I realize that most of us are familiar with Edgar Cayce's teaching that thoughts are things, but have we really comprehended the magnitude of his vision on this subject? Here's one of his better-known readings on thoughts: "Mind is the builder and that which we think upon may become crimes or miracles.
For thoughts are things and as their currents run through the environs of an entity's experience these become barriers or steppingstones, dependent upon the manner in which these are laid as it were.
For as the mental dwells upon these thoughts, so does it give strength, power to things that do not appear.
And thus does indeed there become that as is so oft given, that faith is the evidence of things not seen.
" (906-3) Let's examine each sentence in order.
The first sentence states Cayce's axiom, which is, as stated in another of his readings: Thoughts are just as physical as sticking a pin in the hand! (386-2) Reality.
For incarnated souls, this is difficult to accept.
How can a thought be as real as a pin in the hand? From Cayce's level of perception, we are more mental beings than physical.
Let's take a moment to imagine this.
You and I are minds more than bodies.
Let's feel that for a moment.
We are not so much our bodies as we are our minds.
Now let's take another step with this idea.
Life exists more in consciousness than in physicalness.
Life, real life, exists in dimensions of consciousness, in the realms of thought.
From Cayce's trance state, this was not an idea, it was a reality.
And if such is true, then a thought is as potent as "a pin in the hand.
" Crimes.
The reading says that thoughts can become crimes.
We could quickly use Jesus' teaching that thinking sins is akin to physically committing sins.
His example was that adulterous thoughts are as real as committing adultery physically.
But there's more to this thought-crimes idea than breaking commandments.
For example, if one of us uses his or her free-willed mind to dwell on and continue to search out the negative aspects of oneself and one's life, then one steadily constructs, augments, and intensifies this influence to such a degree that it overshadows every positive opportunity that comes one's way.
This is as much a suicide as taking a knife to one's wrists.
Also, if we believe that we are all part of a collective consciousness at some deep level, then thinking negatively about another person actually pokes a pin into his or her consciousness.
In these ways, our thinking can indeed become crimes against ourselves and others.
Miracles.
Our thoughts can also become miracles.
Miracles are phenomena that reach beyond human experiences and expectations.
We marvel because things shouldn't happen this way.
When something happens beyond our expectations and experiences, it's a miracle! Mindsets of what is possible may limit our potential.
We must expand our expectations beyond preconceived notions of what is, and is not, possible.
Jesus acknowledged that such things are impossible with man's state of mind, but all things are possible with God-consciousness.
It helps if we accept another Jesus teaching: "You are gods, sons and daughters of the Most High" (Psalm 82:6, to which Jesus referred with his comments in John 10:34).
A Powerful Current.
In the second sentence, Cayce creates a visual for us.
Thinking is like a running river with a current that affects every aspect of our environment.
Cayce alerts us to the currents that we are building by dwelling on things.
Where our thinking goes, we go! We must ask ourselves, Are the currents of our thoughts flowing toward a dark sewer or a bright sea of life in sunshine, fresh air, and blue skies? Barriers or Steppingstones.
In this second sentence, Cayce also creates the vision of barriers - barriers built by our own thinking habits.
Habits are developed by repeating in a fixed manner the same way of thinking.
This fixed thinking is like a box in which we exist.
In creative processes we ask everyone to "think outside of the box," meaning to reach beyond our usual answers, our usual ideas.
The Cayce Search for God Study Group program uses weekly disciplines to help participants break free of habits, to reach beyond their established patterns of behavior and expectations.
Instead of building boxes or barriers, we begin thinking in ways that build steppingstones over our barriers and boxes.
Others may do as they please, but as for me...
Not all of our barriers were self-created.
Many have been laid on us by others - by parents, siblings, early childhood contacts, bosses, spouses, and so on.
We must not accept other's projections.
Who we are and what our life is about and may become is up to us, despite what others may think or say.
We decide what we believe, even in the midst of a lot of negativity.
Cayce has stated several times that real soul growth begins when we engage our own free will and decide what we're going to do with what we have and what kind of person we are going to be.
The Unseen.
The third sentence in Cayce's reading says: "For as the mental dwells upon these thoughts, so does it give strength, power to things that do not appear.
" In another reading, he says that the "unseen forces are more powerful than the seen.
" Our outer life, our outer self, is not so much determined by outer circumstances and relationships as it is by unseen inner mindsets.
And we may not even be conscious of these thought forms! We must become mindful of our thinking and belief structure, because it has a strong influence upon our outer life.
Mindful attentiveness helps us decide whether we really agree with our thinking.
If not, then we need to use our free will to stop allowing them space in the paradigm of our life, our being.
