You will not do

Of the countless ways that Edgar Cayce’s readings have enriched my life, the one I least suspected or anticipated involved a deeper understanding of some of my religious background.

When I first came across the readings in 1978, I was surprised to learn that Mr. Cayce had read the Bible once for every year of his life. He hadn’t even done it once. New to Virginia Beach and readings, I put it on my list for my first year there.

Another thing he was unfamiliar with was journaling and dream study, also recommended by the readings. So I decided to put them all together and see what happened. Every night before going to sleep, I would write down some highlights of the day, read the Bible, and when I woke up, I would write down my dreams.

It was surprising that after a few months I began to be able to recognize the events of the day that I had dreamed of the night before, symbolically of course. As the readings say, what happens to us is the first thing that is dreamed of. It is our creative state. Materiality is just the dream game. (Not all dreams, of course, like those that are guidance, feedback, or physical conditions.)

I was soon happy enough to be done with the Old Testament and found that my spiritual life took a huge turn for the better when I got to the Four Gospels. Along with my editorial work in the ARE and reading Cayce’s readings every day, I was discovering ways to understand and apply spiritual truths that early religious dogmas failed to illuminate, including the importance of the Ten Commandments.

There are too many examples of how the readings saved my life and enriched my appreciation for being alive, but the one I want to share with you here is one of the most amazing ways life and readings have led me to a deeper understanding.

It is the Ten Commandments on which most Christian religions are based. I was able to understand why most of the commandments were so important to keeping the soul and mind healthy … except the one to bear false witness. It’s okay, it’s not good to lie, even if the truth hurts. But the fact that it was listed together with the robbery and the massacre did not seem to have the same seriousness. I mean, we are surrounded by lies every day, be it asking “What’s wrong?” and hearing “I’m fine” from people in the witness box or those running for office. It just seems to be a part of life, sad as it is to admit it. But lying like a big no-no from the Bible? That was a challenge to solve.

As time passed and I continued to research other thoughts and philosophies that aligned with the unity and holistic basis of Cayce’s material, one day I came across the author of a book about a guru in India. After WWII, Ray Hauserman found Thakur in India where he had been stationed and ended up living in the ashram and eventually writing books on the guru’s philosophy of life. Ray had asked me to help him with editing, as that was my job at ARE, and I was delighted to find so much principles and insights to match the readings. Unity in action.

In one story, Thakur overheard a man lie about something and advised him not to do so because lying creates uncoordinated nerve forces along the spine. When I read that story, all the lights inside were intensely intensified, as I remembered Cayce’s readings that said the disease began with an incoordination of nervous forces. The central and autonomic nervous systems are designed to work in harmony and in coordination with each other for optimal health. But lying undoes that. Amazing.

I was struck by the incredible congruence of these two servers of the Light and how these two pieces of information finally solidified in my mind the critical importance of not bearing false witness. Not only does it harm the mind and soul by challenging the spirit of truth, it can also open the door to disease in the physical body, not necessarily to the level of effect one would think the Commandments would interest. But here it was. Once again, I closed the loop with a deeper and richer appreciation of the Edgar Cayce material.

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November 21, 2021