This Psychic Reading given by Edgar Cayce at the Harrison home, 56 Highland Circle, Bronxville, N.Y., this 28th 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] and Mr. [1151], and Hugh Lynn Cayce.

TEXT

1. EC: In giving for this entity, this body, mental and spiritual advice, in many ways and manners would be as giving to the rose a color, or its sweetness.
2. For in that as was, as should be, the whole experience of the entity in its manifestations, in its associations and its relations with its fellow man, in THIS experience, was given not as man speaks but as one with authority.
3. For that as He, thy Brother, thy Lord, thy Master gave, in ALL the relationships of man to man, of God's relationship to man and man's relationship to the Father - these are LIVING truths.
4. And to repeat them only becomes then as attempting to say that which is a living truth, beauty and joy and love, through a crude way and manner.
5. For the whole law, as He gave, is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, thy mind, thy body; thy neighbor as thyself.
6. There is not looking then for the message to be descended from heaven by those that may be of this or that thought, but rather as He gave, "The kingdom of heaven is within - Believe thou in me - if not because of my existence because of the works that I do," that ye may do in Him; "for of myself I can do nothing, only as the Father worketh in me."
7. And in those words as He gave, "In my Father's house are many mansions - if it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place, that where I am there ye may be also," that ye may BEHOLD the glory that is prepared for those that love the Lord and His ways with the children of men.
8. And as He gave, "They that abide in me, the same shall know the Father, for I will come and abide with those that love the Lord and His coming."
9. These then may become thy experiences. Little may be added.
10. There has remained within self, it is true, as has been indicated, some questionings. But ye know the way. For as He gave again, "The Lord thy God is not past finding out." It is as ye apply that in thy life in thy relationships with thy fellow man that ye come to know Him as HE IS!
11. Ready for questions.
12. (Q) Is it correct when praying to think of God as impersonal force or energy, everywhere present; or as an intelligent listening mind, which is aware of every individual on earth and who intimately knows everyone's needs and how to meet them?
    (A) Both! For He is also the energies in the finite moving in material manifestation. He is also the Infinite, with the awareness. And thus as ye attune thy own consciousness, thy own awareness, the unfoldment of the presence within beareth witness with the presence without. And as the Son gave, "I and my Father are one," then ye come to know that ye and thy Father are one, as ye abide in Him.
    Thus we find the manifestations of life, the manifestations of energy, the manifestations of power that MOVES in material, are the representation, the manifestation of the Infinite God.
    Yet as we look into the infinity of space and time we realize there is then that force, that influence also that is aware of the needs, and there is also that will, that choice given to the souls of men that they may be used, that they may be one, that they may apply same in their own feeble, weak ways perhaps; yet that comes to mean, comes to signify, comes to manifest in the lives of those that have lost their way, that very influence ye seek in the knowledge of God.
    For until ye become as a savior, as a help to some soul that has lost hope, lost its way, ye do not fully comprehend the God within, the God without.
13. (Q) Why is study with Dr. [1301] preferable to study with Helena Martin?
    (A) One has the concept of the Infinite that manifests within AND without, and one ONLY with the within. For as has been given, "as thy spirit beareth witness with my spirit" ye KNOW thyself to be children of the living God; begotten, as of love, through the Son, made manifest in flesh. Not as aliens but as brethren, as those that are heirs - yes, joint heirs with the Christ - WHO manifested, as in the flesh, the infinite love of the Father that the children of men might know!
    One sees the infinite in the CHRIST life, one sees infinity in man's life.
14. (Q) In the light of my other responsibilities how am I justified in giving time to studying singing?
    (A) As the Master has given, there is in the experience of each soul that which answers or arouses to activity those influences and forces that produce the unfoldment.
    Then in self, as there is JOY, as there is praise, there is harmony within self such that the expression of the singing gives, the word makes, creates, brings about an unfoldment that is not fully comprehended without that portion of the activity.
    Consider, as an Illustration of same, as He gave to those about Him. To one He said, "Lovest thou me? Then feed my sheep." To another He said, "What thou doest, do thou quickly." These are as far as the east from the west. They are as far as heaven and hell itself, yet in each - in EACH - is given that necessary in activity that that soul becomes aware of its vision of the purposes of the Father with that soul.
    To another He gives, "WRITE thou that thou hast seen."
    To others He gave, "This day, this generation shall not pass till some standing here have SEEN the Son of man in his glory." Why?
    That they might experience that necessary in their own activity, that would produce, that would make that unfoldment as from the bud to the full blown rose, that its beauty, its aroma, its essence might gladden the hearts, even of those that are as wayfarers.
    Hence as He gave in the last hours - and SANG the psalm of praise, yea and as He joked - as ye would say - to those about Him, about the beauties of the garden; yet all of these filled a portion of the experience of those that made them STRONGER in purpose, in DETERMINATION to be as He Himself had proclaimed hundreds of years before [as Joshua], "Others may do as they may, but as for me and my house, we will serve the LIVING God!"
15. (Q) Can I achieve something really worthy in singing and how long before I Will be singing with ease and happiness?
    (A) As has been indicated, it is not only that self is to be unfolded, and with the ease and the happiness the song may come forth from thine own exaltation in the desire to give praise and glory, but also that self is to give of the very self to reach the way and means and manner of expression to OTHERS of a new hope!
    How came the man Jesus to be thy Savior? By giving of self in EVERY PHASE. THUS He became! As is given by another though He were the Son yet learned He obedience through the things He suffered; and THUS became thy Lord, thy Master! and not as the expression of one that - as ye say - would lord it over another. For He gave, "He that is the greatest among you is a servant of ALL."
