About God

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)