This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at the Edmonds' home on Pennsylvania Ave., Norfolk, Va., this 15th day of July, 1934, in accordance with request made by those present.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Helen Ellington, Esther Wynne, Frances Y. Morrow, Florence & Edith Edmonds, Helen Storey, Minnie Barrett and C. A. Barrett, Mildred Davis, Ruth LeNoir.

TEXT

1. GC: You will have before you the Norfolk Study Group #1, members of which are present in this room, and their work on the lesson, Desire. You will please give to each, as I call the names, a personal message that will help them at this time as individuals to better perform their part in the work of the lesson. You will answer the questions that will be asked.
2. EC: Yes, we have the group as gathered here, as a group, as individuals, and their work on the lesson Desire.
3. In that which has been given may they each become more and more aware of the spirit of truth working in and through them, as they apply in their daily experiences that which has been pointed out; as to how the desires of the body, of the mind, may be spiritualized in those things that may make for the oneness of purpose in self to the will of the Father.
4. Ready for questions.
5. (Q) [413]:
   (A) Let thy purposes, thy aims, thy desires, ever be in the light of that which has been given, "Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me," whether in desire, in the purposes of the heart, or in the aims of the activities of the body.
6. (Q) [307]:
   (A) Glory in those things that bespeak of the activities of the spirit of truth as it convicts the hearts, the minds, the desires of those that seek to know His ways; for he that would know the Father, that would know His will, His desire as toward him, must believe that He is. That, then, which moves in the hearts and minds of those who seek to know Him, is OF Him. GLORY thou in same.
7. (Q) [379]:
   (A) As the purposes and desires of the body, the mind, are made more and more in accord with that thou seest to praise in thy fellow man, more and more will the consciousness of the Christ Spirit working in and through men be manifest in thine own heart.
8. (Q) [993]:
   (A) Keep the way as thou has purposed in thine heart, for His ways are not past finding out to those that seek to know Him. And they that walk in the light shall have no darkness at all in their heart. For He giveth life, light, hope and eternal life to those that seek His ways.
9. (Q) [560]:
   (A) Let praise and honor ever be in thine purposes, in thine desires towards those things that make thee aware of His presence abiding with thee. For His promises are sure that they who walk with Him shall KNOW Him even as He is. Let thy light so shine that others may know thou walkest, thou talkest with Him, and that thy desire is towards those that seek His way.
10. (Q) [303]:
    (A) In the Father's house are many mansions. As thine desires are towards the knowledge of the Father's ways, of the Father's purposes with thee as concerning thine fellow man, put INTO PRACTICE that thou knowest and give praise and honor and be joyous in the service that thou renderest to thy neighbor. For they that do good unto their neighbor lendeth to the Lord, and HE will repay in those ways that bring peace, harmony and understanding in thine conscience; for ye know that ye are His, for He calleth His own by name.
11. (Q) [69]:
    (A) That thou purposeth has brought - and purpose in thine inner self - that consciousness of the purposefulness in being one with that spirit of truth that maketh every soul alive in Him. Let thine praises be, then, to the Father of light in whom there is no variableness, and He will walk with thee as thou goest about doing good.
12. (Q) [[69]'s husband]:
    (A) Let thine inner self, thine consciousness of the desires and purposes of thine heart, be more and more one with Him; leaving with Him - that is within self - that knowledge that He will be thy guide, wilt thou but let the Christ have his way with thee. Let thy yeas be yea and thy nays be nay in the purposes of the Lord.
13. (Q) [295]:
    (A) Keep that which has been purposed in thine self and the desire of thine heart towards Him shall be made manifest in thine life. Let the Father have His way with thee. For His word has gone out to those that seek to make the desires of their hearts, of their minds, one with Him, and it shall not return to Him void. Let thy light, then, shine in praise, in glory to Him.
14. (Q) [585]:
    (A) The ways of the Father maketh known His praises, His glory unto the sons and daughters of men, are through the purposes and desires that are builded by the sons and daughters of men towards the LORD'S way in the earth. THOU knowest the way. Walk therein, and His light and His ways shall guide thee as thou goest; for His promises are sure and may be thine as ye fulfil that ye have purposed in thine heart to DO towards those things thou knowest to be the Lord's way with man.
15. (Q) [294]:
    (A) Let thine desires, of the mind, of the body, be one with Him; for He will guide thee and direct thee, if ye will but put thy trust WHOLLY in Him. And He will walk and talk with thee, even as He has promised to those that let the inner desire be one with thy Lord, thy God.
16. (Q) [538]:
    (A) As the ways are opening before thee, as to how the desires of the heart, of the mind, may make for the pathway being bright or dim, so let the light of truth in the promises in the Christ BE in thine life, that thy words, thine acts, may be in keeping with that thou desirest toward thy Lord. For, as ye do it unto the least of thy brethren, ye do it unto thy God. For He is in the life, He IS the life, of thy brethren.
17. (Q) [288]:
    (A) Walk in the light, even as He is in the light. Let less and less of self enter into the desires of thy mind, of thy body, but that thy desire may be, "Have Thy way with me, O Lord. Be THOU the guide. Let that Thou WOULD have me do be the purpose of my life, the DESIRE of my heart, and let me give the praise to Him that leads the way."
