Thoughts Are Real Things!
Thoughts are things!” This teaching is so frequently repeated throughout the vast collection of Edgar Cayce’s discourses that it must be covered in some detail for us to fully comprehend how important it is to us. When I first read this teaching, I was virtually a mess for some time after. If only I had known sooner, I could have taken back many of my thoughts, especially the negative ones toward other people. For example, in this first comment Cayce correlates the effect of a thought with the physical sticking of a pin into someone’s hand! Here’s that statement:
“ … thoughts are things! And they have their effect upon individuals, especially those that become supersensitive to outside influences! These are just as physical as sticking a pin in the hand!” (386-2)
Cayce is very intense about this teaching:
“Ever will the entity set this truth before self, and burn same in the innermost recesses of the being. Thoughts are things, and may be miracles or crimes in action. These come that all growth in whatever direction this thought of the mental body, or the spiritual body, may be directed by the attributes of the mental, spiritual or physical body.” (105-2)
In this next one, Cayce states that thoughts project their influence far and wide:
“ … thoughts are things and their vibrations reach those in every sphere and walk of life as related to self and to others.” (1438-2)
Here, he gently warns the person about how their thoughts affect their eventual circumstances:
“There are the laws that are unchangeable, and that are ever creative and constructive in their influence. For, otherwise there are turmoils that overtake those who disregard same—that are unseen and not easily found by material reasoning. For, they are the results of thoughts. Know that thoughts are things, and as their currents run they may become crimes or miracles. Are your thoughts always prompted by the desire to be of help to others? Or are they the more often prompted by the desire to use others as your stepping-stones to better things for yourself? This can only be answered in self—according to what is your ideal. Who is the author of your ideal?” (2419-1) We’ll cover the details of “ideals” in chapter eight.
Again:
“As thoughts are things, and as their currents run into the experience of individuals, they shape lives and activities so that they become miracles or crimes in the experiences of others as they mete [meaning “dispense justice,” and usually with the connotation of “harsh justice”] them in their associations with their fellow men.” (1472-1, my italics)
And once again:
“ … the entity may in the present find a great joy; as well as an outlet for the determining forces or wishes or desires—that are, like thoughts, things; that may grow to be either miracles—those things through which miracles may come into the experience of self and those with whom the associations may be had—or become stumblingstones to self and as mountains in the pathway of those whom the entity may contact.” (1637-1)
In this next explanation, Cayce refers to how thoughts make an impression upon the ethereal record of a person, a record that can be read or seen by another. I was not happy when I first read this, and wished I had been more careful with my thoughts:
“The records of an entity are written upon time and space, as the skein of things. They may be called as images. For thoughts are things, and as they run, so are the impressions made upon what we call time and space.” (1562-1)
The first thing one may wonder is, How does this work? How can our thoughts affect others as profoundly as sticking a pin in their hand? Cayce’s answer is that all thoughts, feelings, words, and actions influence the thread of time and space, and this ethereal yarn can be viewed, as it was by Edgar Cayce. He could see and read the thoughts, feelings, words, and actions of any given soul, and their soul group relationships, even over lifetimes.
This “thoughts are things” idea has often brought to my mind the childhood fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. She weaves her thoughts and desires on the spinning wheel of life until she pricks her finger on the spindle, or her desires cause her to shed blood, as in Original Sin and the curse of Eve. The tale is more than a yarn (pun intended); it is a prophecy concerning the journey of our souls and the misuse of our free will. The original title of this fairytale was La Belle au bois dormant, which in English means, “The Beauty sleeping in the Wood.” The “Beauty” is our deeper, purer self, made in the image of our Creator. And while we live out here in the daylight with our egos and personalities, it sleeps in the depths of the woods, unseen by us, in our unconscious or subconscious mind. The original penalty for misuse of choice was death, and so it was for Sleeping Beauty, but the penalty was reduced to sleep. And Sleeping Beauty slept for 100 years, symbolizing a long time. She is finally awakened by a worthy prince. They marry and proceed to have two children: L’Aurore (Dawn) and Le Jour (Day). These indicate a new opportunity and a new life to live. This was the tale as told by Charles Perrault (1628-1703), who also wrote Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots), and from whom the Brothers Grimm got the ideas for their versions. Walt Disney changed much of this tale in his own version, most notably having Sleeping Beauty sleep only until she was sixteen, and she did not have any children with her savior Prince. Disney also took the name of the first daughter and gave it to Sleeping Beauty, Aurora.
Well enough of my enchantment with fairytale metaphors, back to Cayce’s teaching.
In this next explanation, Cayce shifts from a skein of thread to “film,” which fits well with the idea of an Akasha, or Akashic Record, akin to our idea of a Book of Life recording each soul’s activity, only this one records thoughts as well as actions. This film reminds me of a theater “scrim” upon which scenes and images may be projected to create special effects of lights or atmosphere. In our study here, this scrim would be an ethereal, four-dimensional film upon which all the feelings and thoughts of souls would be projected, and Cayce could later “see” them when in his trance state. The Akasha is said to be an ethereal essence of all things in the material realm, including thoughts. It was the first element made from the astral plane. On the one side of the Akasha is limited space and time, on the other side is unlimited space and limitless time. We, of course, currently live on the limited side of the Akasha.
Here’s Cayce:
“ … the records are upon the esoteric, or etheric, or akashic forces, as they go along upon the wheels of time, the wings of time … ” (364-6)
Clearly he affirms the existence of an etheric, Akashic recorder upon which our thoughts are inscribed and may be accessed. Now before you go getting all upset, as I did when I first read this, know this: new thoughts overshadow old ones and reveal our growing wisdom. Whew! I finally began to feel much better about the impressions I was leaving on my record. This concept did drive me to be much more mindful of my thoughts and to more quickly change or stop the negative ones.
One of Cayce’s most surprising revelations involves the Akashic records and their relation to our dreams. If someone came to him with a portion of a dream that they wanted him to interpret, he could access the Akashic Record and retrieve the entire dream! Even our dreams are recorded! This always amazed me and challenged me to better recall my dreams. We’ll have more on this in the chapter on dreams and dreaming.
Let’s
