Читать книгу Edgar Cayce on Mastering Your Spiritual Growth - Kevin J. Todeschi - Страница 14

Know that life is a river or a stream which is constant and each appearance is as a pool that may refresh, in which others may be refreshed . . . make the world a better place because ye have lived in it. Ye can only do that by the hour, by the moment, by the day ye live. For ye are not promised more than one day in the physical consciousness at a time. Use it—don’t abuse it!

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What if God were completely loving and the universe were completely orderly? What if everything that transpired in your life were not intended to be some kind of punishment or reward or even some kind of a random act of chance, whether good or bad? Instead, what if every life event were a purposefully chosen experience at the level of the soul, providing you with a possible means of personal growth and soul development? Now in her late sixties and approaching her fiftieth wedding anniversary, Meg Nelson has come to that very conclusion.

As a child, Meg confesses, she was very manipulative and selfish and was used to getting her own way. She says, however, that life’s events and her own efforts and personal growth have helped her greatly overcome these tendencies. Her experiences as a wife and a mother have proven to be extremely helpful in enabling her to become a better person. In fact, it was with Meg’s daughter, Amy, that Meg got to face her own selfishness and the way she used to manipulate others head-on.

Meg tells how Amy, as a child and teenager, was very strong willed and had difficulty getting along with other members of the family. Amy’s problems and personal frustrations caused her to leave home early and then to suddenly get married at the age of eighteen. The marriage was short-lived, and Amy soon separated and divorced. It was not long before she married and divorced twice again. Extremely unhappy and finding herself with two young children of her own, Amy expressed her firm belief that her parents had been the cause of all of her problems. In her anger and unhappiness, she found occasion to tell Meg and her husband that she couldn’t possibly love either one of them because of how they had raised her.

In spite of all the difficulties they faced with Amy’s anger, Meg was convinced that the experience was a purposeful one and that she and her husband needed to continue to be supportive of their daughter. In the face of a relationship fraught with challenges, Meg set aside her own feelings and tried to reach out to the girl. Even when Amy caused the couple emotional strife, Meg never failed to express her love, keeping in touch with Amy, visiting as often as she could, and helping out financially when it was absolutely necessary. Meg began to believe that the best approach to the situation was simply “love expressed.” In time, her perseverance paid off. Amy began to change and started to take responsibility for her life. Amy even put herself through school and, according to Meg, today is a registered nurse, a loving mother of two children, and “a very caring person . . . who expresses her love for both of us.”

In retrospect, Meg realizes that it wasn’t only Amy who helped her to become a more loving and caring person. Since Meg herself was a wife and mother of four children, having to focus on others became a normal part of everyday life for her. In addition to the regular challenges of raising a family, there seemed to be a number of health obstacles that the family had to overcome. Those challenges included a son who had meningitis at the age of two. Another son suffered an accidental gunshot wound to his Achilles tendon at the age of twelve and took more than a year to heal. Their daughter contracted mononucleosis in high school. Also, Meg and her husband were seriously injured in an automobile accident—an event that took them years to completely overcome.

But perhaps the most trying and challenging experiences of her life happened almost thirty years ago, when her husband became interested in another woman. It seems that, early in their marriage, the couple had difficulties communicating and, by their sixteenth anniversary, they had drifted apart. The breakdown in their relationship prompted Meg’s husband to become interested in another woman. When Meg discovered what was happening, she confronted him. The couple spent a great deal of time discussing the situation. Meg told him that he had to make a clear-cut choice between his marriage and the other woman. Her husband professed his love for Meg and was adamant that he did not want the marriage to end. The couple worked through the situation, the marriage survived, and Meg says that their relationship is stronger today than ever before. In summing up that experience, Meg believes she was ultimately able to turn it into something helpful:

I learned that I, too, was at fault in the relationship and must work at being less selfish and more thoughtful of him and his needs. I try to acknowledge him more for the good he does and the good choices he makes. I also learned that I could forgive him for something that I did not think was possible before that time.

Throughout her life, rather than becoming angry at the challenges life has presented her, Meg has simply tried to see life’s events as an unfolding learning process. When a neighbor commented that it appeared as if Meg’s family was prone to bad luck, Meg was truly surprised:

I had never even considered anything that had happened as anything except part of life that we all must experience and learn from. We felt the Lord’s presence through all that happened and the strength of loving, helpful friends. We always looked ahead, did what was necessary at the time and never looked back. Our children have developed the same attitudes and do not complain or feel victims of circumstance.