18. (Q) [341]:
    (A) Glory in the Lord. As thou hast seen, as thou hast heard from within how the desires of the self make for the opening or the closing of the door to the heart of God, so let thy purposes, thy desires in self, be more and more aware of the fact that the Lord is in His holy temple in thine self, if ye will but let HIM be the guide. For thine body is the temple of thy soul, the image of thy God. Let Him have His way with thee. Be up and doing with that thou art given to do day by day.
19. (Q) [404]:
    (A) Faint not in trial nor tribulation. Let thy purposes and thy desires be in Him. Let the ways of the Lord be known in thine inner self, "Not my will but THINE, O Lord, be done IN me, through me. Let me be a channel of blessing to someone day by day, that Thou has purposed in the inner man, that which is needed for my soul awakening in Thee to its greatest abilities be in the desire of my heart towards the will of the Father in me."
20. (Q) [462]:
    (A) Glory and praise to him who purposes in his heart to seek the Lord while He may be found in thine own self. For He is not far away, but even in thine inner self. Open the door of desire towards Him in such measures, in such manners, as to bring in thine own experience the ways of the Lord being manifest in thine daily life. For His promise has been, ye that seek in the name of the Lord thy God, thy Christ, thy Savior, SHALL receive according to the desire of the heart unto the Christ HAVING His way with thee. What has thou purposed? That ye may know the way in the light of thine own desire, or that the Lord would have thee do?
21. (Q) [288]: What is meant by, "the desire remaining in the One, for which the Oneness was created"? [See 288-6, Par. 3]
    (A) The desire remaining in the purposes of the Creative Force, or God, in thee, as to those things necessary to purge the soul that it may be a companion with the first purposes, the first desires, in the ONE, in God. For flesh is weak, the spirit is willing. Let the SPIRIT be the motivating force in thy desire, rather than the exaltation of the flesh in any individual experience. For God giveth the increase, whether in the flesh or in the mental forces, AS thou hast purposed or desired from within. For thou ART gods in the making. What wilt thou be to thy fellow man if the desire is for exaltation of self? For thus sin entered in the flesh.
22. (Q) Is it possible to be selfless while seeking fulfilment in the flesh of the heart's desire?
    (A) If the heart's desire is one with the purposes of the spirit force in self, and not of the fulfilment of flesh desire alone. Let Him have His way with thee. As thou meetest those things of the flesh, of the body, as related to the spirit of truth, so does the desire come to be one with, one of, those forces that makes for UNIFYING of self in body, in mind, in soul, to the purposes of thine indwelling in the flesh.
23. (Q) Explain, "He desires truth in the inward parts."
    (A) He that giveth his soul to the purposes of the Lord, he that loveth his enemies, he that loveth those that speak harshly to thine inner self, DESIRES the Lord in the inner self. Thus the answers for all come in the love that He gave, that He left His glory with the Father that He might know the desires of the flesh as related to all those things pertaining to the waywardness of man; yet the desire that arose from the inner self that life was given by Him, life must be maintained in the DESIRE OF Him towards those to whom He had given the power to become the sons of God through THEIR experience in the earth. So is the inner desire one with the Father-God. So is the soul made one with the soul of thy Savior. For, "if ye love me ye will keep my commandments, and a new commandment I give, Love ye one another, even as I have loved you."
24. (Q) [413]: Please give interpretation of foreign [apparently Greek] letters I saw in meditation on July 5th.
    (A) As these were as mysteries to thine consciousness, yet knowing that they bear a message to those that are aware of their meaning, so have the purposes, the desires in thine heart been such that ye might know that that man has made a mystery of God's purposes with man, and they - those mysteries, as those letters - may be known to thee, if ye will but put into practice, into active service in thine inner self, that thou knowest to do step by step. For all the words that may be said are combined in the twenty-six letters in thine own language, yet there is the necessity of thine using thine own self and the faculties of thine mind to combine them in such manners and measures as to make known that thou desirest to give to thine fellow man as to that thou purposeth in thine inner self. So with the characters as seen. This may be as foreign to thine consciousness as those characters, lest ye put them to WORK in thine own experience.
    COME, MY CHILDREN, YE THAT SEEK THE LORD. HE IS NIGH UNTO THEE. THOU HAST PURPOSED WELL IN THINE STUDIES, IN THINE PREPARATION FOR THOSE THAT WOULD SEEK THROUGH THESE CHANNELS TO KNOW MORE OF WHAT THY LORD, THY GOD, WOULD HAVE THEM DO. BE NOT SATISFIED, BUT RATHER CONTENT IN THAT YE ARE BEING A CHANNEL OF BLESSING TO THY FELLOW MAN. THOU ART AS THE LEAVEN THAT WILL LEAVEN THE WHOLE, FOR SOME THERE BE AMONG YOU THAT WILL HEAR HIS VOICE - AND HE WILL WALK AND TALK WITH THOSE THAT ARE WILLING, JOYOUSLY, THAT HE, THY BROTHER, THY CHRIST, THY SAVIOR, WOULD DIRECT THY WAYS. KEEP THE FAITH.
25. We are through.
    [GD's memo: EC awoke from above reading without the full waking suggestion being given to him; that is, he awoke before the final words, "Now, perfectly normal and perfectly balanced, you will wake up."]

BACKGROUND

1. Subject of Reading - "Norfolk Study Group #1."

REPORTS

1. GD's note: It was during this lesson on DESIRE that Mrs. [69] and her husband withdrew from Group #1 as active participants. Some of the original members had withdrawn previously, even during the readings on SFG Book 1.

Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation