Reading 369-16

TEXT OF READING 369-16 F 37 (Kindergarten Teacher,

Text

Date: 3/25/1943 Sex: F Age: 37 ReadingID: 2857

Protestant Background) This Psychic Reading given by Edgar Cayce at the office of the Association, Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 25th day of March, 1943, in accordance with request made by the self - Miss [369], Associate Member of the Ass”n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc.

[Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Miss [369].]

Time of Reading 10:35 to 11:10 A. M. Eastern War Time. …, Va.

1. GC: You will have before you the entity, [369], present in this room, who was born September 2, 1905, in Norfolk, Va. The entity seeks information, advice and guidance as to her life pattern; with special reference to her present associations and problems, and the outlook for the future. Considering her present unhappiness, and the reasons for it, also her desires and hopes for the future, you will give the entity that counsel needed to enable her to fulfil the purpose for which she entered the earth plane at this time. Then you will answer the questions she submits, as I ask them:

2. EC: Yes, we have the entity here, [369], and those suggestions and information that have been indicated for the entity as to its experiences in the earth, the activities through same; also those conditions, circumstances and problems in the associations and activities in the present.

3. In outlining counsel or advice, it is not intended that individuals become too altruistic in their approach to same. For, if one will analyze the pattern of the experience of the way and the truth and the light which was manifested in the Master, one will find that His manner, His approach, is and was a practical, everyday experience, but with definite pronouncements in purposes and ideals.

4. Thus, as such counsel might be for this entity, then: Know first thy ideal, and that the ideal-spiritual and mental and material is in keeping with those principles which were indicated and given by Him in the earth.

5. Be mindful, realize, be conscious first that the Father-God is most mindful of thee, - which is demonstrated in the fact of thine own physical consciousness and the desire on the part of self to contribute, to be that which this present experience, this present grace of His mercy intended for thee to be.

6. There have been and are disappointments in the present experience and environs. Even at times, from the mental, the emotional and the material angle, it has appeared that the most desirable has become - as it were - covered with moss or rust, when there have been the opportunities for the attaining of same.

7. This then should indicate to the entity the false hopes that such things, such conditions have brought into the experience. This, then, does not indicate that one should attempt to attain to a goody-goody sort of existence or experience. For, no emotion, no desire that may be a part of the entity’s experience is in itself bad; but that use to which it may be put, that purpose for which it may be sought becomes the THING itself that brings the type of disappointment that may have been a part of the experience.

8. Remember, as He has given, “He whom the Lord loveth He tempers, or gives those periods of temptation, of trial.”

9. Thus the entity should know and feel within itself that BASICALLY the desire of the heart, of the mind, of the purpose, is in keeping with His purpose; else there would have been those destructive forces as the result of such disturbing conditions in the experience.

10. Then, let the entity take heart. Let it lift up, look up - to Him.

11. Let the entity choose activities in the present experience, the present environs, that will enable the entity to find the outlet for its desires, its hopes, its emotions - and be prepared the more to complete and fulfil the purpose of the home and its environ, and its surroundings; and what it - the home - in the broader, the deeper, the more perfect sense, indicates in the lives of those who constitute a community, a state, a nation.

12. For it is the homes, and all they stand for, that are the bulwark of strength to any people.

13. And this should be the hope, the desire, the purpose - that has been indicated for the entity - in the fulfilling and the completing of that it may do best in this experience.

14. There are in the present those conditions that draw on, drain the entity, the body-mind at times, - because of the present environmental forces, the lack of the compatibility in the associations, the necessity of activities in which so little is held in common.

15. These are the testing periods for the entity. Do not waver as to duty, as to obligation. For, if these were not used constructively, they would eventually bring - very soon - regrets, that are INDEED the canker, the rust, that undermine principle, undermine good intentions.

16. But WELL hast thou used these thus far in thy experience.

17. Hence use rather the opportunity in the present to find those associations with those nearer thine own age, thine OWN outlook upon life. Yet many such are disturbed. In the abundance of thine own experience, and with thy ideals and purposes held aright, ye may bring to MANY a hope, an outlook, a different view that will not only enlarge thee for thine OWN activity but prepare thee for greater activities in thine OWN home as it comes about.

