The Essential Edgar Cayce by Mark Thurston Page A
Authors: Mark Thurston
Tags: General, Biography & Autobiography, Literary Criticism, Body, Mind & Spirit, Religious, Parapsychology, Occultism, Telepathy, Mysticism, prophecy, Precognition, ESP (Clairvoyance
Ads: Link
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
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
Similar Books
