If anyone has ever read the Harmon Hartzell Bro’s book: “A seer out of season: The Life of Edgar Cayce”, you would have to sympathise, completely, with Edgar Cayce and his extraordinary life. In recent months, not only have I read a lot of material about Cayce’s transpersonal experience but I have, also, listened to several audio books such as Thomas Sugrue’s: “There is a river”, Mark A. Thurston’s “Reincarnation and Past lives”, “Understanding your dreams”, “Awaken your Mind” and many more. In the past, for my own research purposes, I, also, had the pleasure of reading Edgar Cayce’s readings on Atlantis and reincarnation.
Some of you may not know this but, all the available material concurs that Edgar’s experiences may have had founding roots in his childhood when, as a young boy, he saw the apparition of an Angel before him.
It doesn’t transpire, anywhere, that Edgar had any real conscious awareness, or, true, logical understanding of what he could do nor the reason why he could do it.
His childhood request to the Angel was to be able to help people, especially suffering children, in the name of God. His inner most desire was to be an instrument for the good of humanity. Yet, when he discovered his amazing ability, I think he still had a sense of incredulous bewilderment and at times even a little self-scepticism. I get the impression that he was a little doubtful of it all but that he pursued it as if he was, simply, following the will of God. I think he, truly, believed he had received a gift, and a calling, from God which needed to be used for the greater good in the bigger picture.
When Edgar drifted off into a sleep / trance like state, he became an outlet for knowledge that was deemed far superior to, and way beyond, his educational background. Thus, he was dubbed a psychic. Yet, as a modest man, Edgar, invariably, refuted this claim and believed, himself, to be no more than a communicative means for messages received from the Divine Higher Source of all knowing, or God, with whom he felt a very strong connection.
The most amazing aspects, of Edgar’s abilities, are: a) that he gave over 14,000 readings, for people, in 30 years or so and b) that he could pinpoint the right person, diagnose the exact malady and specify the correct remedy needed. All whilst in this sleep like state.
I feel that Edgar probably struggled with, what I can only define as, a certain frustration at times as well. He strikes me as a man who wanted to do so much for so many people yet, at the same time, he seemed fully aware of his human limitations and the finiteness of his time on earth. which may have burdened him. I, also, think that he would have liked to have been more consciously aware of what he was doing and, possibly, be more acknowledged as Edgar the man, rather than just being known as the “sleeping prophet”.
In other words, I feel that he probably struggled with internal conflicts over what he knew as a sleeper and what he knew as a conscious, living, person. It must have been difficult, for him, to accept that the “awake” mind had only a limited capacity of knowledge and yet that the “sleeping” mind had infinite resources, especially during the 1940s when “knowledge beyond knowledge” was subject to more scepticism and mockery than today. Marrying the two, contradictory, aspects of himself was probably not an easy task albeit he was a man of devoted faith.
However, it was very obvious right from the start that Edgar’s Inner being was not happy following any path other than his most secretly desired wish to help people hence the loss of his voice, not once but twice.
Helping people was the “path with heart” that Edgar had consciously, or unconsciously, chosen as a young boy. It was only through this loss of his voice, when following the financial path to sustentation ends, and subsequent self-healing, that Edgar paid any real attention to his, somewhat unusual, ability, even though he was very cautious in its usage, especially on others, during his early days of experimenting with it.
However, once he decided to follow the path with heart, throughout his life, Edgar accepted his ability as a Divine gift sent to him as a reply to his prayer. He never sought to capitalise from it nor did he ever want it misused in any way, shape or form, for fear that it may be revoked for not serving God as he wished so much to do. He, sometimes, felt that, maybe, it was the product of a pledge made to God.
I deeply admire Edgar Cayce and his life work. I sense him as a modest man who had a very deep love for God, for other fellow humans and life in general. He was a person who, fully, understood the very frailty of human nature and the need for an “alternative” way of living that could benefit the whole human race, regardless of creed or religious beliefs, which is reflected in his readings.
He understood that we all have the same innate abilities as he did and that its manifestation was all a question of being connected to the Higher Self within and the Source, which is contained within every human being. He believed that only through strengthening our relationship with God would we be able to tap into the universal knowledge made available to us.
I am of the opinion that Edgar wanted the whole world to know what he, indirectly, knew, which is why he did so many readings despite health risks to his own self. He wanted the readings to be left for posterity as an example, of what we are capable of, as humans, of how important it is for us all to take responsibility for ourselves and our lives and, also, as a means to provoking more “subconscious” awareness in the conscious world. He wanted to awaken people to “alternative” possibilities, which is happening slowly but surely nowadays. I am going to be a bit pertinent here and say that my opinion is that his love of God and other human beings was, probably, greater than the love for himself.
Probably, his most notoriously researched readings relate to health and healing. Almost all of the readings within this category promote the wholeness of the individual; physically, mentally and spiritually. Edgar propagates that illness in one area is the result of functional disharmony between the three main areas. His belief was that if people changed their mental disposition, adjusted their diets accordingly, incorporated regular exercise into their daily routines, along with relaxation techniques, recreational activities and meditation practices or prayer, they would be predisposing themselves to an all round healthier state of being.
