This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his home on Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Virginia, this 2nd day of January, 1937, in accordance with request made by the mother - Mrs. [811], through Active Membership of her husband in the Ass'n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Mr. [830], Mrs. [811], Mr. [816] and Mr. [826].

TEXT

1. GC: You will have before you the body and enquiring mind of [811], present in this room, in regard to her son, [830], present in this room, and her desire to help him get started in his right line of preparation for his future work and best development in this life. You will advise her in regard to this, and answer questions which will be asked concerning same, as I ask them.
2. EC: Yes, we have the body, the enquiring mind, [811]; and the body, the enquiring mind of [830].
3. In counseling with an individual entity there are many conditions that are to be taken into consideration.
4. While the desire of the mother to aid is natural, is right, there must be the realization that the individual has his own life to live - and that even the great desire to aid may at times become a stumblingblock to another individual.
5. Then the greater aid is to counsel as respecting his purpose, his ideal.
6. For each soul enters the material plane for the manifesting of its individual application of an ideal in respect to the Creative Forces or Energies.
7. Each soul is then endowed by its Maker with that of choice, with that birthright.
8. And to live another's life, and to direct or counsel even - other than that which is in accord with that of choice, is to become rather a hindrance than an aid.
9. Hence the prayers of self, the counsel of self as respecting those things that are ideal in relationships to Creative Forces.
10. For there are no short cuts to knowledge, to wisdom, to understanding - these must be lived, must be experienced by each and every soul.
11. In counsel then, let thy yeas be yea and thy nays be nay.
12. The anxiety that has arisen in self has only unfit self, as well as oft brought confusion in the experience of the individual - the son; with the desire not to be averse to filling the requirements for the peace, the harmony - yet these bring oft to the entity confusions.
13. Rather then let that counsel be as given, in purpose, in sincerity. Insist that this be held as the ideal: SINCERITY in every activity, in every relationship. And whatever may be undertaken, do with all thy might, with an eye single to service to a LIVING God that may NOT in ANY manner be set aside.
14. For it is in Him that each soul lives, moves and has its being. And while a man may defy the laws of nature, defy even the laws of his Creator, he must pay and Pay and PAY!
15. For His purposes will not be defeated among His children.
16. And each soul must give an ACCOUNT of the deeds, of the purposes done in the body!
17. Hence in being sincere, in being in a purposefulness, in an unselfishness for both the mother, the son, shall be the attitude, the directing force. For these are well-pleasing in those influences that make for constructiveness in the experience of one soul with another.
18. And though our physical relationships may oft have the experiences or appearances of the desires for a MATERIAL advantage, for a material success - unless the soul and the real desire is founded in patience, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness - and most of all SINCERITY - we become stumblingblocks to others.
19. Ready for questions.
20. (Q) Why is he unable to sit still and study?
    (A) A physical disturbance oft becomes the condition, and yet being under those adverse influences - the desires of the body to be active, to be creative in its own self override same; and combined with those pressures the hindrances become rather in the body being quiet or still.
    These are not faults, but rather then USE them as stepping-stones for the better approach. HAVE the physical corrections made but DO NOT attempt to INSIST that there must be quiet! For it merely creates then that subjugation of the WILL; and the will once broken, the will once disturbed to that, it becomes rather that of a defiance.
    For each soul, each mind, each entity is endowed with its choice. And the choice is the result of the application of self in relationships to that which is its ideal - and finds manifestation in what individuals call habit, or subconscious activity. Yet it has its inception in that of choice.
    For to subjugate an individual soul to the will of another is to break that which is the greater power, the greater influence in the experience of the soul for its advancement.
    Consider for the moment, then, the desires, the promptings in the body, the mind, the soul of [830]:
    As has been indicated, through the experiences of the entity in the earth, there are definite urges in given directions. These as has been indicated require rule, rote, for the entity to so conduct itself as to form habits - as it were - in given directions, as related to an engineering or directing influence.
    Because the physical defects or suppressions in the body through those areas that affect the pineal and the adrenals are existent, then there are hindrances in the body being able to fulfil even that as is innate and a desire. For to be an architect or an engineer of such and such varied activities is innate, yet to force self to the rote, to the necessary requirements, becomes to the entity oft as unbearable experiences; and it reaches at times those expressions in self that "It isn't worth the effort." He would rather chuck the whole thing and just drift with the tide.
