that you have brought happiness, hope, joy, into the experience of another. This does not mean, then, becoming long-faced, melancholy; but rather joyous, glad, hopeful! But neither does it mean folding thy hands in indolence; rather as has been given, the harvest is white, the laborers are few. If you would know Him, be up and doing. For as it was said, ‘He went about doing good.’ Not being good but doing good—which is the being good; being good for something, mentally, spiritually.” (412-9)
See how he is calling for good actions not just being good? He wants our goodness to be spread around—nourishing others, uplifting others, comforting others.
Too often, we can clearly see the faults of others, while spending little time just being kind, patient, and considerate of them. This does not mean that we never give them a little push, but we do it in the spirit of loving-kindness, not of condemning judgment.
Cayce continues this same reading:
“Mind is the Builder. Then, if you would have less strife and more harmony, build same in your daily relationships. For when you complain of the faults of others, do you not build such barriers that you cannot speak kindly or gently to those whom you have felt or do feel have defrauded or would defraud thee? How spoke the Master? ‘It is indeed necessary that offenses come, but woe unto him by whom they come.’ But ‘If your enemy smites you, turn the other cheek.’ Living that, being that, is to know the life eternal; and only in the manifesting of same, and bringing into materiality such experiences, may you indeed know the joy even of living.” (412-9, his emphasis)
The joy of living a life that is a joy to others, that is the ultimate goal, and it begins in our mind with our thoughts.
“That which the mind of a soul—a soul—dwells upon it becomes; for mind is the builder. And if the mind is in attune with the law of the force that brought the soul into being, it becomes spiritualized in its activity.” (262-63)
This is primordial. It is a seed planted within our souls at the very beginning.
“ … from the beginning of time, there is set before the mind of the individual entity good and bad, life and death. The individual chooses. For this is the birthright of each soul, given by or through the Creative Forces, that the individual entity or soul may become aware of itself and its relationships with those things, conditions, and other entities or souls about it. Thus may the entity find its true relationships to the whole.” (2747-1)
Now you may honestly state that you are doing this, but others are against you or cannot be good in return. Here’s Cayce’s answer to this:
“(Q) How may I overcome vibrations that are not in attune with my own?
“(A) Filling self’s mind (Mind the Builder) with those things that create more and more a unison of creative thinking, whether this be as applied to material, spiritual, or purely mental and social relations. Be sure they are creative in their essence.” (303-2)
In the next chapter, we’ll see just how “real” thoughts are.
chapter
5
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