How can we do this? One way that Cayce gave to those studying with him was to use daily affirmations.
These sayings embody principles that change thinking patterns and habits, that rise above barriers and boxes.
Faith.
In the last sentence of this Cayce teaching, he says: "And thus does indeed there become that as is so oft given, that faith is the evidence of things not seen.
" Faith is assenting to a principle or having a state of mind that assents to the reality of something or someone for which there is no outer evidence or proof! Cayce is saying that in fact the very existence of faith is evidence of the existence of an unseen force or belief within the mind of the person.
Now this can be faith in the existence of an unseen negative force as well as a positive one.
How often have we met persons that we see as having everything going for them, and yet they are depressed, unhappy, uncertain, or angry? Such persons are revealing the existence within themselves of an unseen negative thought structure that life is not good for them, even though we see how good it is.
Of course, Cayce wants us to see how faith works in the positive.
How often have we met persons whose outer life is not ideal and yet they are happy, smiling, and thinking of our problems rather than their own? This is evidence that their unseen inner life and deeper self is quite healthy, despite the outer problems.
If we are struggling with negativity, then there is an unseen belief within us that must be addressed, exposed, and changed.
We must look within, not without.
Amazingly, often when we awaken to our inner, unseen thought patterns, we experience immediate changes in our outer life.
Simple consciousness of a mindset often takes the power out of it.
There's a subtlety here that we need to be aware of: Cayce warns that being satisfied is not the same as being content.
He encourages us to live in the contentment despite conditions but never to become satisfied, because then soul growth and enlightenment stops.
Hermes wisely taught, "As within, so without.
As above, so below.
" Ultimately, good souls should have good outer lives.
Suffering and hardship may be part of our soul's journey, but they are not the ultimate reality.
Even Jesus taught that hardships and Earth changes (personal earth changes) are simply the birth pains to delivering the ideal life - within and without.
Jesus' ultimate message to us was not the crucifixion but the resurrection! This included the physical sharing he experienced with the holy women and disciples after resurrection.
Life is ultimately good and happy, both in the outer life and the inner.
Physical life is not evil.
Physical happiness is not anti-spiritual.
Our concluding mission is to, as God stated in Genesis 1:28, subdue the influences of physicalness upon our spiritual nature, realizing that we are spiritual consciousnesses living temporarily in physical bodies.
Let's set up new thinking patterns that lead us to happier, healthier lives - physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Let's become mindful of our thinking and the current of that thinking.
For thoughts are things and as their currents run through the environs of an entity's experience these become barriers or steppingstones, dependent upon the manner in which these are laid as it were.
For as the mental dwells upon these thoughts, so does it give strength, power to things that do not appear.
And thus does indeed there become that as is so oft given, that faith is the evidence of things not seen.
" (906-3) Let's examine each sentence in order.
The first sentence states Cayce's axiom, which is, as stated in another of his readings: Thoughts are just as physical as sticking a pin in the hand! (386-2) Reality.
For incarnated souls, this is difficult to accept.
How can a thought be as real as a pin in the hand? From Cayce's level of perception, we are more mental beings than physical.
Let's take a moment to imagine this.
You and I are minds more than bodies.
Let's feel that for a moment.
We are not so much our bodies as we are our minds.
Now let's take another step with this idea.
Life exists more in consciousness than in physicalness.
Life, real life, exists in dimensions of consciousness, in the realms of thought.
From Cayce's trance state, this was not an idea, it was a reality.
And if such is true, then a thought is as potent as "a pin in the hand.
" Crimes.
The reading says that thoughts can become crimes.
We could quickly use Jesus' teaching that thinking sins is akin to physically committing sins.
His example was that adulterous thoughts are as real as committing adultery physically.
But there's more to this thought-crimes idea than breaking commandments.
For example, if one of us uses his or her free-willed mind to dwell on and continue to search out the negative aspects of oneself and one's life, then one steadily constructs, augments, and intensifies this influence to such a degree that it overshadows every positive opportunity that comes one's way.
This is as much a suicide as taking a knife to one's wrists.
Also, if we believe that we are all part of a collective consciousness at some deep level, then thinking negatively about another person actually pokes a pin into his or her consciousness.
In these ways, our thinking can indeed become crimes against ourselves and others.
Miracles.
Our thoughts can also become miracles.
Miracles are phenomena that reach beyond human experiences and expectations.
We marvel because things shouldn't happen this way.
When something happens beyond our expectations and experiences, it's a miracle! Mindsets of what is possible may limit our potential.
We must expand our expectations beyond preconceived notions of what is, and is not, possible.
Jesus acknowledged that such things are impossible with man's state of mind, but all things are possible with God-consciousness.
