Reading 262-127

TEXT OF READING 262-127

Text

Date: 4/23/1941 Sex: M ReadingID: 1507

This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his home on Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 23rd day of April, 1941, in accordance with request made by Norfolk Study Group #1 of the Ass”n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc.

[Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Esther Wynne, Florence Edmonds, Hannah Miller, Frances Y. Morrow, Helen Ellington, Ruth LeNoir and Hugh Lynn Cayce. Also Mae Verhoeven and Ruth Denney.]

Time of Reading 3:30 to 3:55 P. M. Eastern Standard Time.

1. GC: You will have before you the first twelve lessons which we have revised for the book, A SEARCH FOR GOD, which we hope to publish. Please comment on each lesson, as I call the title, pointing out any changes or thoughts that should be added. You will then answer the questions, as I ask them:

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as given, and the revision as indicated here. In most of these, as we find, there is accord between that attempted to be indicated and that as appears prepared for publication. Little or no change would we now make in any of the subjects indicated. While there should be the first twelve lessons submitted, and also that upon Meditation, we find that Meditation should come first; not as a preface or introduction but as to prepare the individual - or individuals - who would use the lessons as a study.

3. And each affirmation for the lesson should preface that lesson, or be upon a page alone facing the lesson.

4. The rest we would keep in the manner indicated, though we would discard the questions - or most of them.

5. To be sure, the material will receive a great deal of commendation and also a great deal of disputation. A great deal of anxious moments will be spent by some.

6. Only ask that each individual TRY living that as presented here, and there will be a real revelation to all who will use - not abuse; or to all who will apply that suggested here.

7. There is little, that has been offered for the student, as well prepared as this material.

8. DO NOT print in a form that is to be just thrown aside. It deserves a good house. Give it such.

9. Ready for questions.

10. (Q) First lesson, - Cooperation. Any changes, or thoughts that should be added? (A) Though this should be listed as the first lesson, put Meditation in the front. Let each know what it is about. And the form and manner of the meditations as presented here is among the first of the occidental ideas of an oriental theme according to that presented by the Master.

11. (Q) Any other comment on the paper on Meditation? (A) Publish it first - in the book.

12. (Q) Cooperation - any suggestions for changes or additions? (A) Good.

13. (Q) Know Thyself. (A) Very well.

Let each lesson be prepared so that the affirmation as given is presented first, on a page alone facing the title of the lesson.

14. (Q) What Is My Ideal? (A) Very well.

15. (Q) Faith. (A) Good.

16. (Q) Virtue and Understanding? (A) Very well.

17. (Q) Fellowship. (A) Very well.

18. (Q) Patience. (A) Good.

19. (Q) The Open Door. (A) Very good.

20. (Q) In His Presence. (A) Good.

21. (Q) The Cross and the Crown. (A) Good.

22. (Q) The Lord Thy God is One. (A) Very good.

23. (Q) Love. (A) Excellent.

24. (Q) Which of the questions and answers should be cut out, and what principle should be followed in selecting those to be used? (A) If any, add a great many more. We would leave out the questions.

25. (Q) Should all Biblical quotations be listed as from the King James version or as just from the Bible? (A) Just from the Bible.

26. (Q) Any other advice as to the publishing or distribution of the book? (A) There will be a great many manners and ways of distribution. A great many of various groups, of various institutions or stores, have asked; and many more will ask when other books are published.

Give them to commentators, critics, lecturers many of them. Ask individuals to sponsor ones to be sent to ministers, to Bible houses - even though they send them back to you, offer them!

27. We are through for the present.

Reports

Reports & Follow-up

R1. GD’s note: As per reading 254-98, Par. 18-A, SFG I manuscript was reviewed 2-3-4/39 by a Protestant, a Jew and a Catholic. See Par. R5 below.

R2. 6/19/41 See Esther Wynne’s review of SFG at A.R.E. Tenth Annual Congress, filed under 262-127, Par. R5 (below).

R3. 6/10/42 SFG I was published by William Byrd Press, Richmond, Va., and copies submitted to the Library of Congress Copyright Office.

R4. 6/42 through 4/43 A few reviews were kept which may be made part of this record. See Par. R5 below.

R5. The following was originally supplementary material:

2/39 Letter from Rev. J. B. Clower, Jr.: “The Association for Research and Enlightenment has requested me, as a Protestant minister, to read and evaluate, from my point of view, these ‘First Six Lessons on Soul Development’. As I understood the request I was not being asked to evaluate the work of the Association, nor any intended use of the ‘Lessons’, but rather to appraise the ‘Lessons’ themselves solely on the basis of their content value.

“Truth is truth, regardless of the source from which it comes or the style of the package in which it is wrapped. Nevertheless, it has been my observation, which critical self-examination seems but to confirm, that those of us who ‘deal in the dispensing of truth’ are usually very hesitant about recommending any parcel of it which is done in a new wrapper, or which does not bear our own particular label.

“These six ‘Lessons’ are being published by an organization associated with a very remarkable man and a very remarkable work. I have known this man and his work for five years, and during that time have had abundant opportunity to study them both. There is still much about them that I do not understand (as more learned and careful observers than I are equally ready to admit), and there are some philosophical assumptions underlying the work that is being done which I find congenial, but which I have not yet been led to accept dogmatically.

“Consequently, when I was asked to give my reaction to these ‘Lessons’ I found myself wondering just what my honest reaction would be. And so I began to read. But as I read I began to realize that here was nothing new, nothing startling. Here was good devotional reading. I felt myself spiritually quickened by much of what I read. True, I found a few implications here and there which I felt inclined to question as I have already intimated. But with these exceptions I found nothing in the substance of the ‘Lessons’ as such which, in my judgement, could not appropriately be published with the imprint of my own church’s denominational publishing house. The lessons are Christian in theme and purpose.”

3/39 Letter from Lucille (Mrs. David E.) Kahn: “When I received your letter and request to read the six ‘lessons’ I rather dreaded the prospects. It is with joy that I can truthfully say that, in my humble opinion, you and your group have created and assembled a worthwhile - yes, even an important - contribution to the study of man and his God.

“Any novice sincerely seeking illumination will certainly find, in detail, every answer to a questioning mind and hungry soul.

“I only feel that the book, ‘How To Meditate’, just must be referred to, for all the discussion means little without the technique, practice and knowledge of meditation. Your book is a beautiful preparation for such work.

“Congratulations to you and your workers on a searching and sincere piece of writing.”

4/39 Letter from Thomas Sugrue: “First Six Lessons on Soul Development: Compiled by Department of Study Groups of The Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc.

“This little book might well be subtitled, ‘An American Yoga’. It presents a way of life which is spiritual in design yet practical in pattern, suiting itself to Western ways of existence. It reduces Christianity to a working formula which can be applied by Americans to their everyday lives without seriously upsetting any personal routine.

“In a time when Christianity has shown tendencies toward becoming not a way of life but a critical commentary upon it, such a practical reorientation of the philosophy of Jesus is a real service. It is necessary for man to continually restate and reinterpret the things which he believes, for the symbology by which he transmits his thoughts and beliefs is in a state of continuous change, and what was right to him yesterday becomes today a hackneyed phrase or a wornout cliche.

“The writers of this little book have succeeded in restating an ancient way of life in terms which the modern man and woman can understand and appreciate. This is a task which must be accomplished by each generation in its quest for thoughts that lie behind symbols and dogmas, and those who succeed in doing it deserve the heartiest thanks of their fellow man.”

A SEARCH FOR GOD

REVIEW by MISS ESTHER WYNNE

AT THE TENTH ANNUAL CONGRESS of the ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT, INC.,

JUNE 19, 1941.

As many other branches of the work of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc., the departments of publication and study groups were small and seemingly insignificant in the beginning of the organization. The reason for this is, the message is first to the individual, then to groups, then to classes and finally masses.

It was more like an experiment in faith than an organization of activities through which others might be helped, stimulated and uplifted; though faith was enough evidence of things hoped for, to encourage many “to keep on keeping on.”

It was the evening of September, 14, 1931, that a group of nineteen members of the Association offered themselves as channels through which lessons might be compiled, that if lived would, as the readings put it, “be lights to a dying world.”

The members organized themselves into the first study group, which afterwards became a unit of the department of publication of the Association. Mr. Cayce gave readings regularly over a period of ten years to the group for direction and as a basis for the work that was to be undertaken. The members applied themselves diligently to the study of the readings, to prayer and meditation, and in their weak way attempted to make practical what they learned. This was the beginning of the book, “A Search for God.”

The book is composed of a group of twelve lessons and a lengthy discourse on meditation and prayer. “The intent is not to furnish new information, but rather to give that which if lived will answer to that within self for the assurance as to not only soul awakening, but the continuity of life.”

