9/57 The Searchlight article by GDT, based on Mrs. [
5366]'s
Life Rdg., entitled THE PANORAMA OF REBIRTH.
THE SEARCHLIGHT
Association for Research and Enlightenment, Incorporated
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA
Vol: IX September, 1957 No. 9
The Panorama of Rebirth
By Gladys Davis Turner
(A Talk Delivered at the Sunday Forum, January 6, 1957,
A.R.E. Headquarters)
"We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses"
in the Life readings given by Edgar Cayce, that the theory of
rebirth takes on ever greater significance for this day and
age. This significance is for those who hold to logic as
well as those who cling to faith.
The Life readings, as you know, are just one type of reading
given by Edgar Cayce. There are approximately 2,500 Life
readings, given for about 2,000 people.
Reincarnation was first mentioned in readings given during
the fall of 1923, as a result of questions asked by a man
regarding the theory of astrology. Answers then indicated
that urges from past lives are more influential than
astrological aspects.*
* [See THERE IS A RIVER by Thomas Sugrue, obtain from
E. C. Publishing Co.]
Perhaps it would be well to describe just how a Life reading
was secured. After Edgar Cayce was unconscious, the name
given at birth was presented to him, along with the date and
place of birth, and the following suggestion:
"You will have before you John Doe, born July 10, 1896, in
Kalamazoo, Mich. You will give the relation of this entity
and the universe, and the universal forces; giving the
conditions which are as personalities, latent and exhibited
in the present life. You will give the former appearances in
the earth plane, and that to which it may attain, and how.
You will answer the questions which may be asked."
The wording of this suggestion for obtaining a Life reading
was secured by asking Edgar Cayce for the best suggestion
which would secure such information.
Each Life reading usually opened with a brief description
of astrological urges, which were explained as symbols for
various planes of consciousness between lives in the earth.
Following the explanation of these planes of consciousness,
the reading then gave what were described as the particular
past-life experiences which most affected the present life
of the entity. All the incarnations in the earth were not
given. From one to nine past lives were described, including
the name, place, major activity and urges coming over into
the present experience. An average reading described from
three to four past lives. Life readings as well as Physical
or Health reading were taken down stenographically and
transcribed in duplicate; one copy of each reading remaining
in our vault file here at Headquarters. A reading numbers
from two to nine or ten pages.
We refer to these 2,500 readings as the Life readings. They
deal primarily with vocational guidance, problems of human
relationships such as marriage, difficulties with children,
etc. Many of them seem to be analyses and psychological
studies of the weaknesses and talents of the individuals
involved.
Now since I have taken down in shorthand and transcribed most
of these Life readings, I have been extended the privilege of
giving to you today a mental or word-picture of a series of
rebirths. The series has been chosen with the purpose of
showing how everyday human problems are the result of a soul
pattern - and how we continually fulfill the pattern, or
change it!
The Daughter of Achan
My first word picture pertains to a Bible character taken
from Joshua 7:1 and 19. "But the children of Israel
committed a trespass in the accursed thing; for Achan, the
son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the
tribe of Judah, took the accursed thing: and the anger of
Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel."
When Joshua chided Achan, Achan confessed to taking the
spoil (silver, gold and goodly Babylonish mantle). When they
had found them where Achan had hidden them, Joshua, and all
of Israel with him "took Achan...and the silver, and the
mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his
daughters...and brought them up unto the valley of Achor...
And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them
with fire..."
Among those daughters who witnessed her father's tragic
death, according to the Edgar Cayce readings, was a young
girl named SUTHERS.
"The entity was in the land when the children of promise
entered into the promised land, when there were those
whose...father sought to gratify selfish desires in the gold
and garments and things which gratify only the eye. The
entity was young in years and yet felt - from those things
told the entity - that a lack of consideration was given the
parent."
Let's think a moment about the effect on this young girl.
Not only was her mother widowed and all the children made
fatherless, but for the rest of their lives they suffered
shame and humiliation. At the time, the girl was very young
and didn't fully understand why all this was happening; but
later on when she was told about the reasons for her father's
death sentence, she felt, the reading says, that he was
unjustly put to death.
Now let us gather up the thread from the incarnation previous
to that of SUTHERS. It has been in Egypt, under the name of
IS-IT-EL. The reading says:
"The entity was among those who were trained in the Temple
Beautiful for a service among her fellow men; contributing
much to household (matters) and the establishing of homes.
Thus the home is very near and dear to the entity, as are the
members of the home - whether the body-family itself, or the
help of kinsmen."
Since the love of home and family was so developed in the
soul during the Egyptian incarnation, the suffering in her
incarnation as the daughter of Achan must have been far
greater than it would have been is she had developed in other
directions than those of home ties.