It helps if we accept another Jesus teaching: "You are gods, sons and daughters of the Most High" (Psalm 82:6, to which Jesus referred with his comments in John 10:34).
A Powerful Current.
In the second sentence, Cayce creates a visual for us.
Thinking is like a running river with a current that affects every aspect of our environment.
Cayce alerts us to the currents that we are building by dwelling on things.
Where our thinking goes, we go! We must ask ourselves, Are the currents of our thoughts flowing toward a dark sewer or a bright sea of life in sunshine, fresh air, and blue skies? Barriers or Steppingstones.
In this second sentence, Cayce also creates the vision of barriers - barriers built by our own thinking habits.
Habits are developed by repeating in a fixed manner the same way of thinking.
This fixed thinking is like a box in which we exist.
In creative processes we ask everyone to "think outside of the box," meaning to reach beyond our usual answers, our usual ideas.
The Cayce Search for God Study Group program uses weekly disciplines to help participants break free of habits, to reach beyond their established patterns of behavior and expectations.
Instead of building boxes or barriers, we begin thinking in ways that build steppingstones over our barriers and boxes.
Others may do as they please, but as for me...
Not all of our barriers were self-created.
Many have been laid on us by others - by parents, siblings, early childhood contacts, bosses, spouses, and so on.
We must not accept other's projections.
Who we are and what our life is about and may become is up to us, despite what others may think or say.
We decide what we believe, even in the midst of a lot of negativity.
Cayce has stated several times that real soul growth begins when we engage our own free will and decide what we're going to do with what we have and what kind of person we are going to be.
The Unseen.
The third sentence in Cayce's reading says: "For as the mental dwells upon these thoughts, so does it give strength, power to things that do not appear.
" In another reading, he says that the "unseen forces are more powerful than the seen.
" Our outer life, our outer self, is not so much determined by outer circumstances and relationships as it is by unseen inner mindsets.
And we may not even be conscious of these thought forms! We must become mindful of our thinking and belief structure, because it has a strong influence upon our outer life.
Mindful attentiveness helps us decide whether we really agree with our thinking.
If not, then we need to use our free will to stop allowing them space in the paradigm of our life, our being.
How can we do this? One way that Cayce gave to those studying with him was to use daily affirmations.
These sayings embody principles that change thinking patterns and habits, that rise above barriers and boxes.
Faith.
In the last sentence of this Cayce teaching, he says: "And thus does indeed there become that as is so oft given, that faith is the evidence of things not seen.
" Faith is assenting to a principle or having a state of mind that assents to the reality of something or someone for which there is no outer evidence or proof! Cayce is saying that in fact the very existence of faith is evidence of the existence of an unseen force or belief within the mind of the person.
Now this can be faith in the existence of an unseen negative force as well as a positive one.
How often have we met persons that we see as having everything going for them, and yet they are depressed, unhappy, uncertain, or angry? Such persons are revealing the existence within themselves of an unseen negative thought structure that life is not good for them, even though we see how good it is.
Of course, Cayce wants us to see how faith works in the positive.
How often have we met persons whose outer life is not ideal and yet they are happy, smiling, and thinking of our problems rather than their own? This is evidence that their unseen inner life and deeper self is quite healthy, despite the outer problems.
If we are struggling with negativity, then there is an unseen belief within us that must be addressed, exposed, and changed.
We must look within, not without.
Amazingly, often when we awaken to our inner, unseen thought patterns, we experience immediate changes in our outer life.
Simple consciousness of a mindset often takes the power out of it.
There's a subtlety here that we need to be aware of: Cayce warns that being satisfied is not the same as being content.
He encourages us to live in the contentment despite conditions but never to become satisfied, because then soul growth and enlightenment stops.
Hermes wisely taught, "As within, so without.
As above, so below.
" Ultimately, good souls should have good outer lives.
Suffering and hardship may be part of our soul's journey, but they are not the ultimate reality.
Even Jesus taught that hardships and Earth changes (personal earth changes) are simply the birth pains to delivering the ideal life - within and without.
Jesus' ultimate message to us was not the crucifixion but the resurrection! This included the physical sharing he experienced with the holy women and disciples after resurrection.
Life is ultimately good and happy, both in the outer life and the inner.
Physical life is not evil.
Physical happiness is not anti-spiritual.
Our concluding mission is to, as God stated in Genesis 1:28, subdue the influences of physicalness upon our spiritual nature, realizing that we are spiritual consciousnesses living temporarily in physical bodies.
Let's set up new thinking patterns that lead us to happier, healthier lives - physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Let's become mindful of our thinking and the current of that thinking.
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