10/22/29 Mr. [
900]'s letter to EC:
Insofar as the educational problems are concerned, we have
enough material already given to teach for a thousand years,
and to me, that department seems to have a bright future.
Dr. Brown and myself work together beautifully. There is
something there from the old Grecian period, that makes us
like to council with each other. So long as I keep my
attitude in an advisory capacity, he reacts to me
beautifully, and he seems himself to be considerate along
those lines, and thus again the reading is borne out.
There are other little difficulties that I will try and take
up with you in person when I am at the Beach this week-end,
but I am sure we will get over the bumps and come out on top
if we stay with the ship. Of course if we start pecking at
each other, the crew under us are liable to become chaotic
and the boat will lose its course.
I do not doubt that oftentimes I, who am relied upon to keep
the threads together, am often at fault, i.e., possibly I
should have less of the human faults, particularly in the way
of lack of consideration, than is excusable in others. There
is both comedy and tragedy in human weaknesses and human err,
and I believe I appreciate something of both, as well as the
physical reward and spiritual grace that virtue brings, all
of which is only saying that period of transition for me is
slower in this experience than it should be, everything
considered, and that in the prolongation in that period of
transition, I mentally swing like a pendulum between the two
extremes, or in other words, even the eternal patience of
higher nature of the forces are tried while waiting for me to
land on a rock, and remain there fixed solid and true.
Whether I shall accept from the forces the position of staff
that leads to grace and glory, or the position of a destroyer
that leads to chaos and tragedy, is the intuition I have at
the moment. In the meantime, my brother seems to be carrying
the light to show the way, for I know now that if we are the
individuals that are to be the ones that are to do this work
at this particular time, and not leave it for others to claim
the glory thereof, then it is [
137], who made you the
promise, and myself, who answered with him, to do my share in
the work, who must hold the letter and steer the ship in
cooperation with the others. If we let go at this stage,
then the ship must flounder and others must be raised up to
take the helm.
Not that we are the important ones in the work, or that we
dare take advantage of this, which is the very thing that
will destroy the work, but rather that we are the ones
mentally equipped to show the way, financially, educationally
and otherwise. Others may do certain parts of the work
better than we ever could do it, and certainly are able to do
certain things better than we, and are better equipped to
head certain departments than are we, and should head them,
but through us are all united into one, and through us all
come under the command of ONE, whether it pertains to health
room, or any other enterprise. This is as I see it, yet, if
I am wrong, I am willing to stand correction. Is this the
way you analyze the situation?
[
165] has his end, [
257] his, [
953] would have his, each of
the girls have theirs, etc., etc., yet, we can show how each
may make his or her end the application of the whole in terms
of a certain department, and thus keep them all in harmony,
rather than each pull his own way for his own selfish
interest. That, it seems to me, is the job of a leader,
rather than to be a boss.
You, no doubt, are at this moment concerned with your own
position in the work. Frankly, you wonder at times, no
doubt, if you are not but an instrument for the gratification
of mens' desires, rather than the means for them to do some
good. Sometimes men seem to forget the sum that produces the
balmy spring day to revel only in the gratification of their
own desires and the clement weather permits. Sometimes we
forget that the opportunity to do the good we are doing is
ours, because you are willing to let men use your gift of
mind to do that good, and this opportunity to do good is
sometimes forgotten, because of human weaknesses, and self
gratification substituted therefor. The latter condition is
less serious to yourself, for it brings its own consternation
to the individual concerned, but the former condition brings,
of course, a feeling in your own mind that you are sort of a
goat. In my own case, I have been guilty of the swing back
and forth, above stated.
Not for one moment that I ever intentionally would use any
man for my own benefit, rather do I see to help them, but it
is simply that I fail at times to view every situation from
all angles. Not that I change any intent, for I do not, but
the application of my own excellent understanding is
sometimes poor in that I fail to see the problem from every
angle, and thus, the resultant consternation and conflict
that could be easily avoided, when I consider the proposition
from all sides. We all of us are somewhat guilty of trying
to hedge a little in making the fourth dimension fit with the
third dimension, rather than the third dimension demonstrate
the existence of, and reality of, the fourth dimension. I
believe this is clear without any further elaboration, and is
a fault of some of the members of the Board more than
others. Instead of showing that mind may operate in a
businesslike manner, we try to make the loss of mind become
that which governs the system of business. We try to make
mind become that which is business instead of making mind
become that which applied in one direction, may operate in a
businesslike manner. In short, before we may teach others to
understand themselves, we must understand our own selves, or
in other words, that which we would teach others. So deep,
so intense, so fundamental, are the requirements for a group
to successfully use such a gift as yours, for universal good,
that sometimes I shiver before the task as one, or even as
the ancient Israelites must have shivered at the thought of
the power of the Egyptian Government and the Egyptian Armies.
Indeed, unless we have the same so-called miraculous aid from
the forces that those ancient Jews had, it is almost beyond
the realm of possibility in the light of the conflicting
element in human need for us to harmoniously cooperate to do
that, that we seek to do with this work.
There are certain laws or principles, or certain kind of life
to live, that will make possible the aid of the higher
forces, and thus, the successful accomplishment of our task
in this aid, and this is that which each of us must learn,
who are undertaking the responsibility of performing this
task. This is what we are in process of learning, and I am
sure if you will view the end from this angle, the fact that
the men about you are in process of learning how to do the
thing they are trying to do, the process of learning how to
gain the cooperation of the divine forces that must be
obtained, then you will be able to permit your patience to be
tried, and to manifest, even in flesh, something of a Godlike
patience that must be maintained, while men are in process of
developing their own minds or souls.
We are all children learning to do our lesson, not to take in
something, but to do our lesson, and we make many mistakes,
and this work that seeks to help others in this very act, in
this very process, exacts from us a greater knowledge of
doing than may be expected from those whom we seek to teach,
yet, while we stumble about you in our process of learning,
pray not only that we may learn before it is too late to
teach in this experience, but also that we may manifest the
patience of the father while we learn, to teach that which he
is trying to teach all upon your own patience, your own long
suffering, and your own understanding, will depend the final
outcome as to whether the swerl of human emotion will bring
chaos and consternation and tragedy, or harmony, grace and
glory.
If that is asking you to be superhuman and placing too great
a responsibility on any one man, it is at least rendering you
a position in the work that takes its place with a God, and
that will live to be cherished as such. Surely, as the early
Israelites were tried, and strengthened by them, surely you
have been tried in your past life, and the strength you have
received through such trials will carry you through the last
lap.
I have never lost my affection for you, yours or the work,
nor do I want to usurp any bossy power that in any way would
seek to take advantage of anyone. Yet, be patient until I
can completely find my own self, which is not so easy in the
terrific strain and pressure that is constantly upon me, even
from men who would use me to take advantage of the work, or
of you, and even from my own lower nature. I will find the
rock, and with it, the way to use the divine agency to bring
harmony and peace that must surround such a work as ours.
With kindest regards to yourself and family, I remain
Yours sincerely, [
900]
12/13/29 See
2087-1, first of a series of rdgs. on Atlantic
University.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation