The Essential Edgar Cayce

by Thurston, Mark

  In short, Cayce proposed that Atlantis is not a whimsical legend or metaphoric myth but rather a long-standing culture that actually existed. He dated its final destruction to 10,500 B.C., and he proposed that remnants of the lost continent and its artifacts can be found under the waters of the Caribbean. While intriguing anomalies and seductive hints suggest that there is more to ancient history than we ever realized, clearly there is no definitive proof that Atlantis existed. For many people, Atlantis remains a provocative yet unsupportable part of Cayce’s overall philosophy.

  Egypt is another matter, perhaps, since the monuments and artifacts do exist and are sometimes subject to debate. Cayce’s perspective on Egypt is quite controversial. He suggests that the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx were not built around 2600 to 2500 B.C., the traditional dating, but some eight thousand years earlier. And the pyramid was built as a kind of temple of initiation and not as a tomb for a pharaoh. Cayce claims that records of prehistoric civilization, including Atlantis, are buried in a chamber hidden in the sands not far from the Sphinx, a chamber as yet not uncovered in spite of diligent efforts over the past twenty-five years.

  Edgar Cayce’s theory of ancient Egypt is not without its contemporary supporters. His timeline, for instance, coincides with that of Egyptologists John Anthony West and Robert M. Schoch, who maintain that water erosion on the Sphinx suggests that its oldest portion was built thousands of years before the widely accepted date of 2500 B.C. In his book Voyages of the Pyramid Builders, Schoch dates it between 7000 and 5000 B.C.—not quite as old as Cayce suggested but close nonetheless.

  In spite of the intriguing evidence, many experts would argue that all of this material on Atlantis is not history at all but a precognitive vision of what lies ahead for humanity. Others would say that Cayce’s account of Atlantis as well as Egypt are best understood as myth in the most positive sense of the word, that myth is a story that explains the meaning behind things. It’s unfortunate that, in our time, myth has become virtually synonymous with erroneous thinking. Myth attempts to speak the unspeakable, and, in trying to explain the extraordinary in ordinary terms, myth must use metaphors, analogies, and symbols. Edgar Cayce’s stories of Atlantis and Egypt at the very least can be taken as powerful and valuable stories that account for how we shape our own reality, how we must choose oneness over divisiveness, and how the purification of the body is needed to achieve our spiritual potential. All these stories point out how we face those same challenges in the modern world.

  It might be said that Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis and Egypt are the foundation of a new cultural myth. Without falling into the convoluted, unresolvable arguments about what can and cannot be supported historically in his work, we can appreciate it for the rich symbolism and profound teachings about the human condition. The historical validity of his accounts may be beyond our ability to ever judge definitively. But the “moral of the story,” as we sometimes refer to it, is solid. Only when humanity embraces the principle of oneness to guide society do we have any chance of building a sustainable future together.

  EDGAR CAYCE AS AN AGENT OF PERSONAL CHANGE

  Edgar Cayce’s philosophy and recommendations always had a palliative quality. People came to him with all kinds of pain—physical, mental, spiritual—and an essential part of his work was to help alleviate that pain. But short-term “Band-Aid” help is one thing; truly helping an individual change is another. And Cayce intentionally provoked people to change, usually in a gentle, prodding way. But change they must if healing was to be successful.

  Some who came to Cayce were prepared to make only superficial changes; others were ready to tackle the more daunting task of changing at the soul level. When we consider what personal change means, it’s important to distinguish between improvement and transformation, terms often misleadingly linked as synonyms; both involve change, but transformation is more radical and, ultimately, much more significant.

  Improvement—self-improvement—means making a better version of essentially the same person. In the language of the readings, it would be a matter of polishing up or adjusting the personality, the familiar person we know we are and show the world. Transformation, on the other hand, is a quantum leap in our sense of self; it’s the awakening of our individuality, the essence of who we are. While improvement is a worthy, even necessary endeavor, we shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking it alone brings about genuine spiritual awakening. “PERSONALITY is certainly something NOT to be paraded or boasted of!” Cayce pronounced. “Well to have, and necessary! if used properly! WITHOUT INDIVIDUALITY, you are nothing!” (257-79). Transformation is more challenging because the personality doesn’t easily surrender its claim on the whole of who we are. But without transformation, the soul remains restless and unfulfilled.

  The following wonderful passage from Cayce defines transformation succinctly:

  Q Explain what is meant by the transformation taking place or to take place in connection with the work of Edgar Cayce?

  A In an explanation, let’s all understand in their own speech. To some, an awakening to the greater channels of power; to others, more spirituality THAN materiality. To others, the karmic influences have reached THEIR changing point, that the vibrations may be brought one to another. In transformation comes a light for those that LOOK for same. 262-7

  What a truly remarkable statement; in essence, it’s the heart of the Cayce legacy. Notice the final sentence: it’s a summary of what the previous sentences are trying to capture. Transformation brings light into our lives, but we have to be looking for it. Light, or illumination, as soul awakening is sometimes called, brings a new capacity to see what’s going on inside and outside of ourselves. It also brings vibrancy and vitality, sure signs that a transformation is taking place.

