This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his home on Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 25th day of April, 1937, in accordance with request made by Study Group #1 of the Ass'n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc., present.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Esther Wynne, Hannah Miller, Frances Y. Morrow, Hugh Lynn Cayce, Helen Storey, Helen Ellington and Carrie S. House.

TEXT

1. GC: You will have before you Norfolk Study Group #1, members of which are present here, and their work on the lesson Wisdom. As I call the heading of each section you will comment, giving any suggestions that will assist in improving this lesson. Questions.
2. EC: Yes, we have the group as gathered here, as a group, as individuals; and their work on the lesson Wisdom.
3. This as we find in the main is very good.
4. As has been indicated, to be complete, it is to be a part of the experience of each member of the group. For to be consistent in all things is Wisdom, but to be growing also. For ye grow in grace, in knowledge, in understanding - in Wisdom, of God, the Father, and the relationships as ye experience in the application of that thou hast known, thou hast seen, thou hast heard, thou hast experienced in the application of His love. For love is Wisdom, as love is God.
5. Ready for questions.
6. (Q) Section I - Introduction.
   (A) This we find very good.
7. (Q) Section II-The Approach to Wisdom.
   (A) Yes, very good; only a few minor changes or a transposing here of the approaches as relate to the activities of the individual in the applying of that known in the experience.
8. (Q) Section III - Let Each Examine Himself.
   (A) Very good. For this may be ever kept before every individual: God is One, and in the examining of self it is to be, in Wisdom then, to realize self - in desire, in purpose, in aim - to be at-one with that which is the representing of, the application of, God in the experience of each. Then this necessarily becomes self-examination. Not self-condemnation, nor self-glorification, but - as the Mind is the Builder, as the Will is the metre or measure, and as the Law of Love is that to be builded - it is Wisdom to be at-one in same.
9. (Q) Section IV - Application of Wisdom.
   (A) This is very good.
10. (Q) Section V - Closing.
    (A) This is very good; only the more of the individual experience - in the application and in the personal experience of that as becomes a part of the individual experience of each one who studies or reads same, as a consciousness, an awareness.
    Then indeed does there come Happiness into the experience. Happy are they that know the Lord in their daily lives. Not unto self-glory, but just being willing for self and self's abilities to be used even as He - "Not my will but Thine, O God, be done in and through me."
    Think ye that Jesus went happily to the Cross, or that He went happily from the garden where there had been apparently so little consideration by those of His followers as to what the moment meant? when they slept as He wrestled with self in the garden?
    Think ye then on thine own disturbances that are of the moment, though ye may have them in thy consciousness constantly, and worry as to this or that, the shortcomings of those ye love. How was He with those He loved? Yet He gave them his blessings.
    So in Wisdom, so in Happiness, bless them that despitefully use thee, that speak unkindly, yea though they deny thee of that thou knowest is thy part, even in the daily experiences. Bless them if ye would be Wise, if ye would be Happy or if ye would have Happiness in thine own life.
    For as He hath given, bless and curse not if ye would know God, if ye would know the Father. For as He sendeth His blessings upon those that are righteous and those that are unrighteous, do ye become envious that the unrighteous receive even those material blessings as ye consider thy daily needs, and thus find fault with thine own concept or thine own righteousness? Unwise are they that do such!
    Though ye may mourn for their unrighteousness, Happy is the man that blesses those whom the Lord does smile on even in their weaknesses.
    For ye know in Whom ye have believed, and His promises are sure. Doth ye find in thy heart that one son or daughter is not as kind or as gentle or as patient or as loving as another? Do ye not show the more gentleness to those who are weak, that thy very strength may touch them? From whence gained ye such Wisdom? From the earth or from God?
    So does He in His mercy, His patience, His loving - kindness - but ye are Wise that love the law and the understanding of same.
11. (Q) You will give the fundamental principles for our study of the next lesson on Happiness.
    (A) These have been given, as has just been outlined, that if ye would be Happy:
    No envy, no strife, no faultfinding, no heckling - but rather the JOY of the Lord, and in seeing beauty and grace in EVERY thing!
    How hath it been given? Unless ye can see in those that dislike thee, that despitefully use thee, that ye would worship in that ye would call a manifestation of God, can ye know Happiness?
    Then, only those who make Happiness in the lives and the experiences of others may indeed know what it is to be Happy.
    Have ye made anyone Happy that was discouraged, that was disturbed, that was misunderstood? Not that ye condone anything, but the love of God that taketh away sadness and sorrow. What is the life in the presence of the Christ depicted as? That He shall wipe away every tear, and no sickness and no sorrow shall be in that Happy land.
    So the fundamentals are: Casting out fear first in thine own heart, and aiding others to aid themselves - in gaining an insight into THEIR relationships with the Creative Forces or God.
    Tell them of the Happiness in the Christ Way, in the manner that Jesus showed Himself to be the Christ; and the joy and Happiness in keeping HIS ways, His promises, His joys, His life before thee and before them always.
    This is the mission of those who would bring Happiness into the experience of others; and as ye share, ye become Happy in the way.
    What - in thy study, thy experience, thy understanding - made the man Jesus the Christ? His willingness in the flesh to give Himself instead of the world for the knowledge and help of others! THIS brought into the individual experience the Kingdom of God. What, then, is the variation between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven?
    In the finding out of these, in their variation, is the Happiness of ye that seek the Way.
12. We are through for the present.

BACKGROUND

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

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