3/28/83 Excerpts from this week's A.R.E. Staff Minutes [which
GD thinks timely to add, at this late date, to that long ago
Edgar Cayce reading which told us how to "carry on" the
Work]:
A "NUMBER-ONE" GIRL - JERRY MCDOWELL AND HER NIGHTTIME
INSPIRATION
Jerry McDowell, originally from Ashland, Kentucky, came in
contact with A.R.E. through Jess Stearn's book, THE SLEEPING
PROPHET, in 1967 and visited here that year. In 1969 she
joined the organization and moved here after her husband died
in 1973. She started working in the A.R.E. Bookstore in 1974
for Phyllis Embleton and then worked as a receptionist and
for Jane Killen in the Library when it was still in the
Headquarters Building.
Later she worked three years in Data Processing and Computers
at the Naval Airbase. During this time she volunteered at
A.R.E. two days a week during the wintertime and during the
summer she worked here at night from 5 to 10 o'clock for
three nights a week. (Approximately 1,000 hours in two
years)
In 1978 she became a part of the library staff and worked in
A.R.E.'s Data Processing Department on the night shift.
Today she is a Library Assistant, working "on the desk" and
processing books.
Last Saturday night she had difficulty sleeping and when she
did sleep the following material kept coming to her. She'd
get up and write and then go back to bed and more would come.
She couldn't remember it all, but this is the gist of it.
K. B. [Kitty Brittell, Ed. A.R.E. News]
The A.R.E. is a dedicated, CHOSEN, group of people.
Edgar Cayce said, "Many will be drawn 'to the Work,' but only
those intended to carry it on will stay." We have stuck like
burrs to our jobs and have watched A.R.E. grow from a small
group to an organization with 40,000 members. We have
volunteered when money was short and worked many hours
overtime without pay. We are followers of a dream and eager
to share that dream with others. We are, as the late Les
Wilmore put it, "Researchers waiting to be enlightened."
We have been drawn to A.R.E. from everywhere - all states,
all walks of life - drawn by a spark lit by a book, a friend,
a newspaper article, a TV program, a radio program that
kindled within us a desire to share in a project that seemed
worthwhile, to help others and thus enrich our souls. We
have sold our homes, left our jobs, our families and our
friends to come to Virginia Beach - a safe place - where
people of like minds are drawn together. As many readings
state, "Those who belong 'to the work' will find their way to
it."
We have worn clothes from "Things Unlimited" and garage
sales. We have lived in one room efficiencies, garages, and
shared rooms with friends to stay here. We have tightened
our belts and hung in.
We have been called "way out" and "Kooks" but so was Edgar
Cayce. In spite of jeers and doubts, the name of Edgar Cayce
is known worldwide and has made the word "psychic" and
"readings" go to the far corners of the earth. People come
and keep coming and some, "the chosen," stay and start
helping to make the dream come true of a better world with
caring, sharing, aware people in it. We have come with stars
in our eyes - may they keep shining. We are as eager as
puppies to share in a feeling of belonging to a group that is
striving to improve the world.
Many of us are psychic and that helps as we have an insight
into others that enables us to look inside a person and see
what is in his heart. Many who weren't psychic to begin with
became so. Doubters have become believers. In all
departments we meet people who have had something happen to
them that they don't understand. They need someone to talk
to who won't laugh and who will assure them that they are not
losing their minds - that they have had a door opened to the
psychic and that others have had the same experience. We
work in a place where if someone says, "I went out of my body
last night," someone will say, "You DID? Where did you go?"
We don't say, "You're crazy." Take time to listen.
There have been problems and adversities, good times and bad.
Everyone and every organization has them, but unlike most of
this chaotic world we have a goal and we must try and keep it
before us - 'the Work' must go on. We change positions, we
search to find the niche in which we will accomplish more and
be of more service and to be happy and satisfied in the doing
it. A happy soul shines - it attracts others - don't hide
your light under a bushel. We must strive to set a good
example so that others will want to follow in our footsteps.
In striving to get ahead, we shouldn't shove, we should
encourage. We shouldn't prod - extend a hand. Anger and
quarrels only hinder. Open discussions and suggestions
accomplish more with fewer smarts to the ego. We have all
been together before and old encounters linger in our
subconscious, but the life we are living now is the one in
which we are chalking up Brownie points for the next life.
When you take the joy out of a job, it becomes a chore. Now
is the time for soul searching. Are you lifting up or
tearing down? Are you making others happy or miserable
Constructing or deconstructing? Think about it! Appreciate
abilities, be compassionate with frailties. Give advice,
don't censor. You'll gain by it!
Every day we hear "We don't have time to discuss it," "We
don't have time to do it." Beware! Time has a way of
running out! When the mortar goes, the bricks fall apart.
The human touch, the awareness of what's going on about us,
the looking in and familiarizing oneself with the spokes in
the wheel, will help the hub to move the whole cart. We NEED
the adhesive, the glue, the ideals that hold us together. We
NEED the force, the impact of our combined awareness and
knowledge to keep moving upward. We need the good, the light
- not the bad, the darkness. We are the Sons [and Daughters]
of Light - let's act like it!
Milton says, "They also serve who only stand and wait." The
secret is to know what we are waiting and standing FOR!
Easter is coming - a new beginning, a resurrection of the
soul. Let's put our souls on the upward path. Strive for
the heavens, reach for the stars, start living our dream!



Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation