This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his home on Arctic Crescent, Va. Beach, Va., this 24th day of July, 1932, in accordance with request made by those present.
P R E S E N T
Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Minnie & C. A. Barrett, Esther Wynne, Hannah Miller, Florence & Edith Edmonds, M. L. Black, F. M. Freeman, F. Y. Morrow, C. W. & M. L. Rosborough, Mildred Davis, Helen Storey, Sarah Hesson, Eloise Potter, Ruth LeNoir, Lucille Kahn, Gladys and Douglas Johnston.
R E A D I N G
Time of Reading 4:00 P. M.
1. GC: You will have before you the members of the Norfolk Study Group #1, present in this room, and their work on the lessons which they are preparing. We present the lesson on FELLOWSHIP, a copy of which I hold in my hand. As I call the number of each paragraph, you will suggest any changes or additions that would be advisable. You will answer the questions which will be asked:
2. EC: Yes, we have the group as gathered here, as a group, as individuals, and the work of preparing lessons. Ready for questions.
3. (Q) Lesson FELLOWSHIP - Introduction - Par. 1. (A) (Par I to XI, answer "Very good." Par. XII - "Very good. There may be some change in the presentation of same, in the personal application. This very good." Par. XIII to XXIX, answer "Very good," with exception of Par. XV, XXII and XXV, which received the answer "Good.")
4. (Q) Any suggestions regarding this lesson? (A) Very good.
5. (Q) Please give us the meditation for our daily prayer on PATIENCE. (A) HOW GRACIOUS IS THY PRESENCE IN THE EARTH, O LORD. BE THOU THE GUIDE, THAT WE WITH PATIENCE MAY RUN THE RACE WHICH IS SET BEFORE US, LOOKING TO THEE, THE AUTHOR, THE GIVER OF LIGHT [Life? 2 Tim. 1:10?]. In the preparation of selves, as individuals, for presenting patience in the experience, this - as other lessons - must be experienced by the individuals. Would we have that love, that patience of the Maker of the worlds, we must show patience to our brother, and - as was asked of Him, how oft shall I forgive? Seven times? Yea, seventy times seven, that ye may know that which is builded in self. Through patience does the understanding come. Knowledge of itself
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is nothing. Understanding in the Lord becomes that of love, in patience, that maketh for the glorifying of that which is the gift of the Father in the material, the mental, the spiritual world. Stand STILL, will ye see the glory of the Lord. In patience possess ye your souls. As there is gained more and more those understandings in cooperation, self, activities in self, and the more there is gained a knowledge of the presence of Him in the experience, greater does patience work in the life, the experience, the heart, and the soul grows in understanding of His presence; for as these gifts - that are attributes of His consciousness in the lives of individuals, as entities, in a material life - become the greater manifestations of individuals' activities, so will there be in the experience that as would be the next lesson THE OPEN DOOR. Would ye enter in the joys of thy Lord?
6. Ready for questions.
7. (Q) Please outline the central thoughts and basis upon which we should begin our meditations and questions on PATIENCE. (A) As given, in patience possess ye thy presence before the Throne. Seek oft, then, to gain an audience with thine inner self which bears witness before that Throne. With patience may this be reached; for as one loses their hold on self in the lack of patience, so does that give the opportunity for the entering in of those things that would make afraid. Not that one should remain unactive, or inactive, but in patience run the race that is set before thee, looking to Him, the author, the giver of light, truth and immortality. That should be the central theme in every individual. Not in submissiveness alone, but in righteous wrath serve ye the living God.
8. (Q) [69]: When does patience cease to be a virtue? (A) When thou art satisfied with thy own surroundings or conditions.
9. (Q) [560]: In learning the lesson of PATIENCE, please advise how we may overcome the little harassing annoyances that come in our daily lives. (A) As was given of Him, as ye seek, know there is that Comforter present that will speak for thee under EVERY condition; for, as He gave, "I will not leave thee comfortless. Be NOT afraid." Be MAD, but sin not! In thine UNDERSTANDING gain the presence of Him ever as thy companion, in every act, in every word; for every thought must be accounted for, and in grace - His grace is sufficient - will there be that constant, prayerful attitude for a purposeful life; forgetting self, preferring another above self. Lose self in Him. THESE will answer. Not as
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an outward, but an INWARD growth - that makes for the beauty of the soul that has patience SHINING through. [262-25, Par. 6-A]
10. (Q) [993]: When we reach the development of ceasing to see faults in those we contact, is it then we can say we have patience? (A) When we see rather Him that we worship even in the faults of others, THEN we are at the BEGINNING of patience.
11. (Q) [[69]'s husband]: Explain my shortcomings in connection with patience, and furnish the remedy thereto. (A) Remove self far from criticisms or fault-findings in others, and there comes then patience in word, deed and act. These are the BEGINNINGS, as it were, of wisdom. Knowest thou that which has brought about the activities of another? Rather, then, find the fault in self, and this will be that path that will lead to LIGHTENING the way of thine own patience. Does there arise those periods when little petty disturbances call for the quick retort, find rather the fault in self, if there be one; then, if there is not, according to thy standard that is set in thine ideal, open not thy mouth - even as He did not when railed upon.
12. (Q) [295]: What is the Master's definition of patience? (A) Know ye that, in patience possess ye your souls! In interpreting, then, how one possesses their souls, that in the LOSS of patience there is the entering - as He gave - of those influences that would separate the real self, the soul, from the Maker. Hence in patience POSSESS ye your souls!
13. (Q) Please comment on the following statements: Epictetus said there were two faults far graver and fouler than any others, inability to bear and inability to forbear. (A) In these we have the variations that would come from the experiences of individuals giving the expression of THEIR experience in MEETING the conditions that arise in one's daily experience. An expression, then, of an inactivity on the part of one, and an overanxiety on the part of another.
14. (Q) "All great things are slow of growth." (A) Just true! For, as has been given oft, the soul grows upon that it is fed. The soul of man is the greatest, then, of all creation, for it may be one with the Father. Little by little, line upon line, here a little, there a little - these are the manners of growth, that this may be one with Him. Lose not that as was given by Him, the greater of all those who gave the truths, that not only one with Him but individual in self! Not the whole, but equal WITH the whole - for one with Him. Ye, then, are not aliens - rather the
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SONS of the Holy One.
15. (Q) "Content but not satisfied." (A) Content in that "Have Thy way, Lord. Use me as a channel. Not my will but Thine be done!" That is content. Satisfied means gratified, and is the beginning of the falling away, for SELF is to be then glorified.
16. (Q) "The offences committed through desire are more blamable than those which are committed through anger." (A) Be angry, but sin not. Means there has been lost rather the desire of exaltation, that the anger is as of the giver of light that disperses the darkness as it falls upon same. These would depend, as a statement, upon the experience of the one so stating; for in this SOME would find the excuse for self. Rather that, in the desire that may be lost in Him may there come the knowledge of Him, in that there is found the light which comes from patience with self, with thine neighbor, seeking ever that He, the Lord, shall lead.
17. (Q) [2125]: Could I develop automatic handwriting? (A) Anyone could. [See also 262-25, Par. 15-A, 16-A.]
18. (Q) Is there any message for the group as a whole at this time? (A) Prepare self in this, as thou studiest thyself approved unto Him, for the door is to be opened.
19. We are through.