Preview

According to the Cayce readings, the essential work of the blind person is to develop the deeper insight which will lead to a better outlook. “Awaken more the vision from within, that may add to the moral forces, the spiritual activities, the lightening from within that may bring to self and to those whom the entity may contact that which will make for an experience, a life, worthwhile.” (447-1)

The temporarily sightless man or woman begins the path to restoration of vision and, more importantly, to transformation and healing with the remembrance that, “These necessitate, then, that preparation be made in the body for the reception of, for the activity of, the divine within the body, the mind of the entity…. Prepare self in mind — regardless of time.” (3504-1)

The profound challenge of blindness, which afflicts millions of people, calls out loudly for the “patience, persistence, and consistency” which are hallmarks of the Cayce health readings. Meeting such a condition as blindness, especially when karmic or prenatal in origin, requires long periods of preparation and application, plus attitudinal and life changes. “Let’s make haste slowly, and not overstress the correction in vision. Let’s make the changes as a growth, and the using of what is obtained in a better or more constructive manner – this will be better than attempting to hasten same.” (1861-10)

Facing the loss of sight mandates the facing of self. “For while each soul is in the flesh there is a constant meeting of same.” (1385-1) Yet viewed through the compassionate perspective of Cayce, this challenge can be recognized as a real opportunity to discover the inner Divinity, else “If they who seek or labor are not directed by Him, they seek or labor in vain.” (841-1)

A Case

One who apparently labored not in vain was Mr. 1861, for whom 19 readings spread over 5 1/2 years were given. A violinist and teacher of music, Mr. 1861 first consulted Edgar Cayce in 1939 at the age of 33. His vision problems arose shortly after a premature birth as an eruptive phenomenon associated with cold and congestion. Almost total blindness ensued until age four when he had a series of operations in which the cataracts in his eyes were repeatedly “needled.” He was then fitted with high power telescopic glasses which allowed him to read at a distance of three inches.

When Cayce’s work came to his attention via a radio program, Mr. 1861 immediately applied for a physical reading. It outlined dietary recommendations, osteopathic adjustments and electrotherapy. These suggestions were augmented over the years with other remedies and most significantly through further Cayce readings which delved into the deeper aspects of Mr.1861’s blindness and life.

In a statement written in 1943, Mr. 1861 acknowledged the greater help he and his wife received as a result of Life and Mental-Spiritual readings. He saw them as promoting the injunction of the Oracle at Delphi to “Know Thyself” — i.e., those obscure and intricate parts of our personalities, minds, and souls. One reading (1861-2) indicated that in ancient Persia, Mr. 1861 had persecuted his enemies — blinding them with hot irons. Forsaking those activities after contacting the teacher in “the city in the hills,” he became a leader in “the musical instruments that were a part of the healing through those periods.” This talent he carried into his 20th century incarnation. Cayce told him that he had this life as an opportunity to bring harmony and healing via musical and/or electrical vibrations to his fellow human beings.

The readings repeatedly encouraged Mr. 1861 to meditate on “THY WILL WITH ME,” to attune to the ALL healing power which “comes from the DIVINE within the body,” and to open to the flow of the eternal from the soul. It was the vision of God toward which Mr. 1861 was fervently directed. “And thus give off, in harmonious accent, that as will be pleasing in His sight, — the purpose for which each soul enters a material experience.” (1861-4)

Mr. 1861 lived for 75 years. His later years were increasingly productive because of his contact with Edgar Cayce and the readings. In 1943, he credited the readings and their applied suggestions for gaining “the use of my left eye for reading purposes…. Control of the eye muscles has become almost normal; the general physical health has improved one-hundred percent.” (Report of reading 1861-15)

Causes & Cures

As we might expect from Cayce’s holistic perspective, blindness is never strictly an “eye or head problem.” As one reading put it, “To be sure, vision as WELL as the activity of the hearing response are reflected from the brain centers. But body-forces, body-health also have much to do with same, from the ganglia in the cerebrospinal nervous system; as to whether there are responses to the emotions which the activity of the sensory system is a part.” (2600-1)

Body health, emotional and mental influences surely play significant roles in all “physical” ailments. These can affect the sensory organs, especially the eyes, through many conditions and a few common pathways. Cayce generally saw improper diet, deficient coagulation (body-building forces), slowed circulation, congestion, infection and inflammation combining with regional spinal lesions (sometimes due to injury). These factors could create static pressures and refuse in the optic nerves and centers. “The impingement of nerves that govern the eyesight have so impinged and so cut off the circulation that the refuse matters and forces as used by the optic nerve have filled up the channels about the nerves that carry the sensation for sight and reflexes to the brain itself.” (30-1)

In a nutshell, the physical root of most instances of blindness arises with congestion of the visual apparatus and prevention of light and sensation from entering in. These forces are deflected due to lesions in centers along and outside the spinal cord, generally from the 1st and 4th dorsal (upper back) to the first cervical (i.e., neck) segments. This common spinal pathway where the two major systems — cerebrospinal and sympathetic — contact each other is also the point of intersection for mental-emotional and psychic energies. Thus, “It is a physical condition, it is a psychological condition, it is a pathological condition.” (2600-1)

Another pathway common to blindness in at least seven of the cases is the lack of assimilation of gold — or the greater necessity to stimulate its absorption to spur healing of nerve tissue. “The ability of the nerve to supply that reflex necessary in this nerve plasm is lacking — GOLD.” (2463-3)

Help and Hope

Psycho-spiritual

“Treatment” for blindness should begin with the Source, while remembering that there is as much of God in the physical as in any other phase of earthly existence. Likewise, therapies and remedies must always take into consideration the individual’s level and state of consciousness.
One’s attitude should be built up and sustained by encouragement, meditation, and prayer. As one person was told, “Hence if that attitude is held with that fortitude and that strength and that vigor of using whatever talents, whatever abilities the entity finds self with, toward constructive forces, then it must build — and does build — for a more satisfactory and for a better outlook.” (1385-1)
Healing and building must, of course, be for a purpose. This principle is at the heart of Cayce’s philosophy of healing, not just for a blind person but for anyone. “Build rather, then, in the mental and spiritual relationships to its fellow man and its Maker. For, these will make for, in this body, in this life that which will answer more than all the material applications that may be made for a physical health of this body.” (447-1)
A simple and heartfelt prayer for the visually handicapped might begin with these few words from Cayce (or a personal adaptation of them):

Use me.
Thy Will be done in me and through me.

Physical

1. In meeting the physical dimensions of blindness, any toxins or poisons in the body should be gradually eliminated. Cleansing via enemas or colonics, sweats or fume baths, and/or gentle laxatives should be attempted on a regular, cyclic basis. An alkaline, vitamin-rich, easily-assimilated diet prevents excesses and toxin accumulation in the system. In addition, it supports the absorption of essential nutrients to aid in the healing process.
2. Pressures on spinal nerve centers, especially from the fourth dorsal to the first cervical, must be removed. This, in itself, can “create a vibration for elimination” and decongestion. Use of an electrically-driven vibrator, massage, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation should help to produce the needed effect. Osteopathic therapy is the preferred approach to make for “drainages” and “allow for the supply of physical and nerve nutriment to the eyes.” (2302-4) Mechanical treatment applied to the spine should stimulate rather than force needed internal adjustments, “… not to move segment itself so much as to stimulate.” (2436-5)
3. Resuscitation of nerve energies calls for the use of the Violet Ray applicator, Radio Active Appliance, Wet Cell Battery, or similar electrifying device. While any of these may have beneficial effect, the Wet Cell carrying the chloride of gold vibration is likely (with long-term, persistent and patient application) to better “stimulate nerve-building through proper assimilation.” (2436-5)
4. In cases of local irritation or inflammation of the eyes, Irish potato poultices with Boracic (Boric) Acid or GlycoThymoline cleansing are indicated. “This will remove through absorption the inflammation from the lack of optic reaction …” (3504-1)

Medicine & Healing

The named causes of blindness are manifold. In the present day, standard medicine recognizes blindness resulting most commonly from cataracts and glaucoma (causes mostly unknown) and the degenerative effects of diabetes and hypertension (causes chiefly unknown). Modern therapy is almost exclusively devoted to drugs and surgery to treat diseases of the eyes and other body parts on a relatively symptomatic and superficial level. Admittedly, such remedies are often beneficial. Cataract surgery has reached a high level of success and can be readily recommended for large numbers of patients. Still, medicine and surgery go only so far, and they still leave room for complementary approaches for viewing the whole person.

Without ignoring such symptoms and conditions or the values of medical technology, Edgar Cayce sketched a truly holistic picture of the pathologies of blindness. Cayce clearly suggests the truth of 19th century neurologist Weir Mitchell’s statement, “‘Tis not the body, but the man is ill.” Yet, the readings give hope and help to the man and woman with loss of sight in facing the many dimensions of their condition. The man or woman is not merely ill, but offered the opportunity to build “for a more satisfactory and a better outlook,” to make “a life, worthwhile,” and “to shed abroad in the earth … the love of the Father.”

Review

Blindness can be confronted using the Cayce perspective to bring material aid and comfort. The general strategy is to set up necessary assimilations and eliminations, relieve spinal pressures, stimulate nerve-building, and attend to local irritations that arise. But, the greater aid may come in promoting “the proper or correct insight into the relationships of the individual entity to the divine forces within.” (3461-1)

From Cayce’s angle, it should be remembered from the outset when approaching such a problem as blindness, that time is irrelevant. The expenditure of work and prayer, energy and time should not be extended merely to attempt the restoration of sight, but chiefly to seek Wholeness. At the same time, remember also that physical effects always lag behind changes in consciousness.

“Know there is forgiveness. Even as the body-mind may forgive others, so may the body here be forgiven. So may it seek through those promises of the All-Creative forces for help, yes; help in a physical as well as a mental manner. Know, indeed, the spirit is willing if ye are in soul and purpose ready to accept the Christ-Consciousness that taketh away sin.” (3504-1)

With “patience, persistence, and consistency,” a new vision (physical and/or otherwise) can be awakened from within, bringing untold opportunities to the once-blind soul. “As there is to be vision, plan, study as to how same may be used to help others.” (2302-3)

Note: The above commentary was written by Robert McNary, M.D. and is included in the Circulating File for Blindness.