When asked to name a soul strength that wasn’t learned through life’s events but rather seemed to be a part of who she was from the very beginning, Meg states unequivocally that it has to do with working with children. Almost from the time she was born, she remembers an incredibly strong desire to have baby brothers and sisters. She frequently begged her mother to have another child. By the time she was four, whenever she came in contact with a woman who had a baby, Meg would plead to hold the child and play with it. As she grew up, she looked forward to having a large family of her own and found many occasions as a teenager to baby-sit. Her college path included a degree in child psychology and early childhood education. She taught kindergarten and the primary grades for more than thirty years before retiring and now does substitute teaching. As a grandparent, she loves being with her grandchildren. Her lifelong love of young people has convinced Meg beyond any doubt “that I was supposed to work with children.”

From the perspective of the Edgar Cayce readings, all of our relationships with one another are the means by which the soul encounters lessons to be learned in the present as well as failures from the past that need to be overcome. For that reason, our relationships are an ongoing process that the soul picks up exactly where they have been left off. The case history of Franklin Wagner; his wife, Julia; and their daughter, Debbie, provides a unique and interesting portrayal of a family relationship brought back together.

When the family came to Edgar Cayce for help, the couple was troubled by the condition of their twelve-year-old daughter, who was prone to epileptic seizures. As a last resort, friends had referred them for a reading. Apparently, much of their time together had been spent in trying to find help for Debbie; her condition was the cause of much concern for the family. Cayce was able to give them the help that they sought. In addition to providing a series of physical readings that outlined treatment for their daughter’s illness, the girl’s condition was traced to an early American incarnation when she had once misused her body and her talent for intuition. Cayce told the couple that the three had been brought back together in an attempt to overcome this period of soul regression because each had been responsible for what had transpired. In the language of the readings the result was that “each soul must meet its own self.” (2345-1) Here’s how the information from the readings explained the past-life basis for the present-day situation:

During the period of the American Revolution, Franklin and Julia were married, just as they were in the present. As now, Debbie was their daughter. At the time, the couple believed in and worked for the British cause. Their support of the Crown knew no bounds, and the couple convinced their grown daughter to spy for them. Apparently, the girl was quite attractive, and the best means of procuring the information they desired was Debbie herself. Debbie set out to inflame the passions of those men who could supply her with information that could be used against the colonies. Apparently, the Wagners forced their daughter into a life of prostitution, breaking the girl’s morals and ideals in the process. Debbie’s acute sense of intuition also had been used for the couple’s benefit.

In the present, the three had been brought back together as a means of correcting what they had once done wrong. Much of that correction had been made by Debbie’s parents now placing their daughter’s needs before their own.

It’s important to point out that it wasn’t necessarily the deed of prostitution that led to Debbie’s illness in the present; instead, from a soul perspective, it was the intent. Another case in point is that of Alice Young, a fifty-four-year-old widow who was told that she had been a dance hall girl in the Old West—involved in many of the same activities as Debbie—and yet her intent had been vastly different. At the time, her life had been one of severe hardships, and she had to resort to working in saloons for her own survival. Even though she was persecuted by some members of the community for her line of work, she never held a grudge or had pity for herself. Instead, she continued to be patient with those who spoke unkindly of her. In that incarnation, Alice had seen her activities as her best means of being of service to others. In many respects, that lifetime had been a helpful experience in her overall soul’s journey. The reading informed her that, even now, she could travel to the places she had once lived and would recall within her inner being some of her life experiences by simply hearing the sounds of the water or the rushing of the wind.

In terms of soul retrogression, however, Alice also had lived a lifetime in the Bordeaux region of France. In that experience, her husband essentially abandoned her in order to take part in a military conflict. According to the readings, that experience had brought her much shame, hardship, and personal doubt. At a soul level, she had lost because of frequently losing faith and hope. The one benefit from that experience was that she had gained an inner prompting to rely upon herself and had learned patience in the process.

Alice was informed that her present-life experience could surpass any of those that had gone before. Apparently, she now excelled in her ability to love, to make friends, and to learn to understand others rather than judging them. Because she was given to good works and being of service to others, Cayce told her that her very presence could emanate a healing influence in the lives of all those with whom she came in contact (823-1).