In the first lesson, Cooperation is defined as losing sight of self and becoming a channel through which blessings may flow to others. During the compilation of this lesson, as in all others that followed in the series, the members experienced much that was humiliating and much that called for selflessness, yet in all they were happy since they had been counted worthy to be called into service.

2. A Search for God.

The second lesson, Know Thyself, is only a beginning of a study mentally, physically and spiritually. The purpose of this lesson will not be fully understood or appreciated until there is a study and application of “The Revelation” and the “Seven Spiritual Centers of Man,” better known as the endocrine system.

The subject of the third lesson is What is My Ideal. From this lesson we gather that the “True Ideal is the highest spiritual attainment to be reached in this material world.” “The Ideal must be of a spiritual nature, that has its foundation in truth, in God. - The gift to man is an individual soul, which may be one with Him and may know itself to be one with Him and yet individual in itself with attributes of the whole, yet not the whole.”

Faith is the subject of the fourth lesson. In this lesson faith is declared to be spiritual, and attribute of the soul. “It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It accepts or rejects without basis of reason, or that which is perceived through the five senses. “In the material world we often mistake confidence for faith, for we are prone to depend upon knowledge gained through the physical senses.

Then follow lessons of Fellowship, Patience, The Open Door, In His Presence, the Cross and the Crown, The Lord Thy God is One and Love. Each helps to awaken a better understanding of God the Father and His relationship to His children.

The discourse on prayer and meditation will be of inestimable value to those who seek the awakening of the inner self, to those who would meet Him face to face; for it points the way to harmony, peace and protection that is found in the Christ. “The form and manner of the meditation as presented here is among the first of the occidental ideas of an oriental theme according to that presented by the Master.”

Those who read and study these lessons are asked only to try to live them, for there will be a real revelation to those who will use, not abuse, in their daily lives, that presented in them.

6/42 Review of SFG I by Reverend William McLaughlin, Catholic Priest missionary: “The Psalmist says: ‘Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and light are both alike to thee.’ In these divinely inspired words, we know that wherever the true believer makes a search for God, He will be found. We realize, as did the Psalmist, that God is Spirit and can be found in the spiritual world, although He inter-penetrates all matter.

Reading Edgar Cayce’s remarkable book, A SEARCH FOR GOD, one comes to the deep conviction that he has found God, but in his deep humility, he claims to be searching for Him.

St. Francis of Assisi said that humility is the greatest Christian virtue and we know that it is the rarest, for the human Ego is inclined to exalt itself, forgetting the Magnificat of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.”

In reading this book, one is impelled to conclude that any true appraisal of it, will be equivalent to writing a condensed commentary on the New Testament, for Edgar Cayce culls from this sacred volume the quintessence of its teachings and keeps the reader’s mind and attention at a high altitude of contemplation and awareness of the Divine.

To those persons who have had the privilege of listening to one of Edgar Cayce’s readings, it would be adscititious on my part to maintain, as I do, that he lifts a corner of the veil separating us mortals on the physical plane from our true home in the spiritual world, for we are primarily spiritual beings, encased for a time in mortal flesh.

Edgar Cayce conveys to us the knowledge that we must not let burden of the flesh overpower our spiritual inheritance, or that portion of the Spirit inherent in us from manifesting in us. Not, of course, quite in the sense in which the Church through the ages has preserved the manifestation of the Godhead in the person of the Christ in the Feast of the Epiphany, or as it was called in the first three centuries after the Crucifixion, the Feast of the Theophany.”

6/42 Review of SFG I by Edna Green Hines (Mrs. Harry S.):

“A SEARCH FOR GOD compiled by the Study Groups of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, is an unusual handbook for the thinker, the student of religion and philosophy and the earnest seeker after wisdom. Within its pages one finds depth, power and understanding, illumined with the white light of Truth.

I found myself captivated by the new treatment of old ideas. In every chapter there is food for thought, deep thought. One can read and re-read and find new depths to explore with every reading. Here is opportunity for growth, mental and spiritual, and direction for the finding of God in everyday life. Chapters on the Christian virtues, - patience, faith, virtue, cooperation, understanding and love serve as guideposts along the path to nobler living.

The chapter “Know Thyself” is a well of inspiration and if followed would solve many problems of adjustment. One learns loftier concepts of prayer and meditation. To quote a few splendid sentences from the book: ‘Prayer is the concerted effort of our physical consciousness to become attuned with the consciousness of the Creator - Meditation is prayer from within the inner self - in prayer we speak to God, in meditation God speaks to us.’