The Emersen Life
Now we take a look at the incarnation which followed the
period of Achan. The reading says: "The entity was a
companion...of the one who persecuted those who believed in
and accepted the faith in righteousness, in goodness, in
crucifying body-desires - in crucifying the emotions which
gratify only appetites of a body; either through the physical
self or physical appetites of gormandizing; crucifying the
material desire for arousing more of the beast in individual
souls. In the experience, then, the entity is meeting self,
in that which was a part of the experience as EMERSEN."
It seems rather conclusive that the period referred to is
the reign of Nero, the ruler who "fiddled while Rome burned."
There were several Life readings which mentioned this period
and which will be of interest to the reader, but let us get
back to EMERSEN who had been the daughter of Achan. We can
see how as the companion or associate of Nero she would have
every opportunity to feel the emotion of "getting even" with
those who had stoned her father. Perhaps some of the
Christians being persecuted were reincarnated souls who had
unmercifully stoned her father - or perhaps she had
personally known them before the persecution and had hated
them "without a cause" so far as could be judged in that
lifetime. At any rate, as Nero's companion, she participated
in the persecutions.
Now let us see what this daughter of Achan was like when she
first wrote Edgar Cayce for a reading. She wrote:
"I have lived most of my life by knowing that the power of
God would keep me alive and active. At present I am taking
sulphur baths and massage to try to get well...right ear
and Eustachian tube collapsed...lower colon stretch very
large and small passage. Tired all the time. Use of arms
slows my heart action and I become exhausted standing on my
feet very long... Nerves down my legs hurt and pain, when I
lie on them or stand.
"Why should I come into this life with such a broken physical
body? It seems I have been through hell...and I have often
wondered what I have saved myself for. I have always wanted
to be of service to humanity, but have no strength - angina -
pernicious anemia, etc. - since I was young... Have I
committed a great crime in the past, or now? What have I
lived to accomplish, for it has taken all the courage I have,
just to live? What has been the incentive to help and heal
others?..."
This woman had started out by requesting a health reading,
but when she learned of the appointments so far in advance,
she had decided that she'd rather have the Life reading.
Before giving the extracts from the Life reading, there is
one more incarnation of Achan's daughter which should be
mentioned: the one just previous sojourn when, as JANE
EYERICSON, the reading says, she lived in early America. She
was "a helper for those who sought to learn more about the
promptings of individuals to seek freedom, and to know that
which is the spirit of creation or CREATIVE energies. Thus
did the entity grow, as she attempted to interpret man's
relationship to the Creative Forces or God."
Re-stating the sequence, then, of important lives mentioned,
we have: IS-IT-EL, in Egypt, who developed a great love for
home and family; SUTHERS, the daughter of Achan, who saw her
father stoned to death; EMERSEN, the companion of Nero, who
experienced a "getting even"; JANE EYERICSON, who grew in
spiritual matters by devoting herself to interpreting man's
relationship to God. These are not necessarily all of the
entity's incarnations, of course; but the ones which have a
vital bearing upon the present life and which would be
helpful in explaining the soul's losses and gains, in a Life
reading.
Keep That Faith!
Quoting from the body of the reading:
"This entity was among those who were with the one who
persecuted the church so thoroughly and who fiddled while
Rome burned. That's the reason why this entity has been
disfigured by structural conditions in the body. Yet this
entity may be set apart! For through its experiences in the
earth, it has advanced from a low degree to the point where
a reincarnation in the earth may not even be necessitated.
Not that it has reached perfection; but there are realms for
instruction, if the entity will hold fast to that ideal held
by those at whom it once scoffed because of material
pleasures gained by association with those who did the
persecuting.
"In giving interpretations, then, of the records of this
entity: There is much that might be said but, as has been
indicated, we would minimize the faults and we would magnify
the virtues. And little or nothing may be given that would
deter the entity in any way from holding fast to the purpose
which has become the one to which it may hold. For, as did
Joshua of old, the entity has DETERMINED...'Others may do as
they may, but as for me - I will serve the living God.'"
"Astrological aspects would be nil in the experiences of
entity. No such may be necessary again in experiencing the
earth-materiality. Remember, there are material urges and
there are materials in OTHER CONSCIOUSNESSES, not just
three-dimensional...
"As to the abilities: WHO WOULD TELL THE ROSE HOW TO BE
BEAUTIFUL? WHO WOULD GIVE THE MORNING SUN GLORY? WHO WOULD
TELL THE STARS HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL? KEEP THAT FAITH WHICH
HAS PROMPTED THEE! Many will gain much from thy patience,
thy consistency, thy brotherly love."
Was The Reading Applicable?
