. . . spirit taketh form in mind. Mind becomes the builder. The physical body is the result. 3359-1
Steven Lee Carson, a longtime A.R.E. member and friend in Maryland, was very surprised when an X-ray revealed some unexpected, physical karma. About thirty-five years ago, his dentist became so alarmed when he looked at an X-ray of Steve’s jaw that he sent him to a specialist for a consultation. Although there was no mark on his face, the X-ray showed a hole in his jaw about the size of a dime. The specialist said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had been shot.” Thankfully, it was not cancerous, as was feared.
A few years later, a psychic told Steve that in a past life he had been a journalist in France. He had been murdered because someone thought that he knew too much and would talk. As a child in this life, he was so late in speaking that his parents took him to a doctor. Today Steve is a professional public speaker, journalist, and historian. He feels that the hole in his jaw may be the physical carry-over of a past-life wound, which also manifested emotionally in his childhood from the trauma of being shot for fear he would talk.
Ironically Barry Keener, an A.R.E. member from Georgia, experienced physical karmic pain while attending intuition conferences at the A.R.E. in Virginia Beach. During each visit, he experienced a pain between his shoulder blades within an hour of arriving in Virginia Beach. The pain would subside within an hour of arriving back home. After experiencing this for a couple of years, he wondered if it was related to a past life with someone at the conferences. Since he had previously found a hypnotic regression helpful in answering some questions, he scheduled another session to try to solve the back-pain issue.
While under hypnosis, he was asked to return to the time when he first experienced the pain. In a few seconds, he “saw” himself wandering the halls of a castle. When the therapist asked him what this had to do with the pain, he didn’t know. The therapist then told him to ask if someone else in the castle knew the answer. When he replied that he was alone in the castle, Barry was then told to go back further to when the pain first started. Suddenly he “saw” himself on a battlefield, dressed in chain mail. He was fighting with another knight when he was hit from behind between the shoulder blades! When the therapist asked who had hit him, Barry “saw” the face of someone from the conference. The therapist told Barry that the reason the pain returned when he was around the person was that he had never forgiven him. They did a forgiveness exercise, and the pain diminished but did not go away completely. When asked why, Barry thought that there might be another person involved.
The therapist directed him to go back and find out if this was the case. Very suddenly Barry got very angry and “knew” that another knight from the castle should have been watching his back. If he had, Barry would not have been hit. When asked who this person was, again he “saw” the face of another conferee. Suddenly Barry told the therapist that he was feeling very guilty. He realized that he might have failed to watch their backs, causing them to be hurt or killed, and this was why he had gotten hurt. Barry and the therapist then did another forgiveness exercise, and the pain completely disappeared.
Causes of Physical Karma
. . . it is necessary that what we hate in ourselves or our associates become that we see in the experiences of life . . . 288-37
As we have seen, one of the threads that almost always appears in Cayce’s health readings is the critical importance of the role that our minds play in both making ourselves sick and making ourselves well. This young mother was hemorrhaging from the throat and asked Cayce for help. He told her that her problem was not just physical.
In giving the interpretation of the disturbance here, other conditions than the pathological effects produced must be taken into consideration – if there would be real help for this body.
That which is in the physical disturbing is, ever, the result of breaking a law; either pertaining to the physical, mental, or spiritual.
Here we have a misconstruction of some laws pertaining to the physical and mental. Not as of morality alone, but the entity should or must change the general attitude towards conditions about the entity – its hates, its fears; and trust in those [spiritual] promises that have been made. 3220-1
In another powerful example, the Source of the readings looked right into the heart of the individual and the cause of her illness. Cayce told this woman, who worked as an editor of religious publications, that she needed to practice what she preached.
. . . these [problems] are wonderful experiences for this body, even in the suffering and in the trouble – if the body will only accept it as such. Ye have taught, ye have preached it in thy literature and thy activities . . . what spirituality, practically applied in the life of the individual, should create . . . if the mental . . . is the builder of the body. Why not try practicing it in self?
The Source then tied these deep and penetrating observations right into the multi-level cause and solution of her illness.
These are not harsh words, nor meant to be harsh, but the lack of proper eliminations is the source of infection that causes arthritic tendencies . . . [T]his should indicate to such a wonderful, a beautiful mind as this entity, the lack of self-control, the holding back in self of those things that should be stressed in mind, in body. These are indications of the nature of disturbance in the mental self, if the soul-purpose is in the right direction . . .
Then, in bringing about proper attunement of soul-purpose, mind-activity, the body results should be creative and helpful, just as the attempt . . . to create that . . . for others. Can one teach greater truths than one practices in one’s own life? 3395-1
In her next reading, this woman asked a question about past versus present causes of her ill health.
(Q) Is the ill health which I have been experiencing the past years the result of mistakes of a past life or is it due to something amiss in this present life?
(A) Both. For there is the law of the material, there is the law of the mental, there is the law of the spiritual. That brought into materiality is first conceived in spirit . . . all illness is sin; not necessarily of the moment, as man counts time, but as a part of the whole experience. 3395-2
In a letter to Edgar, she shared the following insights about herself. Clearly, she understood the connection between her mental/spiritual life and her physical body. Her letter helps us understand Cayce’s comments to her. Doubtlessly, many of us can relate to what she says.
