Some thoughts from my book The Sphere and the Hologram, just published. The following is the conclusion of that book of transcripts.
Process
When I was young I didn’t understand why Edgar Cayce had so many perplexities, hesitations, and fears about what he did. It seemed clear to me that he had been given a special gift: Why not just use it and rejoice in it? Why second-guess it all the time? Why wonder about its accuracy? Cayce used to say, apparently in a sort of teeth-clenched way, that if one child was ever hurt by the things that came through when he was in trance, that was the end of the whole business for him. I used to wonder, why? So it has been interesting to participate in this process from the inside; to exchange ideas and analysis with Rita, a trained psychologist who also knows from her own experience what I’m talking about. And it has been interesting to see how little of the reasons for my own perplexities, hesitations, and fears I have been able to communicate clearly, even to her. It gives me a whole different perspective on Edgar Cayce as a man.
I see more clearly now why Cayce did not see himself as a gifted seer, a favored communicant with the other side. Cayce was saved by his own humility. He knew the reasons for his own perplexities, hesitations, and fears. He was well aware how little he knew about what he was doing. He knew that every time he went into a trance, the information that came would come from somewhere beyond his control, which meant he had no way to filter it. The information came from someone (but he didn’t know who) and it would be stated with great confidence (but he didn’t know if the confidence was warranted) and it would supposedly be given with benevolent intent (but, as he didn’t know who was providing it, he was forced to hope that was true). What’s more, the information came to him while he was in trance, so he didn’t even get to hear it as it came through. Talk about taking things on faith! No wonder he was worried! Plus, of course, his journey was so long. By the end of his life in 1945 he had come to integrate a lot of what his voice had said from trance, but in the early days it must have seemed to him a mixture of blasphemy and nonsense.
When I was young, reading about Edgar Cayce, I thought of him as one of a group of special men and women, set apart from ordinary men and women, who somehow had abilities most of us didn’t have and didn’t expect to have. Therefore I couldn’t see him as a man, not really. Oh, I read that he had a wife and children and an external career as a photographer, and I read that he had his struggles on many levels. But the reality didn’t really sink in. His struggles seemed almost irrelevant to his real story, which was “of course” that he could go into a trance and bring in medical and other information. And because I could not see Cayce as an ordinary man (with an unusual gift) I misunderstood everything I read. Certainly I misunderstood its importance for my own life. I would make a small bet that nearly everyone who reads about him or others like him misunderstands in a similar way.
Anyone who comes away from this book thinking, “wow, Frank is really special” is wrong except in the sense that we are each special. I will say it as clearly as I can. As far as I can tell, the information is available and can be retrieved by anyone who wants to try. We don’t have to live as disconnected individuals on the long, hard, solitary Downstairs path. There’s no reason you can’t do what I learned to do, and there’s no reason to think you won’t be as good at it as anybody else. Only, don’t think that acquiring access is going to solve your problems. It’s more likely to give you a new set of problems to work on. Nothing wrong with that, just be prepared.
The one danger I see in this kind of work is that of psychic inflation. If you think that this work makes you something special, you risk turning it into a curse. It should be obvious that the whole point of the process is to bring information not from the part of us that is in time and space, but from the part that is beyond time and space. How can we do that if our ego needs are driving us to try to assure success?
I consider myself fortunate that the gift of being able to talk to the other side did not manifest when I was younger, particularly when I was still trapped in a succession of menial jobs. Had the gift come before I had made a place to stand in the world, the temptation to identify myself with the gift (that is, to take credit for it) would have been great. If I had allowed myself to measure my worth as a person with the ability to produce acceptable results, would I not have been tempted to cheat? In any case, the need for results would have put the cart disastrously before the horse. I might have done quite a bit of damage to others and to myself. This work has to come from the heart, not from the ego, and for most of us that will be a struggle. To the degree that the work comes from ego, the quality of the material is compromised.