18. These circumstances, such seeking out, may appear at times to some to be meddling. But rather, as indicated, what is the purpose? Is it to be helpful, is it to be constructive?

19. Just as has been and is the association with thy closer friend in the present, [1922] - this has ever been, this may ever be, a strength to each of thee.

20. There are MANY [[1922]‘s] in thine own consciousness that ye may contribute much to their hope, for activity not only in this material plane but for their mental and spiritual awakening also.

21. Applying self, then, seek ever to be a channel for helpful forces. These will change thine outlook, these will change those periods when ye are so lonesome in heart, in body, in mind.

22. But when the more lonesome, speak clearly with Him. For as He gave, “If ye call I will hear - I will answer speedily.” And He will point the way, WHERE ye may find that place, that companionship, that helpful experience in which ye may be the greater contributing factor to the hopefulness in the lives of others.

23. This is not altruistic in its aspect. It may so appear, for the moment, but, - there are the young, there are those in the teenage, there are those in thine own acquaintance that NEED thy counsel, yea thy experience; that they may catch a new glimpse of the hope that God IS in His heavens, that He IS mindful of the children of men, that He IS Father-God to whom each soul may approach even as an earthly father that understands, that comprehends, that brings not sorrow but joy and pleasure, and HOPE - which above all, springing anew day by day, brings to each soul that awareness of that oneness necessary, not only with things and conditions but with the lives of people, as a helpful influence in their experience.

24. And as ye do for others ye are thyself lifted up, not only in expectations but in those ways that bring peace in self, JOY in living, and the hope for those things that can be and are thine experience.

25. Ready for questions.

26. (Q) Should I continue expecting to meet and become associated with a man who will make my life more complete? (A) As has been indicated, yes. And prepare self more, and more, by being as a living, helpful force and influence in the lives of all, young and old alike.

27. (Q) Is it indicated as to when and how this may come about? (A) When thou hast proved thyself, it will come about.

28. (Q) What can or should I do to aid in this happening? (A) As has been indicated.

29. (Q) What should be the main purpose of my existence on earth at this time? (A) Creating and building of a home, as we have indicated before and here.

30. (Q) Why have the last five years of my life been so entirely devoid of all contact with men? (A) As a testing period to that which has been and is the basic building of thy purposes in the earth.

31. (Q) After making what I felt to be the right decisions about associations with [G…] and [D…], in hopes that it would bring to me the right association, why has the effect apparently been just the opposite? (A) This, as has been indicated, must first be builded, conquered and met within SELF. And when these have been entirely eradicated from thine consciousness, as to a hope or desire, THEN - as ye apply - there may come those influences and forces - and ye will see. Remain true to thy principles ye have set in thyself.

32. (Q) Regarding my associations with [1922]: What is our mutual responsibility one to the other? (A) Ye are as a complement one to the other. Ye have been the strength of one another, though disagreeing oft as to the application of principles - these as to purposes are well, and ye are good one for the other.

33. (Q) Why are we each so affected by the experiences of the other? (A) Because the purposes are one, the abilities for creative influences in the lives of others are as one. Use same, don’t abuse them.

34. (Q) How can we each meet this best and still retain our close friendship? (A) Each must, of course, work out her own purposes in those ways that to each seemeth best.

But to self, be true ever - and ye will not be false to any; and there is none so abundant with friends that he can afford to lose a single one.

But this is more than friendship, for it is oft as food and drink, that must supply that something of hope, that something of desire, that something of the fires even of nature that must not be put out.

35. (Q) Regarding my associations with Aunts […] and […]: Was it according to divine plan that I should be with them as I am now, or should I have made a break some years back to plan a life of my own? (A) Know that in whatever state ye find thyself, THAT - at the moment is best for thee.

There might have been many changes, there might have been defiances in the past that would have brought changes. But look not back upon what might have been. Rather, as given, lift up, look up - now - where ye are.