. . . four years ago I was just a “nominal Christian” and had no real deep prayer life nor sense of inner peace nor realization of the joys of the spiritual life and the service of others. I was full of doubts and conflicts and fears and I know I was making no progress then . . . There isn’t much excuse for the years I wasted for I was always surrounded with Christian influences . . . Of course, all along I thought I was being a Christian but I didn’t have the enthusiasm nor inner life that I have now. If I had all along had this, I’m sure I would not have the wrecked body I have now. But we can only go on from the place where we are . . . 3395-1, R1
In 1935 a member of Cayce’s first spiritual study group asked a general but insightful question about the cause of physical karma. As was so often the case, the Source offered stern words that are applicable to us all.
(Q) Would the conflict between spirit and flesh cause one to be affected physically, to become tired or even ill?
(A) Relatively so . . . What was builded? . . . something within self which brought dis-ease . . . [Something] at-variance to the divine law! Hence it may truly be said that to be at-variance may bring sickness, dis-ease, disruption, distress in a physical body . . . O that all would gain just that! and not feel, “Yes, I understand – but . . . I didn’t do it.” Who else did?
This may be a hard statement for many, but you will eventually come to know it is true: No fault, no hurt comes to self save that thou hast created in thine consciousness, in thine inner self . . . 262-83
Cayce’s axiom that thoughts are things feeds right into physical karma. Whenever we hold strong emotions, we literally attract those things to us.
For to all: Ye may meet thy Maker in thine own self. Hence it is necessary that what we hate in ourselves or our associates become that we see in the experiences of life, which will make for each an understanding. For resentments of any nature bring their fruit in the physical. Not that there should be wholly that of passive resistance, but: Thy will, O Lord, be done in and through me as Thou seest I have need of for my soul development, and that I may through this development be the greater channel of blessing to my fellow man. 288-37
In 1944 Cayce told this middle-aged woman that she was carrying karmic problems in her body. His response to her question sheds light on another aspect of the cause of physical karma. Not taking proper care of our bodies, too, is sin.
(Q) Since all disease is caused by sin, exactly what sin causes the colon and elimination condition?
(A) The sin of neglect. Neglect is just as much sin as [holding a] grudge, as jealousy . . . 3051-7
Let’s not forget that good health and physical beauty are also karmic. A thirty-year-old model was told that her beautiful hands were the result of service from a lifetime in an English abbey. She had been a religious recluse who performed penance with her hands. The reading explained the cause and effect.
And with the hands the greater labors were wrought.
. . . those activities then made for oft the toil, the trial, the unsightly work of the hands . . . where . . . there has been the service, where . . . there has been the expression of duty, love, patience, long-suffering . . . in a way . . . to bring about . . . the fruit of the spirit, [this] may be . . . seen in the . . . beauty in the hands . . . in the present. 1286-1
Hope In Physical Karma
There are in truth no incurable conditions . . . 3744-2
The spirit of the Cayce readings is ever hopeful. With mind being the builder of the physical, one’s attitude makes all the difference in the results. The law of karma is ever operative, and this young woman suffering with paralysis was told that helping others might help her own healing.
(Q) Is it possible that I will be completely normal?
(A) Nothing is impossible. This depends upon the faith and expectancy of the body. Not that doubts don’t arise, but more and more eliminate the doubts and use the body itself in administering good unto those not equal to the situations, and this may shorten the period considerable. 2968-3
The mother of a little boy suffering from epilepsy wrote Edgar about how much the child’s first reading had helped him and asked this question from her heart.
(Q) Is there hope for permanent cure?
(A) Are you praying about it? Are you living like that you would like for it to be? This is the answer! Is there hope? So long as thy faith in the divine cannot be shaken, there is hope! Life is the manifestation of God. He alone can forgive sins. Sin is in thine own surroundings as well as the entity meeting itself. There is hope. 3156-2
In an early reading from 1923, a question about the true nature of incurable illnesses was asked. The response was powerful yet simple and full of hope for all who suffer.
(Q) Is it possible to give information through Psychic Readings that will lead to the cure of diseases now known as incurable?
(A) It is. That which is was produced from some force . . . that [force] may be counteracted. The condition that exists in the physical bodies [are] all produced by conditions that may be met. There are in truth no incurable conditions . . . That which exists is and was produced from a first cause, and may be met or counteracted, or changed, for the condition is the breaking of a law, and the healing forces [must] become the compliance with other laws that meet the needs of the condition. The healing depends upon the individual, and the attitude taken toward conditions . . . As to the psychic forces, [they] only can give that condition that is . . . and the compliance with the law that may make a given condition. The whole rests then with such an individual . . .
The evasion of a law only puts conditions off, and must eventually be met. 3744-2
The Source stated that there are no incurable illnesses. Illness is an effect and stems from a cause, and a cause can be counteracted. The key issue is that the real cause of illness stems from the breaking of a law. Healing comes when we are in compliance with God’s laws. A psychic reading can provide the guidance, but it is up to the individual to engage his or her mind and will to make the necessary changes. We cannot put this off forever. We must all eventually meet the karma that we have created.