  Returning to Cayce’s answer, he points out early on that transformation may mean different things to different people. There are three ways we can experience transformation:

  “Awakening to greater channels of power.” When we make the quantum leap of transforming the soul, we gain access to a new kind of power in our lives. But with that power comes greater responsibility.

  “More spirituality than materiality.” Spirituality emphasizes oneness, whereas materiality emphasizes distinctions, competition. With authentic transformation, we begin to respond to life in terms of oneness.

  “Karmic influences reach their changing point.” Here, it sounds like Edgar Cayce may be referring simply to grace, the law that complements karma. Karma means we are constantly contending with situations of our own making. Grace does not eradicate karma; it introduces an additional element to it that can turn “stumbling blocks into stepping-stones,” as Cayce often stated. Transformation comes when we are open to grace, that seemingly magical force of love that heals our most vexing problems. Grace lets us know we are undergoing transformation and not just improvement.

  EDGAR CAYCE’S WORK FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

  Edgar Cayce cofounded three organizations, two of them still active today.

  In 1925, Cayce joined forces with supporters to create the Association of National Investigators. It provided a legal framework for conducting Cayce’s work in general and a framework for parapsychological investigation in particular, especially with regard to medical clairvoyance. The ANI, as it was known, raised money to build and run the Cayce Hospital of Research and Enlightenment for two years starting in 1928. But when the hospital failed due to lack of funds and discord among its directors, ANI also collapsed.

  Concurrently, Cayce and several colleagues founded a small institution of higher learning, Atlantic University, in Virginia Beach, which opened its doors in the autumn of 1929. While there were great plans to expand the school’s scope, enrollment, and influence, less than two years later it, too, ran into severe financial difficulty and had to close its doors.

  But while ANI folded along with the hospital, Atlantic University was kept alive as a legal entity chartered in the state of Virginia, and some for
ty years after Edgar Cayce’s death, in the mid-1980s, it was reactivated as a small graduate school entitled by Virginia’s Council of Higher Education to grant master’s degrees. The program, referred to as Transpersonal Studies, is interdisciplinary, including courses in psychology, parapsychology, philosophy, religious studies, health sciences, and the arts. Although it offers an on-site resident program at its Virginia Beach campus, the majority of its students participate off-site by utilizing computer-based learning, which effectively makes its offerings available worldwide.

  Atlantic University offers in-depth study not only of the teachings of Edgar Cayce but also of a wide range of body-mind-spirit practitioners. The university also maintains an extensive Web site at www.atlanticuniv.edu, and is accredited through the Distance Education and Training Council, an organization authorized by the U.S. Department of Education to monitor schools’ delivery of curricula to students off-site.

  The third organization cofounded by Edgar Cayce is also still active today, and it is by far the largest of the three endeavors. Soon after the demise of ANI, several of Cayce’s most ardent supporters helped him start a new nonprofit organization to continue his work, even though the treasured hospital project had been abandoned. The Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), created in 1931, has for more than seventy years served to make Cayce’s work known to a wide array of audiences through publishing, membership, small group study, and conferences. As of the early twenty-first century, more than thirty thousand people are dues-paying members of ARE worldwide, but there are also literally hundreds of thousands of others who are students of Cayce’s work and access the various resources of ARE, especially its online materials at www.edgarcayce.org.

  One prominent branch of ARE is publishing. Not only has ARE Press issued a CD-ROM edition of all the Cayce readings and supporting documents, each year it also publishes several new books about how the principles detailed in the readings can be applied to daily life.

  Since 1931, ARE also has maintained a small group study program under the aegis of “A Search for God,” initially a single group in which Edgar Cayce himself was involved, eventually expanding over the decades to thousands of groups around the world. Cayce’s teachings have found a welcome audience in dozens of countries, many with their own organizations and translations of his teachings.

  Edgar Cayce had some very specific intentions for ARE, which he articulated in a lecture he delivered on June 27, 1935, to the fourth annual gathering of members of ARE. Most pointedly, he said:

  Do not get the idea that the Association is trying to revolutionize the world; or that it is entirely different from or better than that which anyone else has. As I understand the purpose of the Association, it is like this: If ONE individual during the past year has been aided in finding his relationship to God, then indeed the Association has been a marvelous success. On the other hand, if this has not been done, then, it has been a failure—no matter how many members it may have or how great an outward show it may make.

  REPORT ATTACHED TO 254-87

  And so it is the actual transformation of individual lives that Cayce himself set as a benchmark against which to evaluate the effectiveness of his teachings. The individual reader needs to decide for himself what in the teachings seems ripe for study and application and see if he feels his life is being changed for the better because of it. In this book, we will explore the “essential” Edgar Cayce, in eight chapters organized by theme, by examining the readings at the heart of his philosophy.

