This Psychic Reading given by Edgar Cayce at the David E. Kahn home, 20 Woods Lane, Scarsdale, N.Y., this 19th day of November, 1937, in accordance with request made by the self - Mrs. [1158], Active Member of the Ass'n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Mrs. [1158].

TEXT

1. GC: You will have before you the entity, [1158] present in this room, who seeks a mental and spiritual reading, with information, advice and guidance as to how she may, through her mental and material contacts, fully express the truth of her being. You will answer the questions she submits regarding same as I ask them.
2. EC: Yes, we have the entity, the enquiring mind, and those experiences in the earth and in the environs that make up the intuitive and emotional forces of the entity in the present; thus the mental and spiritual aspects of same.
3. In giving advice or counsel as respecting the application of the abilities of the entity in manifesting spiritually and mental EXPERIENCES of self, and applying same:
4. Such information, to be sure, must be drawn from the manners in which the entity has applied itself in its relationships to others in the mental as well as material planes of experience that make for urges within the entity in the present.
5. These counsels are given then that are deemed not only expedient but that may be constructive in the experience of the entity in the present.
6. Each entity - as has been given - enters for an experience that it may aid in the better, greater, or more HOLY expression of that which has been gained through the earthly sojourns; or for the expression as a teacher or director to those who may have lost their way.
7. There are phases of the entity's experiences in the earth wherein the greater lessons, the greater opportunities for contact with Truth, Life, Light and Comprehension, have been a part of the entity.
8. Then the entity has gained this understanding: There is only gain in the application of knowledge and understanding in its relationships to others. To know of a thing, then, is not sufficient. To KNOW you know, and apply same in the experience and relationships to others is worth while, provided the application is such as to induce others to give themselves in greater expression - of what?
9. What, then, is life, light and immortality?
10. What is the hope of eternal life?
11. What is the assurance of the continuity of life?
12. These have been problems in the experience of the entity in not only the present sojourn but in many sojourns in the earth.
13. Then, let this be as an illustration, as a demonstration, in the mental self:
14. The Mind is the Builder, as it is both spiritual and material, according to its application in the associations with conditions, individuals or circumstance.
15. But what is the water of life?
16. As has been indicated, things material are the shadows of that which is spiritual in its essence.
17. Now He gave, "I am the breath of life - I am the water of life - he that drinks shall never thirst."
18. What meaneth this? How may it be put into words that one may grasp the meaning of what it means for that Spirit of the Christ - as manifested in Jesus - to be present as it were in a million places, as ye say, at once?
19. Now ye experience that H20 is water - everywhere! Then water is water, and a part of the whole, with all the essential elements that make for the ability of manifestations in bringing life, in quenching the thirst. And it becomes active thus in WHATEVER sphere or phase it finds itself; whether in the frigid, as ice; in the temperate, as water; or in that phase as steam. Yet EVERYWHERE - in EVERY PHASE - its activities are the same! And it may be illustrated as shown; three-fourths of the earth, three-fourths of man, three-fourths of all matter we find a composition of that which He gave IS a manifestation of His presence, His force, His influence!
20. Then it may be understood as the individual entity grasps that idea that it is as we deal, as we mete, as we measure to our fellow man, that the water of life flows through us.
21. Hence how applicable becomes that as He gave, "He that gives a cup of water in my name shall in no manner lose his reward!"
22. Just as in the breath, "I am the breath of life - the staff of life that is manifested." Wherever, whenever it is manifested; whether it is as the grass that is in the field today and in the flour tomorrow, and in the oven the next! These ARE the manifestations.
23. So as the individual applies these, though its attempts of application may be lowly, we find that these very illustrations, these very demonstrations He used may become applicable in the own experience today. For indeed we live, we move, we have our being in the very forces that manifest in the material world as individual conditions in matter and from which each of these may have been drawn - ALL of the forces in materiality.
24. Hence as these are applied in those ways and manners that become a part and parcel of the human experience, in the relationships to the fellow man, we find them taking form in what?
25. In those relationships that become what has been so aptly illustrated or described as the children or the fruit of the spirit; patience, longsuffering, love, charity.
