This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his home on Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 30th day of December, 1936, in accordance with request made by the self - Mrs. [1152], Associate Member of the Ass'n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. [1152].

TEXT

1. EC: Yes, we have the entity, [1152] and the information that has been given as interpretations of those records of the entity through its experience in the earth; as well as those urges that arise from the application of the ideal during sojourns, and the effects upon the entity in the environs other than the earth itself.
2. First we would give to this entity, and to all that may seek to read or have the interpretations of those experiences from the record of life of a soul or entity:
3. It is not that these may be so informative as for an individual to depend upon the laurels already made, but rather that these may become as living experiences; that there may be the application of the one thought, the one ideal that is the purpose for an entity's experience in the earth.
4. For remember first, God so loved the world as to give His Son that we THROUGH Him might know LIFE - and in knowing it apply ourselves in such measures and manners as to become even as He, LIVING examples, known of men; not of self but the Father, through the Son, working in us day by day.
5. As has been indicated then for the entity, this must and should grow more and more as a consciousness of the entity - the fact of the experiences of the mind and soul through those sojourns when there was caught the glimpse not only of God in Love manifested in the earth but the application of self in its relationships to the fellow man builded that experience into the soul such that there are the greater longings that find expressions in the desire for Creative Influences and Force; whether these find manifestations in conveniences for individuals or the home, or whether they find expressions in the desire for writing.
6. For those are the MENTAL expressions - to arouse in the minds of others a desire for not merely self-expression but that self is more and more a channel through which truth and light and love and harmony and peace and mercy and grace and longsuffering may manifest.
7. These shall ever be the themes in the various manners of presenting whatever may be sought to be given. For the Mind is the Builder, and is both spiritual and very carnal.
8. If there is fed then to the mental forces, or upheld or picturized or visioned for the mind, that which builds a carnal force that is indeed of the earth-earthy, the expressions become then rather as in the slough of despair; for their fruit are but the smudges of light.
9. While if they are builded in hope and faith and charity and love, and patience, then indeed may the individual soul not only of self but to those to whom such may be given become aware that they, too, are a part of the Divine. And thus as He, show forth His love by just being kind and patient and longsuffering with those that one meets day by day.
10. Ready for questions.
11. (Q) What am I here on earth for?
    (A) As just given.
12. (Q) Why am I so fond of carpentry and invention of furniture?
    (A) As has been indicated, these find their expressions by that as in which the entity has in its experiences in the earth sought to show forth in the lives of others that there was a thought, there was a care.
    For as the entity in those experiences was of the Wayside Inn, on the road, it made for those feelings in the experience of each and every traveller that there was a care and a thought for their own or their individual appurtenances for rest and harmony and beauty.
    And these find expression in the desires for making same more desirable, more beautiful, more personal in the experiences in the manners indicated.
    Then, too, has it not been, as in the experience of the entity in its visitations to this or that land, this or that environment, that whenever there is sought by others to make for an impression, to make for a manifestation, just such thought and just such cares were for the entity itself in its indwellings?
    So these become naturally a part of the consciousness. Just as one who has given time and patience and long thought upon mathematical problems sees, experiences every phase of human experience as a mathematical ratio. As one experiences one activity relative one to another but as mathematical in its essence.
    So as the care of this entity, [1152] has experienced, has gained a consciousness of the thought of the surroundings to that Soul, that Entity who has innately been the IDEAL - and as should be the Ideal of every soul in the earth!
    For as the conveniences and appurtenances are necessary for harmony, so do the things of the home and those that make for the brightening or for the care of same become a part of the entity's experience.
    A natural result. For know, as the first law has been given, when manifestation of matter was called into being by the First Cause or God - thy seed shall be within itself - or what ye sow ye reap, or like attracts like.
    These are oft to the mind but sayings without the consideration of what and how these facts, these truths are the basis of man's experience not only in material form but in mental and spiritual.
    Could the entity then imagine a home, whether earthly or spiritual, without a builder or a carpenter?
    Could the entity imagine a home without its furnishings?
    These are a part of the whole building. It would be as easy to imagine a tree without roots or without limbs or branches, or without fruit or without the call for the fowls of the air to lodge therein! These are part and parcel, they are the essence - and yet the substance. They are the beginning and the end of - thoughts are things and take form AS they are dwelt upon and are builded in the experience of individual souls that SEEK God.
13. (Q) In what other lives were these characteristics developed?
    (A) This information is as has been indicated, not so much informative; but rather know that they exist from that period when, where and HOW they have been made use of!
    For know, this is another law: To know and to misuse is sin. To have knowledge and misapply it is man's undoing. Then know that this exists, ye have the reasons, ye have the purposes. Apply them!
