This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at the Edmonds' home on Pennsylvania Ave., Norfolk, Va., this 11th day of August, 1935, requested by those present.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Esther Wynne, Hannah Miller, Florence & Edith Edmonds, Frances Y. Morrow, Hugh Lynn Cayce, Helen Storey, Ruth LeNoir and Edna B. Harrell.

TEXT

1. GC: You will have before you the Norfolk Study Group #1, members of which are present here, and their work on the lesson Destiny - Section on Body. You will continue the discourse on the Destiny of the Body and answer the questions which will be asked.
2. EC: Yes, we have the group as gathered here, as a group, as individuals; and their work on the lesson Destiny.
3. In the approach upon the subject, let's make a little different approach; that much of that which has been intimated that should be asked as questions by individuals of this group may have, perhaps, (with thought) the wherewithal to approach same.
4. First there is the Destiny, as we have indicated, of the Mind; that is both material and spiritual.
5. Then there is the Destiny of the Body, as we have indicated. And it is held by some that, the body being of the earth-earthy it is born into the earth, dies and returns to earth. This has been set by the sages of old, and would indicate that the body - being of that phase of experience or existence - remains in its sphere; that while changes come about, it remaineth.
6. Yet the pattern has been shown by Him who entered into the earth that we through Him might know Life, and in having life have life more abundant.
7. As the question has been asked, when ye say "I believe in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit; I believe in the holy church, in the resurrection of the body," what meanest thou? The spiritual body or the material body? What meanest thou also (as will be approached, for it must be all a portion of the one) as to the communion of the saints? Bodily? With what body? Spirit? With whose spirit; their own or God!
8. In the Body, then, we have the body, the mind, the soul; each representing a phase of man's experience or consciousness.
9. The Destiny that is spoken of in these, then, is of the Body-Physical; that which is manifested in the earth in materiality, in matter; that has taken form, represented by an individual that has been given a name to designate its body from other bodies of similar nature.
10. What of it?
11. As the Body (this body spoken of) is the temple of the living soul, the temple of God - What of it? Is it to become dust again and again; yet being associated with the soul, the spirit of the individual that had been lent such, or had used such in creation as the abode of their existences, their experiences? Is it to see corruption? Is it to be lost entirely? Is it to be glorified, spiritualized? How was His Body?
12. As the Body is a portion of the structure in which the manifestations of the individual, as a portion of the Whole, are carried on, it, that body - is then in the keeping of its KEEPER. So what wilt thou do with same?
13. God hath not ORDAINED that any SOUL should perish! What of thy Body? Hast thou ordained, hast thou so lived, hast thou so made thy Temple that being untenable thou dost not care for its glorifying?
14. Ye attempt, rightly, to adorn thy Body for thy fellow man. Dost thou care less for thy God than thy fellow man? Dost thou purge the Body, as He hath given, that it may be made whole for thine soul?
15. What is to come depends upon what thou hast done, what thou wilt do with the opportunity which is, has been and will be THINE for the glorifying of same.
16. If ye would be like Him, then so live, so conduct thyself, that THY BODY may again and AGAIN be brought into such relationships that it may be raised; a glorified body to be known as thine very own!
17. That thou mayest have been called, this, that and the other name may make for confusion to many. But when ye say Creative Force, God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Abba, what meanest thou? One and the same thing, carrying through in the various phases of thine own consciousness; or of those who in their activities seek, as thou (if thou seekest aright), to be one with Him yet to KNOW self to BE self, I AM, in and with the GREAT I AM.
18. The Destiny of the Body, then, lieth with the individual.
19. Ready for questions.
20. (Q) Should we study to present with this lesson an understanding of the Book of Revelation? If so, how?
    (A) Not necessarily; for one is as the spiritual body, that is given in symbolic activity for the learned, while we are beginning with babes!
21. (Q) At the change called death is the entity free of a physical or material body?
    (A) Free of the material body but not free of matter; only changed in the form as to matter; and is just as acute to the realms of consciousness as in the physical or material or carnal body, or more so.
22. (Q) What is meant by the resurrection of the body? What body?
    (A) That Body thou hast taken in thine individuality to draw upon, from matter itself, to give it shadow or form, see?
    As may be seen by a study of the information which has been given through these sources as to the various appearances of an individual soul-entity in the earth, sometimes the body is six foot two, again four foot five; sometimes fair of hair, sometimes of very dark complexion. What has the Book written on same? MAN looketh on the outward appearance; GOD looketh on the heart.
    This is the same, but why the change?