One’s ideas on many things are crystallized in the paragraphs of this remarkable book and we obtain a fuller and more definite realization of many things which have been too abstract. We learn to open the door to a richer life as taught here. It is not a book for idle reading, but one which will stand many readings and much thought. Surely there is a reward here for the religious thinker and searcher after the Truth.

The groups which brought it out are to be congratulated on a fine and uplifting piece of work. Truly the searcher after God must find Him here.”

6/26/42 Mrs. [Beatrice] Richmond Seay: “We have given away five books, A SEARCH FOR GOD, today. Each person (two ministers included) has been eager to have a copy. It is something one feels a sense of blessedness in giving away,

• it contains so much to bless and assist others in finding God. And with each morsel of it I pick up and read there comes a greater desire to have others read it.”

7/11/42 Review of SFG I by Mrs. Lucy A. Cooney (Mrs. R. F.):

“The book, A SEARCH FOR GOD, gives the Truth in such a very plain manner that no one can read it without realization of our ‘Inner Man.’ I am glad to do my bit towards putting it in circulation.”

7/29/42 Mrs. Ina Lowthorp: “I have received and have read through A SEARCH FOR GOD. It is a book to be kept and read and re-read, and I am grateful to have it. I shall also loan it to any to whom I’m directed to loan it.”

7/29/42 Glenn Clark: “I find the book, A SEARCH FOR GOD, very understanding, very thorough, and very helpful. I shall recommend it to my friends. As there is no book review department in CLEAR HORIZONS I cannot make any mention of it there. I will, however, speak of it at my summer camps.”

7/30/42 Miss Mary C. Robinson: “The book is all that I expected it to be and more. I would like very much to sponsor a great many copies if I could, but I will surely do what I can. At this time especially, when so many souls are searching for truth, I feel that the book will accomplish much toward spreading the Light.”

8/8/42 Miss Lorraine Shrader [later Mrs. Erik Jensen]: “My copy of A SEARCH FOR GOD arrived and it is one I shall treasure. Although I have only dipped in very superficially, I know it is going to be invaluable and a great joy and help.”

8/10/42 Nicholas Gulstine: “I value this book as one of the very best in its class - as devotional literature, although having read widely along these lines during an extended period of search, study and thought on the deep things of life, here and hereafter.”

8/15/42 George Washington Carver: “I have looked through the book hurriedly, and consider it a very fine piece of work.”

8/15/42 The Aquarian Ministry by GGW: “Mrs. Brownell has a review all ready for the October magazine THE AQUARIAN AGE.”

10/11/42 Mr. Paul P. Owen: “It is enduring like the company of a perfect friend, like discovering a garden behind a wall you’ve passed many times. It gives direct helpful pointers on fulfilling the purpose of life.”

10/23/42 Mr. Orval Graves of Rosecrucian Research Library:

“I hurriedly read the book through once and am going to read some of it regularly each week from now on. This is not flattery but sincere comment when I say that I believe it is one of the finest spiritual works in a long time. It seems to me it ought to reach those people who are in both the orthodox religion and out and out occultism. Yours must be a very wonderful work in carrying on this type of study and research. I do not need to wish you success and blessings, as you already have those undoubtedly, but I would like to extend my good wishes and thanks.”

10/28/42 Miss Laurie Pratt: “I was happy to receive your little book, well named A SEARCH FOR GOD. It is like a scripture, full of the simple, profound truths of all ages, which would deliver us from all our wordly ills if we would but heed them. I know it has taken much time, labor and love to produce the book, and you must feel repaid in the good it will do for many seeking souls.”

2/26/43 Miss Sonya Henry: “This book would certainly help one to a mastership. You will be surprised to learn that I dreamed about a book this color and was told to put it into USE. I should like to find myself in the teaching field. You told me it was my vocation, and everyone I meet seems to feel that way.” [This note was sent with her order for 10 copies of SFG.]

Background

Background

B1. Subject of Reading 262-127 - “Norfolk Study Group #1.”

Mentioned Entities

Search for God Study Groups, Meditation, A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment), Soul, Prayer, Ideal, Jesus Christ, Revelation (Book), Crucifixion, Purpose, Virgin Mary, Thomas Sugrue, Veil of the Temple, Crucifixion of Jesus, David Kahn, Gertrude Cayce, Gladys Davis, Hugh Lynn Cayce, King David, Ministry of Jesus

Source: The Complete Edgar Cayce Readings, A.R.E. CD-ROM (2006). Reading 262-127, ReadingID 1507.