Is summing up the case of Achan's daughter, let's consider
some highlights of her report, given four years after the
Life reading. We can compare her statements with sentences
and paragraphs of her reading, to see how applicable they
are.
Since childhood she had a serious back deformity which the
doctors thought would be incurable and would eventually cause
her death. It was always a great struggle for her to meet
this condition. She also had lost a part of one finger at
the age of four. Here are her own answers to the
questionnaire we sent in an effort to verify or refute the
main points of her reading, as we interpreted it:
"Many accidents when young. Lost part of one finger - hand
mangled, but normalcy now... I am trying to hold to a high
ideal and help others to do the same. When we used to have a
maid she was considered one of the family. I am forever
grasping at and striving for perfection although falling
far short. Have always hoped I would never have to live
again.
"I have easily understood the cause of crime, and the
criminal's feeling.
"At Ohio State University I planned HOUSES covering a square,
inner court and a tiny apartment for each one in a family so
that they might live in peace... Training in the Temple
Beautiful must have carried over into this expression, as
after graduation from the University, I took charge of a
Woman's Dormitory as acting Dean. The next winter they
placed me in the campus dining hall. Then following two
doctor's orders, I got a position in the Northwest...
matron-preceptress-acting dean in a State Teachers College
Dormitory. I loved the students, the buying of provisions
and thinking up new ideals to help the Normal School children
get warm lunches, etc.
"When in grade school and on through college we never knew if
I would live; was given up to die several times; but by will
power I struggled on, not complaining but in constant pain.
Medicine always seemed to make me worse. Now I am almost the
picture of health and younger looking than when twenty."
The questionnaire asked specifically about the reading's
giving her a Roman incarnation at the time of Nero: Did she
feel that it might have been just as fitting if the reading
had given her a Persian, Grecian or East Indian incarnation?
We quote from her answer:
"When young, my mother wanted me to take music lessons...
but I had no talent. At the end of a term the music teacher
dismissed me as a disgrace to her teaching. However, I
learned quickly and easily 'The Ben Hur Chariot Race' and
played it on all occasions - so dramatically and fast that it
shocked all listeners. When I looked at the picture on the
outside of the sheet, the charging steeds and chariots
racing, with the Roman Arena filled with cheering crowds, I
seemed to become as one with the whole living action - was
aware of nothing until I hit the final note! At 57 I think I
could still play parts of it, although I have not touched a
piano for over 40 years. This was the only musical piece I
could play.
"The reading has been a Godsend to me, in helping me to
understand the whys of my struggle to exist, physically and
mentally. My dear mother used to say 'You must be saved for
a purpose.' My brother, an M.D. specialist, said: 'Nothing
seems to help you; if you live it will be because you
experiment upon yourself.'
"Near death once I heard 'Iodine for leukemia' three nights
in succession and it pleased me to read how much you have
recommended it. I have tried to apply all of the suggestions
in the reading... I still have much to overcome. May God
bless your work in every way."
After catching just this glimpse of the record of Achan's
daughter, we can see how her soul development or unfoldment
was a gradual thing. Her incarnation this time seems to have
been an inspiration to all who knew her. We have all known
a few people like that - people who have smiled through pain,
who have stood up under all kinds of obstacles and blazed a
trail for Christian living.
It's interesting to note that Joshua whose "fame was in all
the land" at the time of Achan's daughter, was according to
the Cayce readings one of the early incarnations of the soul
who later came as Jesus. Considering this, the verse in
Hebrews takes on new meaning: "Though he was a Son, yet
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."
Value of The Readings
We have dealt here with just one soul's series of rebirths.
Remember that there are over two thousand such series in the
Edgar Cayce Foundation. What is their value? One series, no
matter how fascinating, no matter how thoroughly verified,
does not weigh importantly in the field of research. No
matter how helpful the readings were to those individuals in
helping them to understand themselves or in guiding their
possibilities, what good are they for us today? What good
are they for all those who did not secure such personal help?
Those of you who have read Gina Cerminara's book, MANY
MANSIONS* can see the value of such information in the field
of psychology and metaphysics. Her sequel, THE WORLD WITHIN*
continues to reinforce the weight of evidence which would be
without value if it were not based on actual, living
experiences of individuals who have tested and proven the
value of the readings.
During Mr. Cayce's lifetime, I can remember only three
instances in which the individuals claimed their Life reading
were incorrect - only three out of nearly 2,500! Since
Mr. Cayce's death and the work of the Foundation in gathering
reports and indexing the readings, we have indexed only one
unfavorable report from a mother who complains that there was
"nothing personal" in the reading for her six-year-old
daughter. It has happened time and again that Life readings
for children were put away and forgotten by the parents; then
later were found to be true in every detail.