26. These in thy relationships become as the breath of life to the many; they become even as the water of life that is so fitly a representation or manifestation of the life as He lived.
27. Though these were as a portion of the experience of thyself, as ye live them they GROW and become part of thee, moving in and through thy mental self.
28. Thus doth the spirit bear witness with the Spirit of Life itself as manifested through the Son, by the Father.
29. For the glory of that is the experience, if ye will seek for same in thy dealings, thy activities with thy fellow man day by day.
30. What were the experiences that prompted thee in thine inner self to ever seek to be a ministering one to those in doubt, in darkness, in superstition, in the dreads and dregs of fear because of the very lack of the necessities for the body, the necessities for the mind? who were constantly clamoring for those things that would put away for a moment even the dread of disease, the dread of this or that for those they loved?
31. For ye had seen, ye had heard, ye had known how He - LIFE ITSELF - TRUTH ITSELF - had so manifested in the flesh as to bring that answer which gave hope, courage, to those lives, hearts and bodies of men and women in every clime!
32. And ye sought to manifest that. For it has answered the call innate, through thy very manifested experiences.
33. Again in those associations and relations with individuals who have sought here and there, ye have found those who have been blinded by selfish interests, that they might be well-spoken of. Yet thy love and thy patience - even as ye had seen, even as ye have known manifested in His life as in no other - those very activities have prompted thee.
34. Then who is to counsel with thee, save that as ye may find within thine inner self? For His promises are sure, just as ye have seen prompted in thine activities to bring hope and cheer; though there have been times - even as with He - when ye might in thy bodily associations weep over those who had become stubborn, even because of their very lack of comprehension; yet even to these ye have poured out - even as He - the strength of thy very self in the anticipation, in the knowledge that He has given - be ye courageous even in the hours of peril! For as ye sow the seeds of love, the seeds of patience, the seeds of longsuffering, they must bear fruit!
35. For the Giver of all good and perfect gifts alone CAN BRING the increase, can QUICKEN the heart, can QUICKEN the spirit within to bring fruit!
36. So thy purpose, then, in thy associations with thy fellow man day by day in this experience, this sojourn, is to sow the fruits of the spirit; and trust in HIM to quicken them that they may bear fruit in His glory, in the name of the Father that doeth all things well.
37. For He hath not willed that any soul shall perish, but calls on thee - yea, thy fellows - to be ACTIVE in the vineyard of the Lord; showing forth in thy dealings with thy fellow man that ye have caught the vision, that ye have known!
38. As ye have, then, it behooves each soul, each entity that has - as ye - caught the vision, just to live, just to ACT that way!
39. Ye have seen, ye have heard, yea ye have experienced oft many like unto those that walked with Him - a little while they caught the vision, yea struck out boldly, and because of the fear of the billows of materiality, yea because of the very fear of what men would say, yea for the very fear of the physical hurt that might come - they sank even as Peter upon the sea that he loved, upon the sea, yea the water that is that very life which would bear thee up if ye will but hold to same!
40. So as ye find in thy associations, in thy relationships to thy fellow man day by day, ye must sow the seed. Not being overanxious. For as has been given, only as many as He may quicken may be drawn to the full understanding.
41. THY duty is to minister, even as He when the ten unclean sought and said, "Thou son of David, have mercy on us!" And from afar He lifted up His voice, "Go show thyselves to the priest - THOU knowest the LAW - and BE THOU CLEAN!" Only one THANKED Him!
42. Give thou, then, as He, the love, the faith, the hope, into the keeping of those that cry. But not all that cry will answer - but as many as He shall QUICKEN. All in their time, yes; but their day, their experience must be met. For He stands ever and cries, "Whosoever WILL may take of the water of life and be HEALED."
43. Ready for questions.
44. (Q) Is it advisable for me to seriously study metaphysics this winter with Dr. [1301] of N.Y., or with any other teacher or school of thought?
    (A) As we find, there is in the experience of self, and in the trend of thought of self, the time when this would be well. Not only in that as may be gained for the better understanding or the better manner of JUSTIFYING the time spent in self-comprehension, but in the very strength it would lend to others that need to be encouraged, to be among those that SEEK to know the influence of those forces as may be presented by Dr. [1301].
45. (Q) What do you think about the Psy-Cosmic Science Course of Study?
    (A) This is very well, but it leadeth away.