    In many these have NOT been constructive. We would give the constructive experience. And how has it been given? Hold FAST TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD! Forget the rest!
14. (Q) Why am I so anxious to put into book form the mass of material I have not yet published?
    (A) That there may be builded much in the manner and the way that has been shown or depicted for the entity, as to how not only character but purpose and longings may be builded in the lives and experiences for others.
    And this SHOULD be the purpose of ANY and EVERY entity or body that seeks to put before others the experiences of self as related to the dealings with the fellow man and the activity of spiritual purposes and spirituality in its application in the lives and experiences and associations of individuals.
    For if the purpose is secular, if it is earthly, if it is for material gain, then ye already have thy reward. Is it not as the first law?
    That these have not been accomplished and that there is apparently a standstill is because ye have failed to give the data LIFE! Now ye have the consciousness of thy purpose IN the experience, that there may be builded that consciousness in the lives of others through thy feeble efforts - though they to thee may be; yet know - as again is a first law - man may only sow the seed of life - God ALONE can give it life!
    HE giveth the increase! For He is the only source of life. Man may only, then, attune through self's experiences or self's interpretation, or self's understanding, to that which answers a call - or a chord within the rhapsody of the lives of others that brings into the consciousness the fact that God IS, God IS! And that Consciousness gives life and light. It is not what one believes but WHO one believes that counts! For as it was given, KNOW in whom thou hast believed, and KNOW He is able to keep that thou hast committed unto Him against any experience that may be thine in THINE evolution or thy development, or thine activity in any sphere of experience.
    Then when ye quote as to what this or that author says, or this or that man has experienced, do not give same as if they were an authority - but that the experience has been in such and such a manner; as ye in thine experience have become aware of that truth that is ALL TRUTH - that God IS!! And they that would know Him must seek Him, not in heavens nor in the uttermost parts of the earth, but Lo, within thine own self! For THERE the temple of thy soul abides, and there He hath promised to meet thee. And there the covenant is made. And there the choice is taken.
    For as the pattern in the mount, as the pattern in the temple - yea, as the pattern as thou hast seen in the cave when Life - of the Heavenly Hosts - brought joy and peace and harmony!
    And yet as He gave, "I came not to bring peace but to set at naught those who cherish the thought of self-exaltation, self-glory, self-aggrandizement; and to set father against son and mother against daughter, and house against house." Why? For those very same reasons, that self-aggrandizement, self-indulgence creates and builds and makes avarice and hate and anger and madness in the experiences of all who follow in that way.
    But to those who have chosen the more excellent way, ye have seen, ye have known, "As ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto thy Maker."
    And AGAIN ye have seen, when to man's estate alone upon the Cross, yea into the grave, all hope seemed abandoned; yet even as the Inn could not contain His Birth, neither could the Grave contain His Body; because of IT BEING PURIFIED, in love, in service, in harmony to God's Will. For "Not of myself," saith He "but the Father that worketh in and through me do I bring thee health, do I bring thee hope, do I bring thee the living waters."
    Did to any He ever give wealth or fame or fortune? Only in the fortunes of suffering, the fortunes of service, the fortunes of turning the other cheek - when thou art smitten by those that would despitefully use thee, that would use thee even for their own selfish purposes.
    THESE are the fortunes that He gave, as the earth knows same - but to the heart and the soul He brought a light that faileth not, a water that is living, a home that is eternal, a bread that is INDEED a staff of life!
    For He IS that Life - that LIFE!
    Then give such an interpretation to thy data, and ye will find it will take on a new meaning to THEE - as it will bring into the experience and in the lives of others a new concept. Why? Because of an attuning to that experience or that something, or that longing that is within every soul to face thy Maker!
    For life seeks Life, and death seeks Death.
15. (Q) Is my material what the world needs, or wants?
    (A) Applied, or set in the order or given the expression as has just been indicated, it will take on - to self, to others new meanings.
16. (Q) Should I continue writing my biography?
    (A) Very good.
17. (Q) How many books should there be, for best presentation?
    (A) What is the right number? Three.
18. (Q) How many years did Jesus work as a carpenter?
    (A) Between the ages of twelve and fourteen, between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine.
19. (Q) Who was my mother, [...], in my former lives, in connection with me?
    (A) These we do not find as pertaining to the experience in the present, but as a necessary step in the development. We haven't these associations here.
    Keep that consciousness before self that as ye build in thy daily life, and as ye give out, there may be given thee that as ye would say.
    Hast thou considered what thou said to the Mother of Jesus, when ye took the young Child in thine arms?
    Hast thou considered what ye said to those that were weak in body and in the exercising of their privileges as men and women that sought to know of thee, "When will Jesus pass this way?"
    Then as ye give out of thy mental buildings, let thy messages ever be such as to build in the minds of those as they read, the very consciousness that JESUS has walked and talked with this writer - and yea, behold, He may pass this way with thee!
20. We are through for the present.

    Copy to Self
    Copy to Ass'n file

BACKGROUND

1. See previous Readings.

REPORTS

1. 11/27/37 She obtained a Physical Reading - See 1152-5.
2. See also subsequent Ck. Physical Readings.
3. 7/01/40 She obtained another Ck. Life - See 1152-9.

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