He could be said to have been promoting the notion of “prevention is better than cure” and that maintaining a healthy lifestyle need not be an arduous task. He was trying to encourage people to look inwardly to themselves and take more responsibility over their mind, body, soul in order to realise that they do play an active role in their own physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
Edgar Cayce, also, believed that all healing came from within and that this healing, from within, was the part of each human being that was connected to the Divine, to God, and that the stronger this connection is, the greater the healing potential. Furthermore, a better relationship with God would be conducive to better relationships with others.
He believed that, within the development of these relationships, a person would find inner peace and sufficient love to change, and maintain, a more positive mental attitude, which in turn would be conducive to a happier disposition and a healthier life in general. In fact, one of his greater beliefs was that living with fear was one of the main culprits of ill health. He was concerned with the fact that many people spent too much of their life worrying about this and that, being afraid of something or other and not spending enough time to appreciate life and dedicate ones self to individual welfare.
In other words, if people’s lives were filled with more love, more faith, and more positive outlooks they would free themselves from the constraints of fear and instinctively “know” which path would be the one with heart that they should follow. Thus, people would be better equipped to deal with events in their life, for better or for worse, because they would have their faith, and their inner knowing, to guide them.
Edgar let his abilities, his faith and his readings guide him. He attracted people, and circumstances, into his life, whether he understood them or not. He followed the path to wherever it led him, even if it did not seem rationally logical at times. Benefactors came in and out of his life and it was not always a bed of roses but he never swayed from what he truly believed in. He walked along his “path with heart” to his very last day.
A part from his readings on health related issues, Edgar, also gave readings on a number of my own personal favourite topics such as: “Reincarnation”, “The Dead Sea Scrolls”, “Karma” and the lost continent of “Atlantis”.
It was through his readings on the latter that he propagated the history of a more holistic approach to life, relationships with others and health. He described the Atlanteans as a people who lived in perfect harmony with nature, amongst themselves and with God. He, furthermore, describes how greed, power and disconnection from the Divine brought about the end of this utopian civilisation.
Again, his “unwitting” message is one of living in love, kinship with fellow humans, harmony and peace following a pure and Divine path, instead of chasing greed and avarice. He suggests that everything we ever need is provided for in nature and that people need to take time to improve both their relationship with God and with others.
Throughout his life, though, Edgar Cayce has been at the centre of much controversial debate. He received praise and admiration from those who worked with him and those who were healed by him, yet received an equal amount of criticism from sceptics.
On the one hand, those who knew Edgar, i.e. his family, friends and close working colleagues claim that he was a literate man but not to the point of having such great knowledge in an array of areas, especially not the medical field. So, for them, his knowledge had to be psychic, from somewhere beyond the, consciously, known.
His sceptics argue that Edgar’s accounts may have been altered, or doctored, by the specialists who were working with him at that time, to suit their own practices. Some argue that his stenographer, Gladys, may have altered some items she recorded in order to befit the terminology in use at the time. In retort, though, one may argue that it is only natural that the diagnoses, and treatments be transformed into comprehensible terminology common in his day and that, more specifically, the health treatments adhered closely to ones more commonly known, and acceptable, in his day.
Jung suggested we all have the ability to tap into a Higher Source of knowledge under the right conditions. So, if Edgar’s knowledge was pre-stored in his subconscious mind, or if it was the product of a collective subconscious, that he tapped into, it is only natural that there should have been some form of adaptation to, comprehensible, language terms of his day. The English language grows by an average of 50,000 new terms annually. Our 2007 lingo would have been no good at Edgar’s time, just like future terms would be no good nowadays, since we do not know what developments will occurs. So, even if his knowledge was from a supposed Higher being, it would still be in a comprehensible linguistic format for his time in history.
Edgar Cayce did not set out to be a famous healer/psychic etc. He was simply a man who had a desire to help others. He followed his path with heart, despite his own insecurities, the encountered failures, his sceptics and everything else. He lived out his dream of rendering a service to thousands of desperate people who turned to him in their darkest hour of need. Despite his shortcomings, on some occasions, he gave the world new insights and new teachings for a better way of living and being present in the world. In the process he fulfilled his childhood dream.
Bibliography
Bro, Harmon. A Seer Out of Season: the Life of Edgar Cayce. New York: St. Martin’s Press 1989. (Paperback)
Thomas Sugrue. There is a River – Audio Book
Cayce, Edgar - Reading Topic - OCCULT: ATLANTIS
TEXT OF READING 364-10 - Pinewood on Lake Drive, Virginia Beach, Va., 28th day of April, 1932.
Cayce, Edgar – Reading Topic – Holistic Healing
TEXT OF READING 1189-2
Johnson, Paul. Edgar Cayce in Context. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1998
Copyright: VenRecords 1992
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