The continuity of a soul’s individuality from one lifetime to another was expressed to a forty-one-year-old researcher who was told that the soul is literally eternal. From this perspective, there is really no such thing as death. What humankind perceives as death is simply a process through which the soul changes in consciousness from the material realm to the spiritual. The man was told that in his most recent experience, he had been among a group of warriors who had attacked the Inca Indians. Although he was not interested in simply destroying and overtaking the people of the land, his counsel had been overruled and he had witnessed the horror and barbaric warfare that resulted. Because life experiences remain at a soul level, Cayce told him that he still possessed a deep-seated fear of what individuals can do when prompted by personal aggrandizement and selfish motives. Although the experience had been deeply troubling, it had also led to a soul longing to become a champion of hope and equality among all peoples. That same drive remained within him.

Previous to his Inca experience, he had been an early explorer who had sailed the seas to help map some of the known lands for the Roman Empire. From that experience, he maintained a deep desire to be associated with and working for the government to which he belonged. In the present, he was encouraged to continue to work with the ideal that had often been a part of his personal reflections regarding soul equality. Apparently, that ideal had often been pondered in biblical terms: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He was assured that each soul truly has a duty to all others. He was counseled to look for channels of service in which he could use his research abilities in a constructive way for others and to bring to their awareness an appreciation of their blessings in everyday life (2147-1).

In a very real sense, the Cayce cosmology sees life as a process in which each person is given the opportunity to overcome failures that have been a part of that soul’s history. Those failures are not simply erased, providing the soul with a clean slate. Instead, the soul must face former difficulties and inclinations in a manner that gives the person the opportunity to make a better choice in the present. An example is David Peters, who was thirty-three when he obtained a life reading.

Although David had a responsible job as a restaurant manager, he told Edgar Cayce that he was just getting his life back together because of a troubled past. Evidently, from a very early age, he often felt in conflict and competition with others. From David’s perspective, it appeared others frequently had more advantages and more material possessions than he. In time, he desired to possess what he believed was rightfully his. When he was a young man, that desire had led to a criminal record. By his own admission, he was just now trying to stay on the proper road because of “God and [the] people who have faith in me.”

Cayce told David that his desire to possess things that belonged to others had long been a part of his soul history. Previously, he had been a soldier of fortune who had turned to plunder as a way of acquiring things that were beautiful and valuable. According to the reading, this activity had caused “discomfort and disturbances that are still a part of thy being.” Although his soul history included a lifetime in the Holy Land where he had consecrated his life to the service of God, in an even earlier incarnation he had sought to misuse those same spiritual principles for the acquisition of material things and the gratification of his own carnal desires. He was reminded: “And as ye feed those desires mentally, physically, so they grow.” This tendency for selfishness had to be overcome.

This then must be the first consideration of the entity: Know that just as ye are a part of a family, ye are part of a city, a part of the law, a part of the country, a part of the universe.

And unless one is as considerate of others as there is the desire for others to be considerate of self, in that whole relationship, there come turmoils and strifes . . .

Then, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman not ashamed of thy daily life. Though ye may be in need of those things that would bring the pleasures as some ye see about you, provide the needs of thy body in love and in justice and in mercy; for the silver and the gold are the Lord’s, and those that love Him shall not beg bread.

Know thy ideal, then, and not as to what others are to do for you as the ideal, but what ye would do for others—in the manner ye would have them do it unto you!

Thus ye may know the face of hope, of love, of brotherly kindness, of mercy.

And do it all in patience; for God is the God of patience. 1977-1

David was told that if he continued to keep his life on track, the selfishness that had long been a part of his soul history would be eradicated and great opportunities would inevitably come his way.

Another example of negative soul tendencies being carried from one lifetime into the next is the story of a twenty-three-year-old man who was advised that his intense desire for the opposite sex had often led to his downfall. In one of his previous lives, he had been a trumpeter at the walls of the Holy City of Jerusalem and had gained because of his pursuit of service to others. He had lost, however, because of his intense interest in physical pleasures. His pursuit of physical beauty had also been prominent in a Roman experience when he had been a gladiator and extremely proud of his physical prowess and strength.

