Edgar Cayce Edited EdgarCayceEdited
What if Edgar Cayce had spoken plain English?
When I read A Search for God,
Book I, the first time, I didn't get the impression that the authors,
who were friends of Edgar Cayce, and members of Norfolk Study Group No. 1, had
gone through a process of spiritual development; they seem to have jumped onto
the page fully enlightened. The fact is, they struggled. In the 21 months of
readings that comprise Book I, it was, for the partners in the group, an
exercise in accepting new ways of thinking and an exercise in self-discipline.
Not every partner went along willingly with the Source’s injunctions, or kept
pace with the others in the group, however. There were those in the group could
not accept some of the topics that the Source introduced, and they left. Nor
were the group members immune to friction, or, as the Source put it,
“contention” or “grudges.” While the lessons, the membership, and the
tensions within the group changed, the Source remained constant. Its voice was
patient and even indulgent, as if it addressed a petulant student
council. Yet, the Source’s patience had its limits, as you'll see.
"Some of you are still rather backward," it admonishes at one
point, "– even indolent – in changing your attitude to meet the
demands of this undertaking."
I perceive a parallel between the Source and the partners in the study group, and Jesus and His disciples. There were, after all, a core of about twelve members in the study group, and there were twelve disciples, and the mission of the study group was to “offer consciousness, truth, light, life, and immortality for those who ask for help.” Yet, in the same way that the Source scolded the partners, Jesus, Himself, expressed human emotion. For instance, from the accounts in the Gospels, He was irritated with His disciples in Gethsemane on the eve of His trial, for dozing while He prayed, and disappointed with them for their lack of faith on storm-tossed water. And He became livid with the usurers operating in the Temple. These examples of His natural responses to events don’t erode our reverence for God’s Son; far from it. Instead, through these illustrations, we witness just how difficult it is to be a soul having a human experience, even for the Christ.
If, in the Source that spoke through Edgar Cayce, we behold a divine figure; and if we recognize some of our own shortcomings in the Apostles, then, during the Readings, as we encounter the blemishes in the individuals who make up the study group, let’s simply acknowledge them and move on with empathy. The search for God is not theirs, alone, it’s ours, too.