stated in the next three Cayce comments:
“The purpose of the heart is to know yourself to be yourself and yet one with God.” (281-37)
“ … the purpose is that you might know yourself to be yourself, and yet one with the Creative Forces, or God.” (2030-1) Notice how Cayce equates God with the Creative Forces, or an aspect of God is the forces that are creative, life-giving, and life-motivating.
Seeing us as spirit-souls rather than earthly persons, Cayce instructs us: “Don’t put the material first, for you have to live with yourself a long, long while! Become acquainted with yourself. Know yourself and the relationship to the Creative Forces.” (3484-1) Of course he is encouraging us to become acquainted with our more eternal self. The body will eventually die, but our soul-self will live on and on, so it’s best that we become familiar with that portion of ourselves now.
Cayce’s view of us is amazing. He saw us as star beings—celestial souls temporarily sojourning in this physical world. He saw our deepest motivation to be more connected to this soul journey and our primary purpose than to anything earthly. “As [the entity] moves from sphere to sphere, [it] seeks its way to the home, to the face of the Creator, the Father, the First Cause.” (136-83) Cayce identifies that the First Cause was “that the created would be the companion for the Creator.” This is the reason we were created, and as a result, the created (our soul) is given opportunities to “show itself to be not only worthy of, but companionable to, the Creator.” (Both quotes are from 5753-1.) Now we are talking about the Creator or Creative Forces of the entire universe. What an amazing destiny, a destiny that is surprisingly intertwined with our present life, as we’ll see.
And despite the conditions of our mind and body and situations today, Cayce taught that it is simply a matter of consciousness or awareness: “In the present there may be gained within self the raising within self that consciousness of the at-oneness with the spiritual forces that may revivify, regenerate, arouse that of health and happiness even under the adverse conditions in materiality.” (618-3)
To paraphrase, as Cayce explained, the intention was to be able to partake of the physical but not be a part of same—more and more feeding upon those sources from which we emanate, or of the spiritual life, so that the physical body, the mental body are attuned to our soul forces, our soul source, our Creator, our Maker, in such a way and manner as we develop. (364-10)
With us today is the connection to the Divine within us, that Life Force. Cayce stated: “As your body, your mind, your soul is attuned to that divine that answers within, so may you indeed be quickened to know His purpose; and you may fill that purpose for which you entered this experience.” (69-4)
“It will require that there be such an attitude in mind, in purpose, in hope, and in relationships to others, that each cell of the body may be attuned to the divine within. Each cell must become expectant, that there may be the renewing, the revivifying of the relationships that the soul-entity bears to Creative Forces.” (3511-1)
Among the many questioners of the trance-state Cayce was Morton Blumenthal. He asked some of the most compelling questions. And on the issue of spirit and soul, he asked and received these replies (my italics):
“(Q) What is this spirit entity in the body, [Morton Blumenthal], and how may he develop it in the right direction?
“(A) This is only the portion that develops other than in the earth’s plane. Spirit entity. For soul’s development is in the earth’s plane. The spirit entity is in the spirit plane.
“(Q) Does the spirit entity have a separate consciousness apart from the physical, and is it as the consciousness of [Morton Blumenthal] when he dreams, or has visions, while asleep?
“(A) The spirit entity is a thing apart from any earthly connection in sleep, yet connected. For the earthly or material consciousness is ever tempered with material conditions; the superconsciousness [this term for the highest level of consciousness or even a level beyond consciousness is originally found in ancient Yoga and presently in Jungian psychology] with the consciousness between soul and spirit, and partakes of the spiritual forces principally. In consciousness we find only projections of subconscious and superconscious, which conditions project themselves in dreams, visions, unless entered into the superconscious forces. In the consciousness of earthly or material forces there enters all the attributes of the physical, fleshly body. In the subconscious there enters the attributes of soul forces, and of the conscious forces. In the superconscious there enters the subconscious forces, and spiritual discernment and development. (900-16)
“(Q) Have the lower forms of creation, such as animals … have any life in the spirit plane?
“(A) All have the spirit force.” (900-24)
Here we have our first clear demarcations of the mind. From Cayce’s perspective, and many other sources, our mind has a superconscious, a subconscious, and an outer conscious level. And though they are one, they operate on different levels or planes of awareness. The subconscious is the bridge or “go between” for the earthly conscious level of mind and the higher, spiritual superconscious level of mind. Cayce sees the subconscious as the mind of the soul, while the superconscious is the mind of the spirit, and that leaves the earthly self with the three-dimensional, material mind in which the personality exists. Cayce called the soul the “individuality” to give us a sense of it being personal but much larger and more eternal than the personality.
Here are some more explanations from Cayce:
“For only the spirit and soul are eternal but they are as much a body in the eternal realms as the physical body is a body in the material realm.” (5159-2)
“For the soul is eternal and if the entity will analyze its own self, it is body, mind and soul. Soul … longs for spiritual interpretations, mental understanding, and physical harmony and rest. These are parts of the experience of every soul.” (5330-1)
“As has been experienced in the mental self, there is as much reason to dwell upon the thought from where the soul came, as it is upon where the soul goes. For, if the soul is eternal, it always has been—if it is always to be. And that is the basis, or the thought of Creative Force, or God. He ever was, He ever will be. And individuals, as His children, are a part of that consciousness. And it is for that purpose that He came into the earth; that we, as soul-entities, might know ourselves to be ourselves, and yet one with Him; as He, the Master, the Christ, knew Himself to be Himself and yet one with the Father.
“Thus the purpose of manifestation in the material plane; that we may apply here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept, that we may become like Him.
“And as the entity has through the experiences seen and aided others in the application of their efforts and their abilities to become more and more aware of their relationships to the Creative Forces or God, so may the entity—as He gave—in patience you become aware of your soul.
“For, as indicated in the three-dimensional consciousness—the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost—time, space and patience—body, mind, soul—all answer one to another. Hence the first law, ‘My spirit bears witness with thy spirit.’ These become, then, the first principles in this entity’s analyzing of itself and of its activity in the earth.” (3003-1)
Edgar Cayce taught: “Spirit is the natural, the normal condition of an entity.” (816-10) Now, given how physical we are—or at least how physical we see ourselves—this is a perplexing statement. How can our “natural” or “normal” condition be that of spirit? And if it is, where is that spirit in us today, in these physical bodies with personalities?