According to his reading, he had been involved in “places of amusement of every nature” during the Gold Rush, when he had gained a great deal of material wealth and had been very helpful to other miners. He had been extremely lonely, however, and had apparently sought out frequent female companionship. Throughout many of his incarnations, his thoughts toward women were basically self-serving. In the present, Cayce encouraged him to continue his innate interest in being of service to others, for that was also a part of his soul being. In terms of women, he was advised to completely change his approach: “Treat every man’s sister as ye would have thy sister treated! Treat every woman as ye think of thy mother!” (1881-1)

A Jewish woman with racial prejudice in the present was told that her bias against people who were not like herself had originated in the Old West when she had been a pioneer and had experienced hardships due to conflicts with the Indian natives. She was told that her present life experience would draw to her circumstances and events that would enable her to overcome this prejudice (as well as some of her other shortcomings) and enable her to realize and appreciate what others had to offer in their respective influence (1192-5).

Because patience had been lost in some of his previous experiences, a thirty-nine-year-old Christian Scientist was told that one of the primary purposes of his present lifetime was to simply learn patience. Prone to anger and rash behavior, he had been a champion of freedom in one of his most notable incarnations, in Colonial America. At the time, he had also been savage and merciless in his dealings with many people. Cayce advised the man that some of those same individuals were now a part of his life in the present and he needed to learn to deal with them completely differently. Inclined to be emotional, he was told to remember that all he did or said would eventually have to be met within himself. Rather than being impatient with others, he was encouraged to minimize their faults and learn to magnify their virtues. From that day forward, his best approach in all of his human relationships would be to work with love and patience (2564-3).

Just as a soul’s shortcomings and faults remain a part of the individual until they are overcome, soul strengths that have been acquired in the past can also be drawn upon in the present. The case of Sheila Roberts, a forty-eight-year-old secretary, presents a good example. Cayce told Sheila that, throughout her soul history, she had given of herself to such an extent that she had truly been able to bring a sense of God’s all-abiding peace into her own life and into the lives of those with whom she came in contact. In spite of the fact that, throughout her experiences in the earth, she had often been a witness to war, animosity, and prejudice among individuals, rather than becoming a part of this conflict, she had so learned tolerance that in the present she literally served as an example to others.

Her past lives included an experience in England during major hostilities with the Huns and the Gauls. According to Cayce, it was a time when neighbor often fought against neighbor, and it was not uncommon for people to take the law into their own hands. In that period, she had frequently attempted to bring a balanced perspective into the lives of her neighbors while assisting them with their own mental and physical burdens. From that experience, she still possessed the ability to give a sense of her own inner harmony to individuals somehow disturbed by emotional or physical distress.

Sheila had also lived a life among the Jews after the people’s return to the Promised Land. In addition to her duties as a handmaiden, she had often attempted to help those less fortunate than herself in the surrounding community. Again, she had gained because of her service to others. Unfortunately, at the time she had also been misjudged by a number of people as to the real motives for her work; for that, she had wallowed in self-pity and her soul had lost.

A lifetime in Egypt had given Sheila the opportunity to live at a time when civilization was attempting to bring together the knowledge and teachings of the world. During that period, there was much civil conflict within the society, enabling her to learn that animosity among people only grows unless it is replaced with love and tolerance. That particular lifetime enabled her to achieve a great deal of soul development.

Sheila apparently overcame the inclination toward self-pity in the present, and Cayce commended her abilities by stating, “Who would dare give the entity counsel when it may counsel so well!” (1143-2) She was encouraged to continue helping individuals awaken to an awareness of their own abilities, and she was told that not only could she help them by her physical contact but also by her thoughts, her prayers, and her meditations. Her soul strengths were such that she could often be used as a channel of blessings to others.

Another individual commended for her efforts at soul development was a twenty-year-old woman named Danette. Cayce actually stated that Danette’s growth surpassed that of many individuals. Apparently, the woman’s attitude was one in which she always placed others ahead of herself. However, it wasn’t that Danette was insecure or lacking in personal self-esteem; she was, by all accounts, a natural leader. Cayce informed her that she would be guided to positions of influence, but because of her strengths, she would never attempt to dominate or control someone else.

Danette’s past-life experiences included an incarnation in France when she had been one of the court entertainers and idolized by many of the nobility. In addition to bringing joy and happiness to people—for which she had been financially rewarded—her reading stated that she had used much of her wealth and her advantage as a means of being of service to those less fortunate than herself.

During a lifetime in Greece, she had been active in the Temple of Diana and had held a position of influence. In that experience, she often sought to bring spiritual truths to others. Her intent was to help free people from the toils and bondage of everyday life and give them a greater joy in living. Previously, in an Egyptian temple, she had been employed as one involved in music and song. Once again, her work and dedication to spiritual truths brought happiness and entertainment to many.