At the physical level, the key to understanding that there is always hope is found in Cayce’s explanation that all the cells in our bodies are new over a period of seven years. Thus, as we work on ourselves, we can be a positive influence on the health of all those new cells. However, by implication, this is a long-term process. We must keep at it. Just as we did not get sick overnight, so we cannot erase the root cause of our illnesses overnight. Also very importantly, if as we begin to feel better, we go back to our bad habits, they will lead us right back to ill health.
For the body renews itself, every atom, in seven years. How have ye lived for the last seven? And then the seven before? What would ye do with thy mind and thy body if they were wholly restored to normalcy in this experience? Would these be put to the use of gratifying thine own appetites as at first? Will these be used for the magnifying of the appreciation of the love to the infinite? 3684-1
The Source explained this seven-year healing process to a young advertising writer:
For, as the very influences of the body are a growth day by day, so is the spiritual development a growth . . . [I]n each seven years we are entirely new. Rather is it not true that some portion is new each day? It is a growth! For it is moment by moment, and not wholly cycle by cycle, that the change comes. 1597-1
Very late in Cayce’s life, a woman with severe acne received a physical reading which stated that although “there are physical disorders . . . The sources of these are not so self-evident. For these are karmic conditions and the entity is only meeting its own self.” (5092-1) She never had a life reading, so we have no information about her past lives or missteps.
As for scars, rather let the scars be removed from the mental and spiritual self. To undertake . . . anyone altering these, we will have worse scars. Let the scars be removed from . . . the own mental and spiritual self. Turn to . . . making application of the fruits of the spirit of truth; love, patience, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering, brotherly love, putting away those little tendencies for being “catty” at times or being selfish or expressing jealousy and such.
Let that mind be in thee as was in Him, who is the way and the truth and the light, and we will make the light of love so shine through thy countenance that few, if any, will ever see the scars made by self-indulgence in other experiences. 5092-1
Cayce tells her that having her scars altered surgically will only make them worse. He says that she must remove the scars from her mental and spiritual self by turning to the fruits of the spirit. If she does this, the reading promises that the light of her love will shine so much that others will not notice any physical scars that may remain from her past-life indulgences.
This forty-five-year-old woman was told that despite her suffering with paralysis, she still had much to be thankful for:
Don’t feel sorry for self, but begin rather to see how much better conditions are for the body than for many another. Though the body itself may not be able to move as much or as easily as it desires . . . think how much better this is than no limbs at all, or those that are constantly in pain! 3642-1
From the higher perspective of the Cayce readings, illness is a consequence of sin incurred sometime in the past. This is simply cause and effect, or karma. However, even when a physical condition seems hopeless, the readings say that there is always hope. If the person who is ill can truly practice forgiveness, he or she will then earn forgiveness. This, too, is the law of karma. Like begets like. Forgiveness will lead to healing not only at the mental level but at the physical level as well.
Here, as we find, while conditions may appear as hopeless in the present; know there is forgiveness. Even as the body-mind may forgive others, so may the body here be forgiven. So may it seek through those promises of the All-Creative forces for help, yes; help in a physical as well as in a mental manner. 3504-1
In order to get the most out of a difficult situation, Cayce urged another man suffering with multiple sclerosis to practice patience and hold the following powerful attitude toward his condition: “The physical conditions that have come upon me are those most necessary for my own soul’s development.” This hard truth applies to us all. The reading continued by saying that this difficult situation had given others the privilege “to express in their activity the true spirit of love, that creative influence that is worshiped by man as God.” The Source observed that these spiritual efforts and influences could help this man to renew his strength and reminded him that God’s promises are sure: “Those that love Me will I renew . . . ” (716-2) We can all gain hope and healing as we work with our physical karma by applying Cayce’s advice given to this same man: Do your mental and spiritual work; recognize and appreciate the loving assistance of others; and have faith in God.
In summary, from Cayce’s point of view there is always hope when dealing with physical karma. We are only required to do our work.
To be sure, as it has been indicated again and again, there is that within the physical forces of the body – if it is kept in a constructive way and manner – which may be revivified or rejuvenated and kept in a constructive way and manner. This requires, necessarily, the proper thinking, the proper living, the proper application of those influences in the experience of an entity in its associations with everything about a body. 681-2
Ultimately, true healing at all levels is found through our attunement to the Spirit within, which is the source of all healing.
The closer the body will keep to . . . [the] trust in spiritual things, the quicker will be the response in the physical body. For all healing, mental or material, is attuning each atom of the body, each reflex of the brain forces, to the awareness of the divine that lies within each atom, each cell of the body. 3384-2
For me, the Cayce readings have presented a comprehensive approach to working on myself, especially my physical and relationship karma. They offer hope, comforting counsel, and concrete suggestions that any of us can apply in our lives.
Excerpt from Past Lives & Present Karma
See Part I here.