Loving indifference does not have that ring of an essential spiritual tool. It rings more as an oxymoron. How can we be loving and at the same time indifferent? Are they not opposites? Let’s see what Edgar Cayce had to say on the matter.

Edgar Cayce gave 18 life readings where he said the individual was close to completion of their lessons on the earth and that reincarnation would be unnecessary. Violet Shelly wrote a book, Reincarnation Unnecessary, based on those readings and Charles Thomas Cayce lectured around the country on that subject as well.  There are many gems in those readings but the most influential for me was the concept of “loving indifference”.

Cayce was speaking to a woman who had been alive at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. He was pointing out how high her ideals had been, that she had put herself at considerable risk in protecting several women that were accused of “witchcraft”, who would have been put to death had they been found.  Cayce affirmed the strength and courage of those actions. But then he went further and spoke to how her consciousness had actually fallen as a result of allowing herself to hate the men who were perpetrating the witch hunts. Better, he said, to have practiced loving indifference, where you keep doing all the right things, fight for good, protect the weak, but do not lower your consciousness to hate anyone.  He emphasized how we are all evolving and we are all beloved of our Creator.  Best, he said, leave the matter in the hands of your God, who understands the big picture in a way we never can while in a finite human body consciousness.

This lesson has been invaluable to me since I aquired it.  It is very hard in our times to be pro something without being hateful to the opposing side. Our political situation highlights this condition and if this indeed causes our consciousness to fall, and if our goals are to learn the lessons of this earth plane, then let us all consider this useful tool.

Let’s look now at the lifetimes of Edgar Cayce to get a glimpse of what might be the reasoning behind the truth of loving indifference.  Cayce had a lifetime as a high priest in ancient Egypt. He exemplified the spiritual purposes of a life on earth, namely that he was highly God attuned and he used that attunement to help others find their way to God.  In his life, he did have times where his consciousness fell, but at the end of that life he was like a Bodhisattva, he had learned the lessons of the earth and reincarnation was not necessary. But as many Bodhisattvas, they choose to reincarnate out of their love for their brothers and sisters still on the wheel of karma. He returned but the Bodhisattva status does not mean that you are immune to temptation and the consciousness falling again. He later reincarnates as John Bainbridge, the riverboat gambler, who uses his psychic ability, gained in Egypt, for selfish purposes. He can see all the cards so he rips off men and he knows what woman want to hear so he seduced women unrepentantly.  It is not that well known that the reason Edgar Cayce had to go into trance to access his full psychic ability was because of his misuse of that psychic ability while conscious as Bainbridge. Cayce also knew never to play cards. There’s a wonderful story of young Hugh Lynn and Edgar Evans wanting to know why their dad would never play cards with them. Edgar relented and asked the boys to find a deck of cards and shuffle them up real good. They did and Cayce took the deck and looking the boys staright in the eyes proceeded to call all 52 cards. “Jack of spades, 2 of hearts, 10 of diamonds…” for all 52 cards! Hugh Lynn recounted that he and Edgar Evans never quite looked at their dad the same after that!

Now he reincarnates as Edgar Cayce with the Egyptian and Bainbridge karmic legacies. He then proceeds to use his psychic ability to help largely men financially and women emotionally.  He is using his spiritual resources to correct what he injured in the past. But we can only see that from the several lifetime view. It would be easy to hate Bainbridge at that time as a scoundrel. But do you see how God’s plan is fulfilled as Cayce comes to correct the errors of Bainbridge? This has helped me to understand – stated simply – that the scoundrels of today create the karmic unfolding of their being the saints of tomorrow.  Cayce spoke even of the karma of our Christ Jesus. He did not die on the cross merely for our learning, he was also meeting Himself.

If you look at the drama of Cayce’s Egyptian lifetime and the way the karma unfolded, in our modern times it would be as if Bill Clinton were to reincarnate in middle America, married to Monica Lewinsky, their secretary being Hillary and their son being Kenneth Starr!  This has shown me, like nothing else, God is no respecter of persons. Life is about meeting karma and about spiritual growth.  Whomever seems like a scoundrel today is setting up the path to be the saint of tomorrow. And we have all been saints and scoundrels, for in that we have our compassion.

In another reading, Cayce asks that “we let God be the avenger!”  I’m careful with that reading because we can desire that God “avenge” with harsh punishment. The sacred is in the fact that God “avenges” with spiritual law – in infinite time – and with love.  If we want to maximize our spiritual advancement in this life, we can humbly accept our limited view and try loving differently through loving indifference.