Edgar Cayce Readings, 300-1

(Physical Suggestion)

TEXT

EC: Yes, we have the body; and those conditions physical and mental that disturb the normal equilibrium of this body, [300].
Now, as we find, in analyzing or describing those conditions that disturb this body and the mental body, much that has had and does have to do with the impetus or surroundings that brought the body into its mental and physical development would have to be analyzed - for these conditions to be materially aided.
However, from a metaphysical as well as some particular conditions the case might be better understood; and in particular offer and opportunity or channel for the study of deeper or re-incarnated influences, that go for the hereditary and environmental influence.
In the present, however, we deal with the purely mental and physical manifestations that we find in this body at present, and what - as we find - may be done at present about the condition.
For, truly this may be said to be a manifestation where the condition is such that the power which may be manifested through the individual's application or study of the spiritual influence as applied with mechanical and medicinal properties may bring about a manifestation of the power of the love of God in a material plane.
Then, having been an entity, a body (in the present) with those surroundings or environs that brought about the warping of the instinct and intelligency of the active forces that coordinate with the imaginative and the material influences, we find an incoordination between the mental images as builded by the body and those that are able to be raised from the invisible to the visible as manifestations in a material plane.
Hence we have a body that is termed one of such status as to be wholly helpless in doing or developing for self any constructive material benefits. And would become a sufferer in body were there allowed the activities to be dependent wholly upon the efforts of the body, without direction from one more normally balanced to the material conditions in which bodies find themselves in the material plane.
Then, as to what may be accomplished in the present in awakening within the physical forces - for the body in a purely material way may be termed to be very near normal in functioning of organs, in digestive forces, in assimilations, so far as material things are concerned; but the abilities to coordinate the mental from the activities visible to material conditions or aids are almost nil.
Then, there must be lacking a something that is of the material nature which produces a coordination between the physical activities and the mental abilities of the activities of the physical body for coordination. Or, there are little of the first impulses that are towards normalcy; that is, of self-preservation.
To go into the pathological conditions for the moment, then, that they may be better understood, these are lacking in those centers along the sympathetic and cerebro-spinal where there are those coordinations between the impulse and the stamen that cares for the abilities to carry on in a given line or direction.
Then, to reach this, we will find that the greater benefits may be derived for this particular body by the subjugation of the inner self to the will of a more mechanical mind, or one that may guide in a loving, direct, positive manner for the CONTROLLING of these influences through suggestion - and through the adding of those things also that may bring that impression upon the nerve activities of the brain centers themselves for specific or direct activity under given conditions that may be suggested or directed to the body at that period.
Hence that which has been termed hypnosis, or the use of a hypnotic - whether imposed by a mind that may overpower the impulse of the physical body or that which may be induced by the injection or taking of a drug that will effect same. And through such periods, positive, direct suggestions be made to the body for the activity to be positive in its concurrent and recurrent reactions in the mental and physical organism of the body. See?
Hence the manner of approach would be through that of definite periods - once to twice a week - when these conditions would be induced, and those suggestions made that along certain lines of endeavor, along certain lines of reading, along certain lines of study would the body-mind develop to meet the needs of the conditions existent in and about the body at the present time.
Ready for questions.
(Q) Will you give or word a suggestion that might be used while in this state?
(A) Such suggestion may be best directed by one knowing the environs, the surroundings, the conditions that are to be met day by day. But, as given through these channels, only one that has the desire within self for the producing of a manifestation of God's love, and in a loving manner present such, as to bring the correct or proper conditions. See?
We are through for the present.
(Following suggestion by GC that EC overcome any physical condition in his own body that might be disturbing)
EC: The physical conditions [of Edgar Cayce] are functioning very normally in the body at present.
(Five minutes later, after GC had given the rest of the suggestion save "You will wake up", while waiting for the circulation to be equalized, etc.)
EC: In making or beginning the applications to [300], it would be well that suggestive magnetic treatments or therapeutics be begun. Letting the body lie prone, easy, quiet, place the left hand on the spine at the sympathetic or secondary cardiac plexus (4th, 5th dorsal), the palm of the hand covering this area. Resting a minute, then gently place the right hand (or palm) over the third eye - or that area just above the real face, or between the eyes and above the bridge of the nose. Then have body gently relax, with the suggestions gradually given in a monotone that makes the power of perception become more active through all plexuses of the system. For, THESE will aid in not only quieting the body but in enabling the operator to guide, DIRECT, in that necessary for the mental betterment.
(Immediately on finishing the last sentence, EC raised right up from the couch - awake - without waiting for GC's final suggestion, "You will wake up.")
(We asked EC why he jumped up like that, if he felt different from usual. He said something seemed to be after him. For quite a while he felt badly, until coordination took place again.)
Copy to Dr. [539]
Copy to File

