Negative attitudes of all kinds have their roots in selfishness. Edgar Cayce was very clear about this:

What is ever the worst fault of each soul?

SELF—SELF!

What is the meaning of self?

That the hurts, the hindrances are hurts to the self-consciousness; and these create what? Disturbing forces, and these bring about confusions and faults of every nature.

For the only sin of man is SELFISHNESS!

- Edgar Cayce reading 987-4

Cayce couldn’t have been any clearer than that: We feel we have been hurt, so we adopt an attitude of hostility. We want more from life, so we feel frustration. The logical implication is that if we can overcome selfishness, we can eliminate the negative emotions that arise from it.

The key here is not to deny the self, but to use it to express God’s love; to use it as a way of expressing your personal ideal and to fulfill the real purpose of your life. In reading 262-24, Cayce assured his questioner that God’s “grace is sufficient.” By that he meant that if his questioner always remembers that God—or God’s expression in the Christ consciousness—was always with him, there would always be “that constant, prayerful attitude for a purposeful life; forgetting self, preferring another above self”—focusing on the good of others rather than on selfish goals—which is the ultimate meaning of Cayce’s counsel to “Lose self in Him” and thereby banish negative emotions.

Said simply, through the power of our will, we can replace negative attitudes with the desire to help others.

The message found throughout the Cayce material is that we get out of life exactly what we give.

As ye forgive, ye are forgiven. As ye love, so are ye loved. As ye resent, so are ye resented.

- Edgar Cayce reading 2600-2

But we can give out only what we have within. Thus there are two parts to a general program for overcoming negative attitudes [and creating a happier life]:

First: We must build within ourselves the positive attitudes of love, self-confidence, dedication to our ideal, faith in the love of God, and active patience.

Second: We must share the fruits of these positive attitudes with others.

Not because it is ennobling, but because it is RIGHT in THY sight!

- Edgar Cayce reading 1537-1

To replace our hostilities with peace, we must bring peace to others.

To overcome our feelings of frustration and discouragement, we must encourage others.

To find love, we must simply love.

[Excerpted from a passage titled “Overcoming Selfishness” in Edgar Cayce Answers Life’s 10 Most Important Questions (Warner Books, 1989)].