    Hence as ye gain in the outpouring of thyself in song, ye not ONLY give praise and service and obedience but bring help and hope, and an awakening to those ye contact IN the very act!
16. (Q) If I believe that God within is capable of meeting my every need, how can I justify my going to an osteopath for treatments?
    (A) How did Jesus, the Son, the Christ, justify Himself in telling the man that was healed from leprosy to "Go, show thyself to the priest and offer the sacrifice as commanded by Moses"?
    Did the man remain healed because of the act or because God spoke and was sufficient?
    Now: When Lazarus was dead, yea when Jairus' daughter lay dead, He spoke and they were aroused. Yet He took HER by the hand and commanded that food and drink be given.
    For in the material world, material responses must apply to the material being.
    To Lazarus we find He called, "Come forth!" yet he was not able to unbind himself.
    Hence in such influences, such forces that are manifested among the children of men, there is that activity which if one administering help or aid does so for self's own glorification become as He gave when He said, "Many will come in the last days and say, Did we not in thy name heal the sick, cast out demons, make the lame to walk and the blind to see? and I will say, Depart from me, workers of iniquity, for I never knew thee!"
    Now, God's command to man is to SUBDUE the earth! USE in applied manners all the manifestations of God's love in those influences and forces of the natural activities in the earth! For what? For man's comprehension, man's unfoldment to the knowledge that in deed ye live and move and have thy being in the Father!
    In those things that we see in nature, as in the bark of the cincho tree - here we find an active element that to the bodies of men physically acts as a retarder, as a healing force for the destructive malaria. Is this bark any the less manifestation of God and God's love because it is prepared by those that would show forth the Lord's death until He come again?
    Is the juice of the vine any the less manifestation of God because it is prepared by man to bring release to the heart of man, or to those who have overburdened their bodies through the aggrandizement of their lives and their selves and their appetites until the flow of the blood through the channels of the body itself becomes staid?
    What is the principle that does same?
    The love of God, that man may find within the influences and forces about him in EVERY nature among those things that show forth the love of God!
    Then, though it be a mechanical release of those ganglia that may be hindered from their perfection in the system in the seeking of same, if it is in God's name that ye seek, that ye may be the better channel, what is the manifestation? To whom has He given those things in their activities that which will show to the sons of men that God IS and lives and has a care for each soul? To the children of men! And these then become not as mere justifications, but the more perfect manifestations!
    Not that the love of God is belittled or is lacking - for His influence to so attune every vibration of self to RENEW itself; yea, it may! For in each cell of thy individual body ye may find that which will renew itself continuously. Yet thou hast built in thy own consciousness, by the ages that have passed, that man ages and dies! Is this the will of God?
    Rather has He shown in the workings of the sons of men, that those things of sanitation, those things in diet, those things in the activities of men who have given their lives that others may know the better way, are necessary.
    Those that do so not for their own indulgences but that their very activity in alleviating is to serve others, become channels to bring hope and relief from suffering to the children of men. For God hath not willed that man should suffer, no more than any of those other activities, but is ever mindful. For though ye wander far away, "If ye call, I will HEAR!" But to MAN He hath left much and all of that which man may do.
    Then as ye seek for this or that, in man's estate, do it in that same manner in which ye pray:
    FATHER, GOD, KEEP THOU THY LOVED ONES, IN THE CARE THAT THEY MAY KNOW MORE AND MORE OF THY LOVE, THAT IS SHED UPON THE CHILDREN OF MEN; THAT THY PATIENCE, O FATHER, MAY NOT GROW WEARY, EVEN AS THY LOVE MAY NOT FADE, TO THE WAYWARD IN THE EARTH.
17. (Q) How can I spiritually better serve my husband and children?
    (A) Cooperation in those necessary forces for encouragement in the endeavors in every phase and fact of their experience. For as He encouraged those about Him, even when there were shown the desires that they might manifest even as He, He strengthened them. So may ye strengthen thy husband, direct thy children in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake; and when they are old they will not depart from them. These are promises, and they are THINE, IN the application of them!
18. (Q) In the light of our financial obligations, would it be spiritually right and desirable for us to invest in Mrs. Koch's paper milk bottle concern?
    (A) This approaches, of course, from quite a different angle, but these would be the judgements as we would give from here:
    If the activities, the policies of those that are materially directing the concern that produces same in keeping with thy ideals as to the manner in which such should be directed, it is well. For so far as the product itself is concerned, it is worthy of consideration. That there are obstacles is apparent, from many sources. But obstacles fade - if those purposes are applied in the daily activities that are in the way of fulfilling the purpose of the spiritual life in the experiences of man.
    If these then are in keeping with thy JUDGEMENTS, it is well to invest.
19. (Q) How should I work in order to establish the right servants in our home?
    (A) In a cooperative manner as to the problems that are in the experiences of each.
    These problems have arisen, did arise in the experiences of the saints of old. Remember thou the experience of Elisha with Gehazi? Remember thou the experience of Paul with one with whom thy companion had trouble - when Philemon, HIS servant took his coat? How were these treated?
    That the knowledge of truth, as made manifest in the lives and the associations, was necessary in thy OWN life as well as in those that would serve. These become then as purposes of one. Never as working for, but working with! Let them understand that WE WILL WORK TOGETHER for the good that may be in the experience of each! Get that "together!" Not in different directions! These will make thy problems quite different.
20. (Q) Shall I keep my present cook and let the husband go?
    (A) Keep them both, rather. [Austrian refugees]
21. We are through with this Reading.

    Copy to Self
    Copy to Ass'n file

BACKGROUND

1. See 1158-12 on 11/19/37.

REPORTS

1. 1/31/38 She obtained another Mental-Spiritual, 1158-15.

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