It is a cold and rainy mid-afternoon.
You are waiting for Carol at Kroger’s on Tylersville after a lunch at
Smashburgers and a kid’s cup sized dessert at Graeter’s. You had another errand
– taking some sweaters to Good Will. – Amorella
1608
hours. I have begun cleaning my chest-of-drawers. The bottom three drawers are
cleaned and I’m working up. I also have lots of ‘junk’ in the top two as well
as socks as well as who knows what. Time to check my email for the first time
today.
1808
hours. I spent an hour and a half taking everything out of the top two drawers.
I have a trash bag more than half full and I have begun putting everything back
in the top drawer. I have four containers to go through and throw out stuff
among outdated electronic gear.
There is some exaggeration in the above
paragraph, but not much. Later, dude. -
Amorella
Almost
time for bed. Carol made scrambled eggs with ham as well as a side of mixed
veggies. You watched several shows. Carol is upstairs reading, and was when you
watched last night’s “Grimm”. You have been thinking about how the universe may
be as a hologram but when you look up information much of it is from people who
use the concept in a pseudoscientific way. This bothers you because you do not
want to use the concept that way. – Amorella
2245
hours. Reality may be as a hologram I don’t have a problem with that. I
remember back in the mid to late 1960’s when I read the Edgar Cayce books. In
1972 Carol and I even visited the Institute in Virginia Beach. We were taken
back by people, who ‘believed’ and acted as though Cayce was a real prophet, –
too much so for our liking, and our interest began to wane.
** **
Edgar
Cayce March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an
American mystic who answered questions on subjects as varied as healing,
reincarnation, wars, Atlantis, and future events while in a trance. A
biographer gave him the nickname, "The Sleeping Prophet." A nonprofit
organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment,] was founded to facilitate the
study of Cayce's work. A hospital and a university were also established.
Cayce
is a well-documented psychic of the 20th century. Hundreds of books have been
written about him. Cayce's practice of reading through the entire Bible each
year was thought to give him the insight to reconcile his Christian beliefs
with the metaphysical information provided while in trance, and some consider
him the true founder and a principal source of the most characteristic beliefs
of the New Age Movement.
Cayce became a celebrity toward
the end of his life, and he believed the publicity given to his prophecies
overshadowed the more important parts of his work, such as healing the sick and
studying religion. Skeptics challenge Cayce's alleged psychic abilities, and traditional
Christians also question his unorthodox answers on religious matters such as
reincarnation, and the Akashic records.
Psychic
abilities
Cayce
has variously been referred to as a “prophet” (cf. Jess Stearn’s book, The
Sleeping Prophet), a "mystic" and a "seer". While
giving a reading for a seeker, he at times referred to consulting the Akashic
Record (the etheric imprint) of that soul's experience. The only biography
written during Cayce's lifetime was There is a River, by Thomas Joseph
Sugrue.
Cayce's
methods involved lying down and entering into a sleep state, usually at the
request of a subject who was seeking help with health or other personal
problems. Subjects would not normally be present, and their questions would be
given to Cayce, who would then proceed with a reading. Initial readings dealt
primarily with the physical health of the individual; later readings might be
given on past lives, business advice, dream interpretation, and mental or
spiritual health.
Until
September 1923, his readings were not systematically recorded or preserved.
However, an article published in the Birmingham
Post-Herald on October 10, 1922, quotes Cayce as saying that he had given
8,056 readings as of that date and it is known that he gave approximately
13,000–14,000 readings after that date. Today, a total of 14,306 are available
at A.R.E. Cayce headquarters in Va. Beach and an online member-only section
along with background information, correspondence, and follow-up documentation.
When
out of the trance, Cayce would not remember what he had said during the
reading. The unconscious mind, according to Cayce, has access to information
that the conscious mind does not—a common assumption about hypnosis in Cayce's
time. After Gladys Davis became Cayce's secretary on September 10, 1923, all
readings were preserved and his wife, Gertrude Evans Cayce, generally guided
the readings.
Cayce
said that his trance statements should be taken into account only to the extent
that they led to a better life for the recipient. Moreover, he invited his
subjects to test his suggestions rather than accept them on faith.