But let us think for a moment about these few instances in
which the readings were disclaimed. Even if it turned out
that one in twenty-five was completely wrong; that's an
unheard of percentage in the field of psychic research -
perhaps in any line of research!
If the readings did analyze correctly the characteristics of
approximately 2,000 people and help them to live more fully,
what does that mean to us? What does it mean to the millions
who didn't even know or care that a man was giving his life?
What does it mean to the generations yet unborn?
Well, it means that we have definite evidence of
reincarnation and karma; definite evidence of the
soul's existence and its immortality; definite evidence
of the working of spiritual laws as proclaimed by Jesus
who was, as the readings put it, "the greatest philosopher
of life and love who has ever been known to the earth plane."
(No. [
288])
How may we view this evidence tending towards proof? It has
been said that in the eyes of two or three witnesses a fact
is legally established. We have over two thousand living
examples of correct analyses of capabilities and character
based on akashic records of past lives; examples of deep-
seated urges discovered, correctly interpreted and analyzed
* [Order from E. C. Publishing Co., $4.00 each.]
by Edgar Cayce's readings, based upon his reading of Akashic
records and not upon any conscious knowledge of the
individuals concerned. In the majority of cases, Mr. Cayce
knew nothing about the people before the readings were given.
Just as a good psychiatrist can probe the subconscious for
circumstances in childhood to explain inhibitions or
abnormalities; Edgar Cayce during a reading probed the soul's
record throughout the ages, to explain how we got to this
point and what to do about it.
In Life readings given for babies a few days or weeks after
birth, characteristics, weaknesses and strong points -
warnings - were given which later proved and even now are
proving to be correct. Thus is demonstrated Edgar Cayce's
peculiar insight or ability to read from the "Book of
Remembrance" (as the readings call the Akashic Record) and to
prepare a report card showing the individual just where he
stands on the ladder he set out so long ago to climb. He is
told that he made A on certain subjects, B on others and E on
others; he is told why, and what to do now so that he won't
make the same mistakes again.
Soul Evolution
Many of you are familiar with the accepted theories of
material science, which recognize the growth of a complex
physical organism through evolution. Through Biology,
Anthropology, Psychology and other sciences concerned with
helping man understand himself and "how he got that way,"
we have come to accept physical evolution - conditioned by
heredity and environment - as the explanation for life on
the earth.
The Life readings of Edgar Cayce make a distinct departure
from this point of view and stress the evolution of the soul.
The intangible soul-body is that which becomes the record
of - or upon which is recorded - all the experiences in MANY
planes of consciousness (many mansions).
By careful analysis and study of the 2,000 Life readings,
many of us are convinced that we can reach an understanding
of basic factors which govern man's thoughts and feelings.
For these Life readings represent interpretations of
fundamental spiritual laws; applied, it is true, to personal
problems. By studying a number of examples, we should be
able to learn how to apply those same laws to our own
personal problems.
For example: understanding how and why children are drawn
back to certain families. If we understand the laws of
attraction between certain entities, we'll be able to
understand how to work with our children better. If we
can understand why we are drawn into certain national and
racial patterns, we can understand ourselves much better.
There are laws governing the movement of an individual from
one race to another. Races and groups are like classes in
school. To know the laws which lead us to our present class
or race development is to understand and apply ourselves
better.
Who turns up in our family when a new baby is born - and
why? Why is one a genius, another an idiot? Why is one
born blind or deformed, or with a special physical weakness?
Why do certain members of the opposite sex become attracted
and get married? The scientist says it is just an
evolutionary process because of a biological physical urge.
According to the readings, there is a soul pattern underlying
and controlling such attractions. Marital problems can also
be explained by understanding the pattern.
What about vocations? We have a longing to do this or that.
Why? One person has an urge to work with children - another
with certain groups, church movements, races, without knowing
WHY.
There are laws outlined in the Edgar Cayce readings which
explain all these things. Each Life reading - sometimes just
one paragraph in one - can furnish material for a complete
lecture. An indexing and cataloguing under subject headings
for these 2,500 readings, with reports on how they have
worked, would give an enormous amount of material to clinch
the major religious, metaphysical and moral teachings -
which heretofore have had to be accepted on faith by those
who WANT to believe.
Those of us who know from experience the value of these
readings are not only privileged but obligated to press on
toward perfection; not carrying a torch for the theory of
reincarnation, but for the whole Christian way of life, as
taught by Him, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God." (Phil. 2:6)
He even said, as Jesus, when He was about to be stoned for
blasphemy, "YE ARE GODS; and all of you ARE children of the
most High". (John 10:34...Ps. 82:6)
The Edgar Cayce readings say to us over and over again:
"You ARE sons and daughters of God. Then act that way!"
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation