Discover Your Soul’s Purpose—Finding your path in life, work, and personal mission the Edgar Cayce Way: Second Edition byMark Thurston, Ph.D (review) --key insignts from the reading to help you assess the ways you go about finding your deepest desires and bringing them to fruition. You may even decide to purchase a copy.
The author
Mark Thurston, Ph.D., was a pioneer not only in finding meaning in his own life at an early age, but also in carving his experiences into an astonishing how-to using the methods retrieved from Edgar Cayce’s famous “life readings.” Consequently, this book concerns the perspectives of Edgar Cayce as applied in finding meaning and direction in life. Thurston magnificently interpreted the paradox of fate versus free will and the monotony of our daily lives outlined in Cayce’s work, making it easy to digest Cayce’s allegory and symbolism while showcasing his own deep understanding of Cayce from both historically and conceptually. While later I expect to refer to Cayce directly, the following notes ae only as relayed by Thurston in his book.
The book largely centers around the title topic of purpose with the backdrop of believing in both God and a higher-self. Free will, reincarnation, and comparisons of Cayce’s contemporary counterparts are prominent points of discussion used to support the overarching ‘how-to’ practical techniques that make up the bulk of the book.
Here’s Cayce (a devout Protestant Christian) on creation:
A myth is truth so profound it can’t be expressed in logical terms. Thus the use of image and metaphor.
We were all created by God before the existence of time, for the purpose of companionship with him. Thus, we all have an impulse towards connecting with others.
God imbued us with spirit, mind, and free will. Spirit connects us and is immortal. Mind is creative and shapes our reality. Free will makes us independent. This is the independence to choose God or not, so that we are his companion and not his robot.
God made separate dimensions and realms for us to inhabit because he wanted us to know Oneness (God himself) and Individuality. Think of the teenager needing to separate from loving parents to grow and find him/herself. Enter rebellion; we used mind and free will selfishly for thousands of years and eventually forgot where we came from altogether. God offered us additional chances through reincarnation.
Cayce on purpose:
Each soul enters with a mission to perform, one always about relationships. Looking inward too much is unhealthy. Community and uniqueness are two sides of the same coin. All self-affirmations should honor the self in relationship to God.
You are born with everything you need to fulfill your mission, which requires strong will.
Resolving Karma is never the mission itself. Focusing on what makes life meaningful as opposed to what is the meaning of life will lead you towards your mission. Thus, an understanding of human history is necessary to appreciate the ornate framework of your mission.
Cayce on temperament:
Cayce identified eight critical dimensions that play a role in shaping an individual’s temperament based on the nature of planets as seen in astrology. His analysis would include three planets that play the strongest roles in shaping temperament. This helped him determine what line of vocation was best suited for a soul’s evolution.
Notably, the book highlights multiple disgusting [better word?]ways to build on these concepts in daily life and in all the stages of life we find ourselves in. The book also expounds upon the power of good vs. evil, personality vs. higher self, self-glorification vs. self-appreciation, the law of supply, the nature of abundance and responsibility, and parallels drawn between Cayce (with only an 8th grade education) and more learned individuals such as Carl Jung.
Here is an outline of the practical steps to discovering your soul’s purpose:
According to Thurston, these steps only yield positive results when followed in order. Roadblocks to finding your purpose are concerned with values and methods within society. Those people who seek purpose in life are either in pain, dissatisfied, or bored with life.
1. Know thyself: Accept the good the bad and the ugly. Realize that there is a bigger plan associated by learning to differentiate your personality from your higher-self.
2. Find your talents: Now write down 8-15 skills and sensitivities you were born with. How?
Review previous success.
Determine if your talents mostly involve people, things, or information.
Look through your faults and restructure them into positives.
Look through lists of skills to see what fits. Resumé- building websites are good for this.
- Narrow it down to 4 by selecting skills that you couldn’t be you without so as to focus in on your purpose.
3. Find a mission theme: Determine what God has been trying to tell you your entire life.
How?
Look back to discover what you were doing when you felt most alive and said to yourself, “I need to do this more often.”
Fantasize about an ideal day with lots of details and stray away from dreaming of a vacation.
Write your own obituary. Imagine how you want to be remembered.
Determine how your 4 talents best work together.
4. Write a mission statement based on information from the previous steps. Examples from the book include:
To be a creative and cooperative team member
To build new structures and organizations to help humanity
To persuade and convince people to accept the best
To be a catalyst for change in the world
5. Conduct personal research on your mission by doing small things in life where you can experience aspects of your mission to see how it makes you feel. Volunteer somewhere or join a group. Your research is validated when you experience:
A sense of wonder or joy
Seeing others benefit from your efforts or recognizing purposefulness around you
Feeling the presence of God
Feeling energized
All things considered, this work by Mark Thurston, Ph.D., significantly invests in the pool of the self-help and personal transformation genre sweeping the U.S. in recent years. The author presents multiple real examples that allow the reader to perceive the whole grief and paradox of what it is to be a human being, especially one on a search for meaning.
-Cocoa
For tips on tapping into you intuition read Let Happiness Be Your Guide.
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