BACKGROUND

1/27/33 Dr. [539]'s letter:
Before I close, I must tell you of my appreciation of the lessons that are being sent out from your study group, number one. Somehow, I can see your hand in everything that they contain. Teaching is a great art. To be able to put information into such a form that it exerts an appeal to all those strange to that knowledge is a great problem. I frequently test different modes of approach from just that very angle and I am happy to be able to report an unusual instance in connection with the mode of presentation in your lessons. [SFG I - [262]] I was interested in a young man who some years ago was adjudged insane in County Court, and has been confined for some ten years or more in the State Hospital. I bring him up to my office two or three times a month, but somehow have made no appreciable progress in his mental outlook. His name is [300]. He was born about thirty-five years ago on the eighteenth of January. His home environment was very uninviting. His Mother died early and his Father drank himself into an early grave. He lived with his Grandmother, whose mental faculty had deteriorated. He received a rather concentrated religious education in the Catholic Church. At any rate, the idea formulated itself in his mind that he must devote his life to penitence and prayer, with the result that he neglects any sort of manual labor, whereby, he would sustain himself. I do not think it necessary to go into further details, because the point that I really want to make, is, that when about a week ago I gave him your lesson number two to read on "Know Thy Self", he exhibited an unusual favorable response. He expressed the willingness to take the lesson with him. He took very kindly to my suggestion that we would discuss it when he came in again. It is the first time that he showed himself so open minded to a new idea and some great good should come out of this situation.
2/28/33 Dr. [539] wrote for a physical Rdg. for [300], saying:
The boy served a great deal as a choir boy in the Catholic Church, Catholicism being the religion of his family. [300] had some difficulty in coping with the curriculum of the Parochial school to which he went. He worked in a grocery store, and then learned something of a trade of tinner. In working an elevator, he met with an accident and I am told that his head was injured at that time. I met him, for the first time, about eight or nine years ago. He was then a patient in one of our state institutions for the mentally sick. He was very blue, taciturn, and given to spending most of his waking moments in offering prayers in line of what he had been taught from early youth up. This last description fits his condition very much at the present day. To me it looks as though this young man was hypnotized by the glitter, incense, and bright environment within the Church, so that he developed a hankering to become a priest. But being so confronted with his limitations in learning, it occurred to him that he would sort of free-lance, and be in a class all of his own. This situation has developed the incapacity for any constructive type of activity. If I would get him a job, the probability is, that he would absent himself at most any time and be found engaged in his favorite activity of praying. It almost looks as though the care and provision of food and shelter that he is receiving at the institution is the best help that is immediately available for him.
Here is, indeed, the situation in which any help that may come through you as a channel for information from the great sources above us should be asked and utilized. The wish for this, however, is not his own. In fact, he like so many in that condition, has a sort of exaggerated good opinion of himself. Some five, six weeks ago, I wrote to his sister including some of your literature and suggesting that we would ask for help from the great Universal Source. But she has refused to answer me. However, I am perfectly willing to shoulder all this responsibility myself, and it is not with any sense of curiosity that I present this request to you, but rather as an urge within, because just such cases as this require the love and good will of their fellow brothers. I am including a check for five dollars, a small contribution for meeting the overhead.
P.S. morning's mail brought the enclosed letter from Mrs. [864], [300]'s sister.
[GD's note: As I remember it, Mrs. [864]'s ltr. was full of her own problems, feeling that she was being "hexed". EC ret'd the ltr. to Dr. [539], after he had written her an encouraging letter as Dr. [539] requested him to do.]
3/16/33 EC decided to try the reading for [300], since he was in an institution and a definite appointment was not necessary. However, he said he had felt a foreboding since yesterday afternoon, for no apparent reason. We told him to be optimistic, so that evil influences could not enter and nothing bad could happen.

REPORTS

3/22/33 Dr. [539] thanked EC for the rdg., saying he had sent a copy of it to [300]'s sister, Mrs. [864]:
"I think that the information that came through you quite remarkable. It looks very much in line with something that promises results. As soon as the weather is more favorable and conditions make it more possible for us to bring [300] in, I shall endeavor to put the suggestions received into application."
4/01/33 He wrote:
"I saw [300] for the first time since your reading. I made a start on preparing him into a receptiveness for suggestion. He did so without any noticeable resistance. I am going to keep some records and will make reports to you from time to time."
5/04/33 Sister, Mrs. [864]'s ltr.:
"We are deeply appreciative of your interest in my brother's welfare and shall get in touch with Dr. [539] concerning a further rdg. for my brother [300]." [She requested a Life Rdg. for herself and a Physical Rdg. for her baby [396].]
5/24/33 See 281-17, Par. 16-A giving detailed suggestion to be given for [300] during magnetic treatments.
6/29/33 Dr. [539]'s ltr.:
"[300] is getting along very nicely. He is more tractable and contented than I have known him to be for a long time, but at that he [is] a great way from having attained to a place where he can be self-sustaining and capable of meeting even the slightly difficult problems of life."
1/16/34 Dr. [539]'s ltr.:
"[300] is in my opinion very much better, He has taken to make himself very helpful in the institution that is taking care of his physical needs. I received today a letter from him which is so good that I will take the liberty of enclosing it for your perusal. You need not return it."
Ltr from [300] to Dr. [539]:
Dear Doctor [539]:
Thought I would drop you a line or two, and let you know I am feeling fine, and hope you are the same. Well, everything seems to be o.k. as far as I know. I done all my work and now I'm ready to retire. We had a busy day to day, but we can't kick, you know an idle mind is a devils workshop; so we must keep busy.
Yours as ever, [300]
3/09/34 Dr. [539]'s ltr.:
"It might please you to learn some news of [300]. All in all, it is evident that he is on the upward grade. He has decided to make himself useful to the fellows in his ward and renders service to the best of his ability. In my opinion this is quite a splendid change. He talks with considerable more compassion and while his peculiar complexes are still noticeable at times in that he segregates himself for prayer on his knees, according to his early training in the Catholic Church, he does not make himself obnoxious or difficult to get on with. He delights to keep himself clean, his clothing looking well, and to improve his vocabulary."
7/21/34 Sister, Mrs. [864], wrote: "Have been in ... and saw my brother [300] who, by the way, is greatly improved. I'm so thankful."
2/23/60 GD's note: A routine mailing to [300] brought a return card giving correct address in a residential section of Cleveland, Ohio. Apparently he is still living and became well enough to be released from the institution. [Dr. [539] died in Dec. 1946.]