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE NATURE OF REALITY

  ALTHOUGH THE VAST MAJORITY OF EDGAR CAYCE’S READINGS were for ordinary people and dealt with everyday issues, there was a foundation underlying his pragmatic advice, a metaphysical system defining the orderliness of the universe.

  In this opening chapter, we explore three readings that present the essence of Cayce’s view of reality and our place in it. While the first of these readings was for a middle-aged woman who was ardently seeking her own spiritual answers, it has a profound message for all seekers. The second reading was Cayce’s attempt to depict reality in the broader sense, to paint the big picture, which was intended to be part of the 1943 biography There Is a River. Indeed reading 5749-14 is the pivotal reading given to Thomas Sugrue dealing with the overall philosophy governing the readings. The third reading addresses the problem of good and evil, and it was presented originally to a small group of Cayce’s followers who were preparing study materials for dissemination worldwide.

  In exploring these three readings, notice how often Cayce attempts to weave together the theoretical and the personal—the head and the heart—and how often he satisfied (or at least intrigues) the mind while speaking to the heart and its need for values, ideals, and inspiration.

  THE LAWS OF LIVING

  At the heart of Edgar Cayce’s view of reality is this essential teaching: The universe is a lawful, orderly place, and there is a rhyme and reason to the events that unfold there, that life is built on dependable rules. Reading 1567-2 spells out this philosophy in its most direct and succinct expression. It was given to a fifty-two-year-old woman who was deeply involved in “New Thought,” spiritual teachings originating in the late nineteenth century that contain many principles that overlap Cayce’s own, including the importance of self-discipline, meditation, and prayer. No doubt this background made her a particularly good candidate to receive his message.

  In many ways, here is Edgar Cayce the metaphysician at his best. Metaphysics largely deals with two issues: the nature of existence or being (ontology), and the orderly systems of the universe (cosmology). Cayce deals eloquently with both issues in the reading: he addresses who we are really and how we came into being; he addresses the question of God’s most basic nature; and he addresses the laws that govern our experience—for example, the roles of mind and free will in shaping our experience, or the deeper meaning of astrology. The following four points stand out as centerpieces of Cayce’s metaphysical system:

  All life is an expression of the one God, who truly exists. God is not a figment of our imagination, something that humans dreamed up long ago because they feared death. God is the foundation of all that is. Furthermore, the life that comes from God is continuous, eternal, and therefore our own lives as spiritual beings are continuous, eternal, and go beyond the grave.

  Life is purposeful. God started with a plan for us as souls. And even though each one of us chose to drift away—we made an “error of individual activity,” as Cayce puts it—that plan is still available to us. The good new is that the plan is all-inclusive, including all aspects of ourselves: physical, mental, and spiritual. That means that in discovering and fulfilling God’s plan for us, we are not required to deny any aspect of our human experience.

  The outer universe is represented in our own inner universe. The macrocosm reflects the microcosm, and vice versa. An event that happens on the broader scale of the universe also happens on the narrower scale of ourselves. One illustration of this principle is found in astrology (see appendix 2, “Edgar Cayce and Astrology,” page 267, for more detail).

  Each of us has a free will and the power to create. Mind and free will are the two attributes through which each soul can express spiritual energy. The mind exists with one foot in the material world, the other in the spiritual world. While the mind has the potential to be creative in either world, it’s the free will—the “ability to choose for self”—that determines which one will dominate the other. Those choices of the will shape the very essence of one’s character and individuality.

  As valuable as these four principles are, we nevertheless need to look for an even broader message in reading 1567-2. Edgar Cayce is more than a teacher of metaphysics, and this reading clearly shows he goes beyond how and why things are the way they are and ventures into the dimension of purposes, moral values, and ethics. It’s that extra dimension that lends his philosophy its depth.

  We miss the point of Cayce’s life an
d work if we reduce his philosophy to the metaphysical exclusively. It’s easy to fall into this trap because he does such a good job answering tough metaphysical questions. For instance, reading 1567-2 is full of fascinating clues about the many riddles of our existence. But in our delight in finding such a treasure chest of explanations, we need to notice some of the quieter, less sensationalistic truths about our purposes and ideals, about our values and ethics. Two such truths stand out especially in this reading.

  There is meaning in suffering. Suffering is not simply punishment for things we’ve done wrong in the past. Suffering is unavoidable; each of us experiences frustrations, disappointments, and pain. That’s just the character of physical life, as the Buddha said. Or, as Edgar Cayce said, we’ve entered into a realm of “trials of body and of mind” that tend to cloud the glories we might see. The good news is that even suffering can serve a higher purpose: It’s where we are tested so that we may be open to receive the reassuring, healing grace of the Divine. And what does suffering teach us about values and ideals? It shows us a new way of seeing and understanding our own pain, that guilt and shame aren’t appropriate, that it is at these very times that quiet encounters with the spirit are most likely to occur.