    For the present, for the self, the metaphysical presentation - as given through that indicated - we would hold in the present.
46. (Q) And how many times a week should I study with Dr. [1301]?
    (A) Once a week, when we take all the other activities in consideration - this taken seriously (for it should not be in any other way) - would be sufficient, through this present season.
47. (Q) Is the I Am Presence as set forth by the Ballard's correct? and when we pray should each of us address our own I Am Presence as our All-knowing God-Self?
    (A) It is that Presence. But there is a confusion here. The I Am Presence, that is all-knowing within self, as has just been pointed out in the experiences of the entity, is as set forth by Him - in the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th of John; that it, the I Am, must be motivated BY the Father, God. Even as He gave, "I in thee, I in the FATHER, that ye may be glorified, that ye may KNOW ALL that has been - for ye were with me - FROM THE BEGINNING."
    There is a slight variation.
    Hold to that which the God-within directs, that is a manifestation even as the water activity - it answers to that within that keeps, creates that balance; that answers to the manifestations of that HIS experience in the earth means to the whole of they that take hold upon God to DO His will in the earth!
48. (Q) If God is impersonal force or energy -
    (A) (Interrupting) He IS impersonal; but as has just been given, so VERY personal! It is not that ye deal only with IMPERSONAL - it is WITHIN AND WITHOUT! It is IN and WITHOUT, and only as God QUICKENETH the spirit within, by the use, by the application of the God-force within to mete it out to others. Else HOW, WHY, did that material experience of a man hanging on a Cross bring - BRING - redemption to a world? In this:
    Though ye know He had the power within Himself to come down from the Cross, though He had the power to heal, though He had power to rid the very taking HOLD upon death, it had no claims upon Him. Why? QUICKENED by the Father because the life LIVED among men, the dealings among MEN, brought ONLY hope, ONLY patience, ONLY love, ONLY longsuffering!
    This then being the law of God made manifest, He BECOMES the law by manifesting same before man; and thus - as man, even as ye - becomes as one with the Father.
    For until ye become in purpose, in activity, a savior - yea, a god - unto thy fellow man, ye do not take hold upon that PERSONALITY, the INDIVIDUALITY of GOD - that is the life, that is the being of life, eternity, hope and love!
    These then become not only as impersonal but personal, in that ye know thyself, even as He - thy brother in the flesh - made manifest that ye are aware of thyself BEING thyself, yet one with Him; and thus able to enter into the joys, WHOLLY, that are prepared since - yea, before - the very foundations of materiality, for those that keep His ways.
49. (Q) (Continuing with question) then how can God know the personal needs of His countless children and work to fill these needs?
    (A) Just as illustrated in how that life as is manifested in the grain, that is the breath of life, just as the water that quenches, the water that is life itself, supplies. As the spirit of same is manifested in the body, it becomes not only in the PERSONAL manner and way the supplying influence but that as from without, by "Seek and ye shall find," by attuning to same just as ye would attune thy radio to the GREAT STATION of life and God Himself! It supplies and pours out to those that seek - seek - to know His ways!
50. (Q) Why have I had a desire to sell my engagement ring, and is that an advisable thing to do?
    (A) Look within thine own self, as to that experience in which ye saw many giving up ALL that was of an earthly nature that there might be in the material things the opportunity for the knowledge of the truth to become a part of the being of every soul. And only in such, and in the visioning of such, may ye grasp that. Not that it is not near and dear, not that it does not represent, not that it does not signify an influence that far surpasses any experience in this material plane; yet the knowledge, yet the comprehension that this might give the opportunity to others. This is a holy thing, but is - as the seeking of heaven and of the knowledge of God Himself - a FREE-WILL choice to be made, and not a command!
51. (Q) Would it be a wise thing to do?
    (A) That can only be answered within self. Remember that as was given to those who brought their all, and those who attempted to hold back - and as was given then, it was not asked of thee - it must be of thine own choice. But if thou hast chosen - how hath it been given? FULFILL that, ever, ye have promised thy God within - if ye would be true to self.
52. We are through for the present.

    Copy to Self
    Copy to Ass'n file
    Copy of Extract 1158-12, Par. 48-A and 49-A for Study Group #1 lesson GOD - LOVE - MAN

BACKGROUND

1. See previous reading.

REPORTS

1. 11/24/37 She obtained a Ck. Physical - See 1158-13.
2. 11/28/37 She obtained another Mental-Spiritual - See 1158-14.

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