Edgar Cayce’s discourses provide us with
some enlightened views into the nature of
God. They have described God as “the Universal
Consciousness,” as “the Creative Forces,” as
“the Oneness,” as “Spirit,” as “Law,” and as our
“eternal companion.”
Let’s explore Cayce’s perspective on God.
Oneness
His readings state that the first incarnate
people to consciously maintain a relationship
with God were “The Children of the Law of
One.” Their faith held a belief that despite all
the appearances of “manyness,” separation,
and individualness, there remained an unseen,
underlying oneness in which all the diversity of
life had its true existence.
He said: “The first lesson for SIX MONTHS
should be ONE – One – One – ONE; Oneness of
God, oneness of man’s relation, oneness of force,
oneness of time, oneness of purpose, ONENESS
in every effort – Oneness – Oneness!” (900-429)
In a discussion about the oneness of universal
forces, Cayce interrupted the questioner and
encouraged all of us to think of true oneness as
the “FULLNESS rather of the whole, than of a
ONENESS in the matter given.” (136-52) After
years of searching to understand this, I have
come to sense when my involvement in activities
and relationships is in harmony with the fullness
of the whole. For me, the term “the whole” has
come to mean the entirety of all life within God’s
being. It’s as if I become a harmonious cell in
the complex body of the infinite, omnipotent, all-inclusive Creator. It’s a quieting feeling that
leads me to contentment without any egocentric
sense of my role in the whole. My role is simply
natural. It is expected of me. A cooperative
attitude helped lead me to understanding “the
fullness of the whole.” The spirit or energy
unique to a cooperative attitude subtly shifts me
toward the fullness of the whole, because I’m
attempting to consider the whole rather than my
personal role.
Let’s recap this perspective on God.
God is a oneness that is the fullness of the
whole. A cooperative attitude in our activities
and relationships helps us to awaken to the
fullness of the whole rather than remain in
our egocentric role or only seeing the matter at
hand, not the bigger picture. But it takes time
and patience for these mind-expanding perceptions
to become clear and to be felt in our daily
activities and relationships.
Universal Consciousness
Cayce also referred to God as the Universal
Consciousness, a collective within which all
other consciousnesses exist. He taught that an
individual mind could rise and expand out of
its finite awareness into the infinite, universal
mind of God, the Universal Consciousness. This
teaching fits well with the teaching about the
fullness of the whole. God’s mind contains all
minds (and even more). When we expand our
consciousness into God’s, we ultimately perceive
the fullness of the whole and true oneness.
Along with this teaching, Cayce indicated that
God was impersonal, adding that God could be
so very personal when needed. (1158-12) In the
Eastern world this is an easy concept to accept.
But in the West, it is very difficult to think of God
as impersonal. Yet, when I was seeking a breakthrough
in my search for full consciousness of
God, this little teaching helped me make that
breakthrough. It also helped me take another
step away from egocentric selfhood that limited
me from fully merging with the infinite nature
of God.
Accepting God as a universal consciousness
naturally calls for us to practice rising out of
our individual consciousness into the Universal
Consciousness. In one of the most interesting
readings that I have ever read, an angel speaking
through Cayce states that there are two ways
for us to develop a heavenly connection. One is
to cry to heaven to come down to our level of
consciousness. The other is to lift our consciousness
up to heaven’s level of consciousness. Here’s
the reading: “no one approaches the Throne
– or the threshold of universal consciousness
– without that purpose of EITHER lifting self
to that consciousness or bringing us DOWN to
their own ideal.” (311-5) The angel warned that
always attempting to bring heaven is help down
to one’s level becomes a stumbling block to one’s
soul growth. It is important that we learn to lift
up and out of our individual consciousness and
into the Universal Consciousness.
Law
In what may be some of the most disquieting
readings, Cayce stated that God is law. Then, in
a seeming paradox, he describes God is law as
“love”! This is difficult for the human mind to
grasp. We consider love to be free, flowing, and
without control or order. Love is a spirit. Love
seems counter to law. We think of law as confining.
We think of love as liberating. Yet, Cayce
takes these two and states firmly that despite the
paradox, there is a law that cannot be ignored,
and that law is love. Rather than telling us to do
this or follow that, Cayce directs us to increase
our love, especially love for God and others (the
two great commandments).
Here’s one of his readings on this subject.
“Knowledge, as has been given of old, that has
caused humanity’s uprising and down-sitting, is
from misapplication of law. Know that your God
IS law; that law is love.
“Know then the law and apply it, but COMPLY
in your own life, in your OWN application, by
doing that yourselves that you would have your
neighbor do!
“This makes for that which is in keeping
with a fact that has been from the foundations
of the earth – God IS! And they that would know
Him must believe that He is and may be made
manifest in their dealings with their fellow man!
“Then until you yourselves, as individuals,
may see that you would worship in your Creator,
in those that would speak evil of you, those that
hate and despitefully use you, you have not
begun to think!
“For as the person thinks in his/her heart, so
is he/she.
“Then, if you would not be condemned, condemn
not. If you would have faith, SHOW faith.
If you would have love, show love.
“Yes, you say, ‘This I have heard so often!’ Yes,
but what have you done about it?
“You must realize, then, that God IS – and
your body is the temple of your God! Do you
meet Him there?
“The kingdom of heaven is within. Do you
worship there? Not yourself, but your God?”
(254-101, edited)
Spirit
The Cayce readings also support Jesus’ teaching
to the woman at the well: God is a spirit, and
those who seek to love and know God must do so
in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
The apostle John writes about this in his first
letter:
“My loved ones, let us have love for one
another: because love is of God, and everyone
who has love is a child of God and has knowledge
of God. He who has no love has no knowledge of
God, because God is love.
“My loved ones, if God had such love for us,
it is right for us to have love for one another. No
man has ever seen God, but if we have love for
one another, God is in us and his love is made
complete in us: And his Spirit which he has given
us is the witness that we are in him and he is in
us.” (1 John 4:7-8, 11-13)
We find the spirit of God as we live with love in
our hearts and minds, in our words and actions.
Just as God is law and that law is love, so God’s
spirit is the essence we feel when we love.
Companion
Last, and perhaps most important, Cayce
identifies God as our eternal companion, and
our purpose for existence is to be a companion to
God. Here are a few readings on this point:
“GOD thought sufficient of thee to make thee
a companion with Him throughout eternity.
God cannot think more of thee than ye think of
yourself, or more than that measure in which ye
treat thy brother Godlike. That’s what God thinks
of thee!” (5142-1 edited)
“With what has humanity been endowed by
the Creator? All that would be necessary for each
individual soul-entity to be a companion with
God. And that is God’s desire toward each soul.
“It isn’t that God chose to reserve or save
anything that was good from man, so long as
man was, is, and will be one who uses that living
soul as a companion with God. That’s God’s purpose.
That should be man’s purpose.” (3976-29,
edited)
“The Destiny of the Soul: Each individual as a
child of the Creative Force came into being that
it, that child, might be a companion with the
Creative Force, God, in its activity. This was given
by the very breath, by the desire, by the will of the
Father that with which it might be one with the
Father. Not the Body as manifested in the flesh;
not the Mind alone that may partake of all those
environs through which it passes; but the Soul,
which is as lasting as eternity, as the Creative
Force, as the Creative Energy, as God Himself. We,
through Him, might know ourselves to be one
with Him. He has not willed that any Soul should
perish. Then, the Destiny of the Soul – as of all
creation – is to be one with Him; continually
growing, growing, for that association.”
(262-88, edited)