    Then through corrective mechanical applications have those corrections made, and then if the corrections are such that the choice of the entity can be and is in those directions that have been indicated - well! If those activities then are such yet that the choice must be made of its own in the physical or material application, in labors that find an outlet for the activities, let the ENTITY choose! DO NOT force.
    For God hath willed that every soul should be a material manifestation of His Force in the earth, but do you find it so? Man may oft defy the Maker, yet these may be such that eventually in the experiences of each soul these faults, these hindrances, MUST be MET!
    Hence it behooves those who are interested, those who have the welfare of this entity upon their hearts and souls, to first through the PHYSICAL means make as much reparation as possible.
    But still in prayer, in thought, in desire; but not constantly picking at or suggesting or finding fault. For has thy Father, thy God, found fault with thee? Hath He not blessed thee rather in every undertaking; whether in those directions that were holy or partially or entirely opposed to His will? Be thou greater that He?
    Give of thy love, give of thy patience, give of thy longsuffering. For that ye GIVE, that ye possess! That ye spend in arguments, in suggestions that are self-centered, ye never possess, ye never retain.
    Then, keep the FAITH - as should the entity, the son; not in self but in the abilities of self to so ATTUNE the body, the mind, the soul to the Infinite that the best that may be manifested may come through the activities.
    For ALL the glory is to that Infinite Power that works through us.
    Do thy part; thy Maker will do His.
21. (Q) What was the reason for his lack of success in his studies at V.P.I., the school suggested in his Life Reading?
    (A) As has been indicated, the lack of the ability - through physical disturbance - to concentrate. Not that there wasn't the consecration - but to concentrate! For the disturbances and the surroundings made for rather confusion.
22. (Q) What is suggested for him to do now?
    (A) First we would have those physical corrections, as indicated, and then the choice must be made by the entity; as to whether it will so train, so rule, so govern self as to PREPARE its way for that as is innate, or as to whether the preparation will come through physical application in labor, in work.
23. (Q) Is it preferable for him to work instead of studying at college?
    (A) This, as has just been indicated, must be a choice of the entity itself. But in two to three to four months corrections may be made, and in that period there may come again the opportunity for self-expression in an association and labor and connection. And then there will rise, through those expressions, the realization that there must be a more complete fitness for the work, the activity - or that it would follow in those directions already begun.
24. (Q) There is a possibility that he can obtain a position with the Telephone Company at Washington, D.C., or return to the Garwood Company at Detroit, or with an oil company with his friend in Texas. Are any of these advisable now, or is something else preferable?
    (A) Remain with the Telephone Company or associate there where the opportunities for the CORRECTIONS PHYSICALLY may first be made. And then, after two to three to four months, choices may be made.
25. (Q) How can I, his mother [Mrs. [811]], be of the greatest help to him?
    (A) As has been indicated, in counsel; but not in worry. In advice, but not in envy or strife; nor in any of that of such anxiety that ye create a mental barrier. For the duties of motherhood and the duties of a son are so akin that if the divine forces are kept in the mind of each, their proper relationships, their proper activities become not a duty, not an obligation, but rather a loving influence that is constructive ever in the experience of each.
26. (Q) Are his living conditions alright?
    (A) The adjustments of every individual, with an IDEAL, may ever fit him for WHATEVER surroundings there may be. Hence the advice, the counsel, is to KNOW SELF and WHAT IS THY IDEAL! Not in WHO or in what ye believe, but in WHOM YOU BELIEVE! And know HE is able to keep that thou hast committed unto Him against any experience that may arise in thy associations with thy fellow man.
    For what ye sow, ye must reap. And with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to thee again.
27. We are through.

    Two copies to self (one for mother)
    Copy to Ass'n file

BACKGROUND

1. See 830-1 on 2/17/35, a Life Reading advising him to go to V.P.I.

REPORTS

1. 1/03/37 He obtained a Physical Reading - 830-3.
2. 1/20/37 He obtained Ck. Physical 830-4.
3. 9/20/58 His stepfather's brother, Mr. [826], told GD: "He flunked out of school because he said he just didn't like to 'sit'. His mother sent him to a mechanical school and he started to work in an airplane company; he has stayed with this firm and has become foreman. He is married and has children. He did not go into the Army but worked in the airplane company instead."

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