Do not in the present do that which would bring later regrets, for these are the kind of canker that does undermine. But use those varied periods of necessity, of obligations, make them more as of love, more as of a little patience. For yet a little while, and there will be brought into thine experience a consciousness of a new understanding, a new hope, a new experience.

36. We are through for the present.

Copy to Self ” ” Ass’n file

Reports

Reports & Follow-up

R1. 6/7/43 “I know that I am a burden to my friends, but if you can put up with me for a little while longer perhaps I’ll be better. I feel that these next years will be the difficult ones if I don’t merit meeting the right person for me, but maybe - even if I don’t - later on I will be better adjusted and not such a problem to myself and others…

“I have a lot to tell you about [E…] He has been transferred. His wife was down and stayed until he left… Is there some lack on my part that makes me like men of [E…]‘s type and that has prevented my meriting the right kind of man?… This whole year seems a strange one to me, starting from the time nearly a year ago this month when [D…] called. Remember?”

R2. See subsequent notations under 369-3 Reports.

R3. 8/19/48 She obtained a brain operation to “block out” fear cells, to give her a fresh start in life. [See 1941 clippings below, Par. R4 from The American Weekly, describing the type of surgery performed. Also see 4/29/67, Par. R5 clipping below, from San Jose Mercury, indicating that the “frontal lobotomies of a generation ago” are “now in disrepute because of moral questionability.]

R4. 1941 American Weekly article CARVING CHARACTER WITH THE SURGEON’S KNIFE by Robert D. Potter, Science Editor:

By a delicate brain operation that sabotages the intricate “telephone” switchboard of the mind and blacks-out the worry center, just back of the forehead, surgeons are now restoring to a normal world many hopeless mental patients who formerly dwelt in a realm of terrible fantasy.

Carving character by surgical sculpture might be one way of describing this new and remarkable brain operation which in some cases fashions completely new personalities. Doctors call the operation prefrontal lobectomy.

Since the term “ectomy” comes from the ancient Greek meaning excision, or to cut out, this medical term is not really as tough as it looks. It means to cut out the prefrontal lobes of the brain, just as appendectomy means to cut out the appendix or tonsillectomy means to take out the tonsils.

Actually this newest feat of the surgeon’s knife - although the tools used are not knives in any ordinary sense - does not remove the prefrontal worry centers of the brain.

Rather, the operation is as if some spy or sabotage agent crept into the information center at Army headquarters and snipped telephone wires with a pair of pliers.

In man - perhaps alone in man among all the animals - worry is a good thing and so is a conscience, for they prevent you from doing many things you may later be sorry for.

Suppose you are driving along a road and some stupid, dumb, arrogant and thoughtless driver cuts in ahead of you and you nearly have an accident. Your first impulse is to do murder, or at least mayhem.

What stops you is your worry center, your conscience.

What led you to have the homicidal impulse in the first place is a part of your brain, called the thalamus. This is a very old part, handed down through countless ages. Your rage, then, is a hangover from all the ancestors of Homo Sapiens from time immemorial. It is in essence the killing urge so common to the jungle beasts and the lower animals.

What makes you civilized are your prefrontal lobes. With their conscience and reasoning powers they can normally push back into their ancient graves your brutal impulses.

In many forms of insanity this normal balancing of the parts of the brain are missing. Maniacs, with their driving urge to kill without thought of the consequences, seem to be dominated by their thalamus - this primitive, emotional, hot-headed region of their brains.

Maniacs have the drive of the brute in their minds and they act accordingly - sometimes cleverly and sometimes stupidly - but never with a thought of what society and the law may do to them for what they do. These people are the dangerously criminal insane.

But there are other types of people whose lives are dominated by the worry center, just as the maniac is dominated by the thalamus. These are the schizophrenics.

These people retreat from the world of reality and dwell only in a realm inhabited by their fears, worries and anxieties. Sometimes they have hallucinations, like the woman who spent years in bed because she thought she would die if anyone touched her.