    In entering into materiality, that thou hast used of spirituality or Creative Force makes for the development that has been in the experience of thy entity or soul-body, see?
    Then as it appeareth in the earth, what has been the builder ever? MIND! Mind of what? Of the entity! as associated with Creative Forces drawn by those environs into which it has come in its various experiences. The matter is drawn, as it were, of the soul and of the soul-entity. Hence with what Body shall ye be raised?
    The same Body ye had from the beginning! or the same Body that has been thine throughout the ages! else how could it be individual?
    The PHYSICAL, the dust, dissolves; yes. But when it is condensed again, what is it? The SAME Body! It doesn't beget a different Body!
23. (Q) Is the body aware of the destiny of the physical body at birth?
    (A) God Himself knows not what man will destine to do with himself, else would He have repented that He had made man? [Gen.6:6] He has given man free-will. MAN destines the body!
24. (Q) Moses taught the laws of health to the children of Israel. If we should strictly follow these or similar laws, would it make for a perfect body, a better mind and more soul development?
    (A) It may make for a better Body, a better Mind. As to the Soul development, this depends upon the use of the same in thy experience. Did the high office of priesthood make Nadab or Abihu better, or have more soul development? They used that they had for their own destruction! Did the office of being chosen by God Himself to be the king over his brethren make Saul a better man? Was he better as the prophet, as the king, or as the dead king?
25. (Q) Is the destiny of woman's body to return to the rib of man, out of which it was created? If so, how; and what is meant by "the rib?"
    (A) With this ye touch upon delicate subjects, upon which MUCH might be said respecting the necessity of that UNION of influences or forces that are divided in the earth in sex, in which all must become what? As He gave in answer to the question, "Whose wife will she be?" In the heavenly kingdom ye are neither married nor given in marriage; neither is there any such thing as sex; ye become as ONE - in the union of that from which, OF which, ye have been the portion from the beginning!
26. (Q) [585]: Do the dreams I had last night and night before bear on the Destiny of the Body?
    (A) Bear on the destiny of thy OWN Body!
27. (Q) As I call each name, you will give each a personal message on the Destiny of the Body.
    (A) Of their OWN Body!
28. (Q) [288]:
    (A) Keep thy Mind, thy Body, more in accord with thy own ideal, if thou wilt know that thou ART One with Him.
29. (Q) [585]:
    (A) As thou hast been shown the necessity of the purges within thine Mind, thine Body, that thou may know the glory of Him who took His own body that ye might have a pattern, so keep ye the way.
30. (Q) [307]:
    (A) Let the Lord and His ways EVER be thy guide. Let NOT the word of man, in any form, turn thee aside from that thou hast been shown in thy heart.
31. (Q) [560]:
    (A) Let the ways which lie before thee be kept ever open that ye may know more and more the glory of the risen Lord, that THY body may be one with Him.
32. (Q) [379]:
    (A) Unto him that hath shall be given. Keep the ways of the Lord before thee. Bind them upon thy forehead, that ye may see and hear and know only that which is good.
33. (Q) [303]:
    (A) Let the law of the Lord be as a lamp unto thy feet, that ye err not in thy walks before thy fellow man. Thus shall ye keep the way and walk therein.
34. (Q) [993]:
    (A) The light of the Lord is precious in thy sight. Let NOTHING deter thee nor make thee afraid. For ye shall see Him as He IS.
35. (Q) [341]:
    (A) THOU hast seen the way; thou hast known that which maketh men afraid; thou hast known that which easily besets the ways of those that would harken to the vicissitudes of life. KEEP the faith thou HAST had!
36. (Q) [404]:
    (A) The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the ways that seemeth awry, making straight the paths of those that love His coming. Keep in those paths as thou art shown from day to day.
37. (Q) [462]:
    (A) In the Lord's house are many mansions, and they that keep His ways shall dwell therein; in those Bodies that they BUILD with their fellow man day by day! Know the Lord, that He is good.
38. (Q) [413]:
    (A) In the way of the Lord the earth seems afar off. In the way of the earth the Lord seemeth far off. Keep, thou, close to the ways of the Lord.
39. (Q) [295]:
    (A) The Lord's ways are not past finding out, if ye will seek them. They that seek for the satisfying, for the gratifying of the MATERIAL forces, know NOT the Lord. Let HIM have His way with thee.
40. (Q) [294]:
    (A) The Lord keep thee; the Lord bless thee, and cause His face to shine upon thee and bring thee peace!
41. (Q) [538]:
    (A) Unto those that trust in the Lord, He MAKETH the paths straight. Unto those that trust in the might of their own counsel, or their own strength, it cometh to naught. Trust ye in the Lord!
42. (Q) [264]:
    (A) Present in this room: The Lord's ways thou KNOWEST. Keep them, if ye would know HIM the better. Let not the cares of thy Body, of thy Mind, of thy life in the earth, deter thee. For the Lord loveth those that are JUST KIND to His children.
43. (Q) Any message for the group as a whole?
    (A) As has been given, study that thou hast had presented to thee; lest thou experience much that would show thy shortcomings.
44. We are through for the present.

BACKGROUND

1. Subject of Reading 262-86 - "Norfolk Study Group #1."

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