As has been said more than once, our essential oneness is more evident outside of time and space than it is here. Therefore, it is true, though it has been expressed as a joke, that “you’re special, just like everybody else.” It’s important to remember both halves of the statement. You, yourself, were specifically created to conduct the experiment of being you. No one else is you. Your choices do matter to the larger being on the other side, call it what we may. But by the same token, this is true of everyone else. This seems to me very close to the old Christian way of seeing each of us as God’s children, as precious to him and as interesting, regardless of external circumstances. (It is also a damn sight more attractive to me than the idea that people are economic or political digits, to be used rather than valued.)
So, remember that you are unique and therefore special; remember that so is everyone else you will ever know. You are not insignificant. Neither is any of them, regardless the color of their skin, the sound of their accent, the content of their bank account or the clarity of their thought. This is not empty, high-sounding, meaningless sloganeering. If the guys may be trusted, it’s a straight description of fact.
The Meaning of the Material
Not so easy to sum up the results of this exploration. Not so easy, particularly, to make it clear in advance to each of you who reads this book the importance of this information for you. After all, each comes to it with different assumptions, abilities, prejudices, emotional makeup, and educational background – to say nothing of life-plan and affiliations. Still, the attempt must be made.
The central problem with all this material is simply that the picture it presents is at such variance with the picture painted by “common sense.”
Common sense says that the past is dead, the future not yet created, and the present moment is all there is. This material says the past is still alive, the future is already alive, and the present is as alive as either – no more, no less.
Common sense says that the present is the one and only present. What you see is what you get. This material says that this time, and all times, exist in multiple versions, with a version corresponding to the results of every possible choice made by every agent.
Common sense says that reincarnation must be true or untrue. This material says it’s more a matter of definition than of an either-or choice. In any case, it suggests that our ideas on the subject are confused.
Common sense says that in this life we must be either individuals (as to all appearances we are) or in some mystical way all part of one thing. This material says, again, it’s a matter of definition, and could be seen either way.
Common sense says that they on their side (assuming that common sense would concede that “they” exist) must be either individuals or in some mystical way all part of one thing. This material says that here, too, it’s a matter of definition.
Common sense says “we” in time-space and “they” outside of time-space are different beings. This material says the difference between us could be considered more a difference in emphasis than a difference in kind, with the major difference between us being the difference between their turf (non-material reality) and ours (time-space, or what I call 3D Theater).
Common sense says that life consists of good things and bad, or problems and opportunities, stemming from the conflict of forces. This material says that we – and they, working with us – plan our lifetimes both beforehand and during the lifetimes. All our problems are opportunities, because they are all chosen by us in the planning of our life.
Common sense says that conscience (if it exists) is something like a scorekeeper or a nag. This material says conscience is a homing mechanism.
Common sense says that our health, like other aspects of our lives, depends on many things over which we have little or no control. This material says we have far more control over our health than we commonly suspect, and that how much control we have depends on our state of being.
Common sense, for many people (not all) argues that improving the world is done primarily by interaction with others. This material says internal work is as effective as external work, and often more effective.
Common sense for many says that to overcome disaster or even to lead a successful life, we must do many external things (although few agree on what specific things). This material says the most effective thing we can do, in the face of disaster or in ordinary life, is to hold our center.
Common sense says that the meaning of the manner of our death is confined to this side. This material says that how we die here is the equivalent to how we are reborn into the other side.
And so it goes. Everything common sense says that is based on our assumptions about time and space falls down if those assumptions are incorrect. That includes questions about good and evil and about our emotions (gradients between what is and what we prefer, they say) and the meaning and nature of our lives. They see our lives as lived in different versions, equally real, with us choosing versions as if wandering in a maze of freedom. It even affects their view of extraterrestrials, for they are as close to them – as much a part of them – as to us. In short, our lives appear quite different to them than they do to us.
Now the question is, what are we going to do with this information? How can we check it, expand upon it, use it? That, dear reader, is at least partly up to you. Fortunately you are not alone, however much you may sometimes think so.