Or the woman who could not sleep at night because she had to stay awake to see if her heart was beating; otherwise, she thought, she would die.

The symptoms of these kind of mental cases seem endless but they all have one common attribute. They all are obsessed by worry and their conscience, and worries dominate their entire lives.

In the last five years three different treatments have been used on such patients with considerable success in some cases.

1. The drug shock therapy in which insulin, or the drug named metrazol, are used to produce controlled convulsions resembling those of an epileptic fit which shock the patient back into the world of reality.

2. Electric “fits”; convulsions produced by the shock of electric currents passed through the brain.

3. The prefrontal lobectomy, the operation severing the worry centers from the rest of the mind.

People who have undergone any of these three treatments often find relief, and they undergo personality changes, sometimes to a marked degree.

From silent individuals, sitting in the corner of a mental hospital, wrapped in a world of their own, and brooding, they become happy and often boisterous people.

Patients who have gone through the brain operation still retain reasoning powers. They understand cause and effect. But they see this cause and effect as if it did not concern them or affect their lives. They stop worrying about the effect from some cause.

Perhaps this is not an ideal way to live. It is too much like the “grasshopper” existence of the old Aesop’s Fables.

But it is a vast improvement over the past way of life of these patients, for they are no longer pursued by imaginary spiders or snakes, or non-existent diseases; or contemplated suicide, nor countless other fantasies of the insane mind.

To a brilliant and daring Portuguese doctor, Dr. Egas Moniz, goes major credit for the pioneering development of this operation which carves out character.

From the similarity of behavior of many of his mental patients, Dr. Moniz reasoned that their thoughts must be following the same nerve pathways in the brain.

So often they had the same delusions, the same fits of weeping, the fears, hallucinations and the obsessions.

Since all ordinary treatment had been tried for years on these patients without success, Dr. Moniz decided to take the chance and see what would happen if the brain pathways could be cut.

First, Dr. Moniz turned inventor and devised a tiny cutting tool for work inside the brain which operates about like an old-fashioned apple corer.

Next he turned salesman and sold his surgical colleague, Dr. Almeida Lima, on the idea of doing the operation on fear-bound patients with hallucinations.

In a manner somewhat similar to the way the telephone company disconnects a customer’s telephone when he doesn’t pay his bill, they proceeded to cut the connection to worry centers in their patient’s brains.

Under an anesthetic, they drilled small holes in the skulls of their patients and inserted the little “apple corer.” When they had it properly placed in the prefrontal lobes they gave it a little twist. And that was that.

They made no attempt to remove the cores. It sufficed to break the nerve connection to the parts they wished to isolate.

Drs. Moniz and Lima had considerable success, and some failure. They seemed unable to help dementia praecox cases but they had some astounding success with some other kinds of mental patients.

People whose whole lives had been governed by their fear of having cancer, or some other grave disease, put their anxieties back into proper perspective and did not let them dominate their every act any longer.

People who had tried to commit suicide no longer sought to take their own life.

People who had felt that the whole world had a conspiracy against them, realized that their worries and obsessions were only brain children of their own mind.

The sensational operations of Moniz and Lima were first reported in 1935 and were received by the medical profession with a mixture of two parts skepticism, one part credulity and a dash of wonderment.

But the point was proved; that by brain operations fixed ideas and obsessions could be overcome by disconnecting the nerve circuits which carried them inside the brain.

Soon the new operation spread over the world. The American pioneers in its use were two doctors from George Washington University, Drs. Walter Freeman and James W. Watts.

In 1936 they began using Moniz’ apple-corer tool. But soon they devised their own surgical instrument and procedure.

Amongst other things they stopped going through the skull from the top and made their incisions at two points, over each temple.

Their cutting tool was a tiny hollow needle, blunt at the tip, which they delicately inserted into the brain being ever careful not to push it through tissue but along cracks and crevices between different parts of the brain.

As carefully as a surveyor, they moved their needle to just the correct spot inside the head. Then they pushed a fine loop of wire through the needle, gave a twist and severed the connection to the prefrontal lobes.

