q
The ninth problem concerns the proper symbols, or similes, for the Master, the Christ. Should Jesus be described as the soul who first went through the cycle of earthly lives to attain perfection, including perfection in the planetary lives also?

A
He should be. This is as the man, see?

Q
Should this be described as a voluntary mission, One Who was already perfected and returned to God, having accomplished His Oneness in other planes and systems?

A
Correct.

Q
Should the Christ Consciousness be described as the awareness within each soul, imprinted in pattern on the mind and waiting to be awakened by the will, of the soul’s oneness with God?

A
Correct. That’s the idea exactly!

Q
Please list the names of the incarnations of the Christ, and of Jesus, indicating where the development of the man Jesus began.

A
First, in the beginning, of course; and then as Enoch, Melchizedek, in the perfection. Then in the earth of Joseph, Joshua, Jeshua, Jesus.

Q
The tenth problem concerns the factors of soul evolution. Should mind, the builder, be described as the last development because it should not unfold until it has a firm foundation of emotional virtues?

A
This might be answered Yes and No, both. But if it is presented in that there is kept, willfully, see, that desire to be in the at-onement, then it is necessary for that attainment before it recognizes mind as the way.

Q
The eleventh problem concerns a parallel with Christianity. Is Gnosticism the closest type of Christianity to that which is given through this source?

A
This is a parallel, and was the commonly accepted one until there began to be set rules in which there were the attempts to take shortcuts. And there are none in Christianity!

Q
What action of the early church, or council, can be mentioned as that which ruled reincarnation from Christian theology?

A
Just as indicated—the attempts of individuals to accept or take advantage of, because of this knowledge, see?

Q
Do souls become entangled in other systems as they did in this system?

A
In other systems that represent the same as the earth does in this system, yes.

Q
Is there any other advice which may be given to this entity at this time in the preparation of these chapters?

A
Hold fast to that ideal, and using Him ever as the Ideal. And hold up that
necessity
for each to meet the same problems. And
do not
attempt to shed or to surpass or go around the Cross.
This
is that upon which each and every soul
must
look and know it is to be borne in self
with
Him.

We are through for the present.

THE PROBLEM OF GOOD AND EVIL

Edgar Cayce suggested repeatedly that in a given lifetime a soul could either progress or regress. Evil essentially promotes
soul retrogression
—a moving away from our spiritual destiny of oneness. And so what are we to make of selfish ambition, greed, and violence, some of the so-called faces of evil? How does the individual who is trying to see the world from a spiritual point of view understand this blatant abuse of power and its harm to others?

Some of the most insightful comments on this problem are found in this reading, originally presented to the first “A Search for God” group, which received some 130 readings from Cayce on two dozen principles for spirituality and growth of the soul. Reading 262-52 was delivered when the group was studying “Opportunity,” part of the second dozen lessons (we will examine the first dozen in chapter 6, “Soul Development and Spiritual Growth”). The essential opportunity we face in the material world is choosing either to serve life-promoting values
or
be a slave to selfish, destructive values. As we find near the end of 262-52: “Will is given to man . . . for the choice.”

The primary intent of the reading was to systematically codify principles of
oneness
that could be presented to students. No doubt several group members recalled that four years earlier an accomplished scholar of the Cayce readings, Morton Blumenthal, had wanted to create a curriculum for students. At that time, the advice given to him was: “The first lesson for
six months
should be
One
—One—
One;
Oneness of God, oneness of man’s relation, oneness of force, oneness of time, oneness of purpose,
oneness
in every effort—oneness—oneness!” (900-429).

Although what makes reading 262-52 especially noteworthy is the question-and-answer exchange on evil, Cayce’s story of creation and the law of oneness sets an invaluable context for appreciating his approach to good and evil generally.

God is the first cause, the one source. And in the great, creative act that gave birth to the universe, God
moved.
Polar opposites were the result: positive and negative, attraction and repulsion. There were now choices to be made between options. That dynamic tension was the key to what lay ahead.

Where does the human soul fit into this story? Each of us was created with a potentiality for what we could become. With the gift of free will, each of us could choose to follow God’s plan for our development
or
rebel against it. In the plan for spiritual evolution, the infinite spirit penetrates matter—that is, the universal spirit comes to know itself in individual human form. We have an opportunity, therefore, to “be aware of that first cause moving within his realm of consciousness.”

So how had humanity gone wrong, how has evil entered into the equation? We are tempted by two fundamental forms of evil, alluded to by Edgar Cayce and described more explicitly by such spiritual philosophers as Martin Buber and Rudolf Steiner. Both forms are a type of rebellion, as Cayce describes it. Both mean going against the impulse to bring the spirit into the material world.

One type of evil tempts us to believe there is no such thing as spiritual reality. It denies the oneness of God—or even the existence of a higher force. It leads us to resist the
inter-penetrating
spirit and to focus on physical reality exclusively. The result can be blind materialism, coldhearted, self-interested thinking, and a fear of death.

The other type of evil is harder to recognize. It claims more for ourselves than we’re entitled to. Despite our delusions, we really aren’t the
source
of the one, creative energy; we are merely able to
reflect
and
direct
it. Cayce asks us to think about a mirror, which doesn’t emit its own light but simply reflects light and redirects its path. Rather than saying, in effect, “I am God,” we need to be saying “I serve the one God who lives in me.”

Is there a particular
being,
a personal devil, that leads us astray? Reading 262-52 speaks of one, but that is
not
the same as saying evil is personified any more than a “personal God” means God is literally a person. Instead, Cayce reminds us that each of us has a personal capacity for evil, a capacity to rebel that leads us away from the true purpose of life.

Evil is not the idle talk of theologians and philosophers; it hits right at the heart of our modern culture and the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. In groping for the values that will revitalize and heal our society, we first need to recognize the underlying oneness of God. Then we need to recognize that some choices really are life-promoting and others are not, and that the influence of evil on these choices is a very real thing. Evil is not separate from God; instead, it’s a negative way of using that one source. Ultimately, confronting the problem of good and evil isn’t so much a matter of unraveling a philosophical knot as it is the willingness to take responsibility for our choices.

THE READING

THIS PSYCHIC READING, 262-52, WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON AUGUST 25, 1933.
The conductor was Gertrude Cayce.