Cayce complimented her drive, even in the present, to bring hope, joy, peace, happiness, good cheer, and love into the lives of those with whom she came in contact. Danette was informed that her talents were varied and that she would make a wonderful nurse, a skilled teacher of dramatic arts, or an inspiring storyteller (4500-1).

Another example exploring both soul strengths and weaknesses is the case of a sixty-one-year-old widow named Barbara who received a life reading in 1937 and was told that many of her past lives were having a direct influence upon her present experience. Though drawn to sculpture throughout her life, Barbara had never really attempted to explore her own creative talents, apparently because she was somewhat reclusive and withdrew from fully expressing herself. Cayce informed her that part of the reason was because she possessed an innate fear of being misunderstood.

Her past lives included a sojourn as one of the first settlers in upper New York, where she had experienced many physical hardships. From that period, she had gained in personal strength and perseverance. At the same time, however, Barbara had encountered much loneliness, giving her a strong desire for friends and acquaintances, a desire that remained with her even in the present. Much of her ability to love still remained dormant, however.

During a lifetime in the Middle Ages in Germany, Barbara had been left behind as her family and male relations went off to fight for a religious cause. From that lifetime, she had gained the ability to be practical but she had lost because of frequent self-pity—it was an attitude on which she continued to work. In Greece, she had been an artist of note, specializing in sculpture. It was that experience that kept her love of art alive. In addition to her artistic talent, from that same incarnation she had acquired an interest in the pursuit of spiritual truths.

Barbara was told that a lifetime in Indochina had provided her with a variety of experiences in which she had made great strides in soul development, but she had lost as well. The Indochina experience had given her a true awareness of brotherly love, but at the same time she had become very much involved in the pursuit of pleasures and the satisfying of personal indulgences. Previous to that lifetime, she had been adept at esoteric sciences and divination and had used these tools as a means of showing people their true relationship to God.

In summing up her lifetimes, Cayce told Barbara that she possessed much motivation for assisting others with their personal welfare. She had a great deal of artistic talent that was waiting to be tapped. She had an immense capacity to love that needed to find outlets as well. Her deep interest in spiritual truths still resided within her. Barbara simply needed to open up and become more willing to express herself in many directions. She was encouraged to continue her pursuit of spirituality. All these things would provide her with a means to overcome some of the innate influences that needed to be purged from her inner being (1474-1).

From the Cayce files, it is apparent that one of the most important influences affecting whether a soul experiences retrogression or development in any given experience is the intent or motivation behind an individual’s actions. In the case of Angela, a thirty-six-year-old artist, Cayce noted how her change in motivations had altered her life experience, even within the same incarnation.

Part of Angela’s soul history included being a teacher during the early settling of Long Island. In that experience, she had gained for a period because of her practical service to others in assisting them in daily life. Eventually, her efforts led to some prominence and notoriety. Unfortunately, that notoriety caused her to become somewhat self-centered and interested in bettering her own environment and, as a result, she had lost. Because of the change in her motivation, she eventually alienated herself from the very people she had once tried to help. Cayce told her that, once she had alienated herself from people, she became somewhat isolated and was forced to spend much time in personal reflection, thinking about what had transpired. After a time, the isolation enabled her to regain her perspective and the proper mental attitude, and once again she grew in soul development.

Angela’s artistic talent was traced to an incarnation that had coincided with the period when the early Christians were being persecuted for their beliefs. At the time, she had apparently been both the companion and student to one of the most popular artists of the day. The Christian persecutions had troubled her, and she had spent many hours in personal introspection and contemplation trying to understand what prompted individuals to die for their beliefs. That prompting eventually led Angela to investigate spiritual truths for herself.

The beginnings of her spiritual longing were traced to an earlier incarnation in Greece, when she had forsaken the beliefs of her upbringing and had instead pursued religious principles that would eventually form the basis for the Zoroastrian religion. That incarnation had enabled her to learn that worldly goods are only important if they lead an individual to the attainment of spiritual truths. Although that lifetime had brought her material hardships because of giving up her heritage, it had provided her with a spiritual understanding and development that remained with her even in the present.

Angela was advised that she possessed the ability to relate life’s experiences through her art. Somehow, people could have an inner awakening about their own life experiences simply by beholding her work. In terms of where she was supposed to turn her artistic expression, she was encouraged to create works that would “bring happiness to others, with a joy of life and its experience . . . something of joy, something of hope . . . ” (431-1) By so doing, she would bring greater joy, peace, and harmony into her own life.