In many an operation the patient talked with them while this was going on, for the job is done only under a local anesthetic. Once the instrument is inside the brain, there is no pain, because nervous tissue is not, itself, sensitive to pain.

Following Freeman and Watts some ten or a dozen brain surgeons in the United States have now taken up the operation. More than two hundred people on whom this feat of surgical skill has been performed are now living in this country.

Of this total some eighty patients have passed through the hands of Freeman and Watts. At the recent meeting of the American Association in Cleveland these American pioneers disclosed what had happened to their patients.

Of the eighty, some twenty are now back at work, happily employed. Seven are studying, or are partly employed. Twenty-two (presumably most of the women) are contentedly engaged in housework.

Eight are “at home” and only six are left in mental institutions. Seven patients have died, but only three of these were operative deaths.

The greatest success of the operation seems to be in relieving symptoms like introversion, preoccupation, nervous tension, obsessive thinking, worry, anxiety, depression, insomnia, crying spells and suicidal ideas which formerly dominated the lives of these patients.

But just as the operation overcomes some symptoms, it produces new ones.

About a third of the patients, after the operation, showed a lack of initiative. Over half of them seemed to be tactless, saying what they wanted, where and when they wanted to.

About a third of them suffered from procrastination and kept putting off tasks they knew they ought to do. Perhaps a quarter of them showed facetiousness.

Out of it all comes this picture of the changed personalities; the development of quiet, non-aggressive people who like to put off until tomorrow what they ought to do today, cracking bad jokes and sometimes making thoughtless, tactless remarks.

To a lot of us this is no outline of a mental case.

It could well be the personality portrait of many normal people. Every town is full of the same kind of folks.

R5. 4/29/67 San Jose Mercury article ‘EMOTION’ SURGERY OUTLINED

Sydney, Australia (UPI) - An American neurosurgeon today outlined details of a newly-developed, 50-minute brain operation which can reportedly reshape emotionally maladjusted personalities.

Dr. M. Hunter Brown of Santa Monica, Calif., told the second congress of the Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons the operation has been performed 109 times, each time with “unqualified success.”

“Out of the tremendous amount of human misery we can now create happiness, which to any brain surgeon is a great source of personal satisfaction,” he said.

“Obviously with all the subtle intangibles of the highest levels of man’s emotional life to do this with 100 per cent accuracy would place one in the category of a god.

“Men are not God,” Brown said.

He said the new operation differs entirely in concept and execution from the frontal lobotomies of a generation ago, now in disrepute because of moral questionability.

“A lobotomy is a mass, non-selective type of destructive operation in a different part of the brain. Our point of view was oriented exactly to the opposite,” he said.

“This is a selective operation in the cingulum, small in location and with none of the by-products” which affected those who had had earlier operations, he added.

His 15-year research had convinced him, Brown said that as much as a third of the world’s emotional diseases - including those causing sexual assaults and other criminal acts - could be cured by such surgery.

“There seems no doubt that the cigulum is the central controlling mechanism for the emotion life of man,” he told the gathering.

Background

Background

B1. See 369-3 and 1922-1, also 369-9.

B2. 3/25/43 She sought help mainly for her unhappy life due to friend’s [1922]‘s periodical relationships with men, which when occurring seemed to make a nervous wreck of [369]. Friends of each had been warning them against each other, believing it necessary for them to break up that friendship, so that each could find a life of her own without interference from the other. In some quarters they were accused of having a homosexual relationship. They each declared, however, that if this were true it was not in a physical sense but rather in a mental-emotional sense. They seemed unable to think or act or decide independently of the other.

Mentioned Entities

Entity (Cayce Term), Purpose, Ideal, A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment), Soul, Woman of Revelation, Australia, Book of Job, Gertrude Cayce, Gladys Davis, Grace, Greece, Jesus Christ, Law of Moses, Ohio, Oneness, Photography (Atlantean), Trial of Jesus, Virginia Beach

Source: The Complete Edgar Cayce Readings, A.R.E. CD-ROM (2006). Reading 369-16, ReadingID 2857.