Other abilities that have been
attributed to Cayce include astral projection, prophesying, mediumship, viewing
the Akashic Records or "Book of Life", and seeing auras. Cayce said
he became interested in learning more about these subjects after he was
informed about the content of his readings, which he reported that he never
actually heard himself.
Supporters
Cayce's
clients included a number of famous people such as Woodrow Wilson, Thomas
Edison, Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.
Gina
Cerminara published books such as Many Mansions and The World Within.
Brian Weiss published a bestseller regarding clinical recollection of past
lives, Many Lives, Many Masters. These books provide broad support for
spiritualism and reincarnation. Many Mansions elaborates on Cayce's work
and supports his stated abilities with real life examples.
This
is an example from Gina Cerminara.
Cayce
once gave a reading on a blind man, a musician by profession, who regained part
of his vision in one eye through following the physical suggestions given by
Cayce. This man happened to have a passion for railroads and a tremendous
interest in the Civil War. In the life reading Cayce gave, he said that the man
had been a soldier in the South, in the army of Lee, and that he had been a
railroad man by profession in that incarnation. Then he proceeded to tell him
that his name in that life was Barnett Seay, and that the records of Seay could
still be found in the state of Virginia. The man took the trouble to hunt for
the records and found them in the state capitol at Richmond: that is to say he
found the record of one Barnett Seay, standard-bearer in Lee's army who had
entered and been discharged from the service in such and such a year.
The Dictionary
of American Religious Biography writes about Cayce.
As a humble individual full of
self-doubts, Cayce never profited from his mystic gift. He read the Bible every
day, taught Sunday School, and helped others only when asked. Many did ask, and
over the years he produced readings that diagnosed health problems, prescribed
dietary regimens, dealt with psychic disorders, and predicted future events
such as wars, earthquakes, and changes in governments. He spoke, moreover, of reincarnations,
the early history of Israel, and the lost civilization of Atlantis. Enough of
his diagnoses and predictions proved true to silence many skeptics and to
develop a wide following.
Criticism
Skeptics
say that the evidence for Cayce's powers comes from contemporaneous newspaper
articles, affidavits, anecdotes, testimonials, and books. Martin Gardner, for
example, wrote that while Cayce's trances did happen, most of the information
from his trances was derived from books that Cayce had been reading by authors
such as Carl Jung, P. D. Ouspensky, and Helena Blavatsky. Gardner's hypothesis
was that the trance readings of Cayce contain, "little bits of information
gleaned from here and there in the occult literature, spiced with occasional
novelties from Cayce's unconscious.”
Skeptics
are also critical of Cayce's support for various forms of alternative medicine,
which they regard as quackery. Michael Shermer writes in Why People Believe Weird Things, "Uneducated beyond the ninth
grade, Cayce acquired his broad knowledge through voracious reading and from
this he wove elaborate tales.” Shermer wrote that, "Cayce was
fantasy-prone from his youth, often talking with angels and receiving visions
of his dead grandfather." Shermer further cites James Randi as saying,
"Cayce was fond of expressions like 'I feel that' and 'perhaps'—qualifying
words used to avoid positive declarations." Examination of the readings do
not show qualifying terms.
Skeptical
investigator Joe Nickell has noted:
Although
Cayce was never subjected to proper testing, ESP pioneer Dr. Joseph B. Rhine of
Duke University — who should have been sympathetic to Cayce's claims — was
unimpressed. A reading that Cayce gave for Rhine's daughter was notably
inaccurate. Frequently, Cayce was even wider off the mark, as when he provided
diagnoses of subjects who had died since the letters requesting the
readings were sent.
Science
writer Karen Stollznow has written:
The
reality is that his cures were hearsay and his treatments were folk remedies
that were useless at best and dangerous at worse... Cayce wasn't able to cure
his own cousin, or his own son who died as a baby. Many of Cayce's readings
took place after the patient had already died.
Biblical Christians are critical
of Cayce's views on issues such as reincarnation, oneness, and the Akashic
records.
Selected and edited from
Wikipedia
** **
2316
hours. I may have put this in the blog a few years ago. I don’t remember.
Reading and studying such material has made me quite skeptical, but at least
one percent of my mind is open for truths that may come from any tongue and
quarter of the world. I do not know.
Post. Carol is calling you up to bed, boy.
Get cracking. – Amorella.
2319 hours. You
are so funny Amorella. You really are.
