6/15/77 Talk given by GD during Congress Week 8:00 P.M. in
A.R.E. Auditorium:
GD's HISTORY/PERSPECTIVES/SUGGESTIONS ON E.C.F. AND A.R.E.
FOR YEARS 1931-1946.
To give the history of the E.C.F. and the A.R.E. I could
start at the beginning of Edgar Cayce's work, when he gave
the first reading in March 1901. Or I could start in
September 1923 when I went to work for him. But to be as
brief as possible I will start in February 1931 when the
Cayce Hospital closed, the A.N.I. dissolved, and the A.R.E.
began first as a thought form.
Edgar Cayce wrote letters to all those who had stood by him
through the years, who had been active or who had shown
interest in his work - the oldest contacts and the newest.
He called for a pre-organization meeting in March 1931 to
decide whether or not the work should continue, whether or
not there should be an organization at all, whether or not he
should give up "the work" entirely.
It was a grand meeting. People came from everywhere and
assured him that they wanted him to continue. The A.R.E. was
named through the reading and the purposes outlined. A very
broad charter was applied for and granted, the A.R.E.
receiving its certificate of incorporation on July 7, 1931.
We tried to make sure that the same thing wouldn't happen to
A.R.E. as to A.N.I., that the organization WOULD survive.
[See
254-52 through
254-58, including pertinent Reports,
under 3/31 through 7/31.]
An agreement was set up with Edgar Cayce by which he would
give readings for A.R.E. members and be paid a salary. He
would retain his copies of the readings as he had always
done. A business manager would relieve him of all
responsibility in connection with the business details. The
concern was to keep the A.R.E. alive and to protect Edgar
Cayce in his work. Some of the Board members began to
discuss the necessity of setting up an Edgar Cayce Foundation
to assure the continuance. You will see references to this
in the Work Readings ([
254] series), in the A.R.E. Minutes
the Board discussions, and in the Newsletters to members. In
May 1933 a Cayce Foundation dinner meeting was held in New
York, and in 1935 the Board appointed a committee to plan the
establishing of the Foundation to preserve the A.R.E. and the
work of Edgar Cayce, even after he had gone. We had
wonderful people on the Board.
The contract with Edgar Cayce was renewed year after year and
it was in effect at the time he died, January 3, 1945. Hugh
Lynn was overseas. Edgar Evans was stationed in California,
having returned to the States in time to see his father
before he died. The Executive Committee of the Board rallied
around. A meeting was held once a month, sometimes once a
week. The June Congress was held in 1945, and three new
members were added to the Board. Prior to that time, until
Edgar Cayce died, individuals had to be approved in a reading
before being put on the Board. Hugh Lynn, the A.R.E.
Manager, would secure a reading to question about each person
whose name had been submitted by the voting A.R.E. members.
This approval had been written into the Bylaws as being
necessary.
Two of the three new board members, elected at that 1945
board meeting, were very interested in psychic phenomena but
did not have much background in the Edgar Cayce work. There
was a long discussion, led by one of the new members, about
how that when a great spiritual leader dies his work so often
becomes crystallized or static; that there are arguments
about it and the followers divide into groups or factions, so
as to have two or three claiming that they are the right one.
The new board member continued:
"This man Edgar Cayce is gone - he can't give any more
readings. There is no reason for A.R.E. Why not dissolve it
by selling off all the readings to a university or a psychic
research organization?"
The oldtimers on the Board were horrified at the very idea of
discontinuing A.R.E. We KNEW that the work should continue,
and that it WOULD. The promise had been made in the readings
over and over again. [See especially
262-3, Par. 19-A and
294-185, Par. 19-A, besides the entire [
254] series on the
work.]
Hugh Lynn returned home in November 1945. On January 19,
1946 the regular semi-annual meeting of the Board of Trustees
was held at the Town Hall Club, 123 West 43rd St., New York,
N.Y., Room A, for the purpose of considering "every phase of
the program affecting the whole future of the Association."
At that meeting Douglas T. Johnston, a charter member of the
A.R.E. Board, an investment counselor in New York City, again
advised the forming of a separate organization whose primary
purpose would be to preserve the readings and their
integrity; to have custody and to make them available in a
proper way through qualified organizations and individuals,
primarily through the A.R.E. as a membership organization but
also through any other source that could present them or
research them in the ways the readings on the work had
outlined that they should be used. Douglas T. Johnston made
this motion and Rudolph Johnson, attorney, of Dallas, Texas,
seconded it, and it was unanimously passed.
So that's how the Edgar Cayce Foundation came into being.
The legal heirs to the Edgar Cayce legacy of readings,
accompanying correspondence, reports, memorabilia and records
of whatever nature pertaining thereto, had then the job of
making application to turn the E.C.F. into a legal entity.
Thus only could the A.R.E. continue to function in accord
with its charter as it had done while Edgar Cayce was alive.
On December 10, 1946 Hugh Lynn Cayce wrote a three-page
report on the Foundation to the A.R.E. members (see in date
sequence under Appendix) [See
254-116, Par. R16], in which he
included this statement in item one (1) on page one:
"I LIKE TO THINK OF THESE THREE - THE ASSOCIATION [we had not
yet begun to call it A.R.E.], THE PUBLISHING COMPANY AND THE
FOUNDATION - AS THE MIND, BODY, AND SOUL OF OUR OVER-ALL
PROGRAM TO MAKE FULL USE OF THE RECORDS AND THE INSPIRATION
OF EDGAR CAYCE'S WORK WHICH BASICALLY WAS THE BRINGING TO MEN
EVERYWHERE A GREATER AWARENESS OF THEIR REAL NATURE AND
PURPOSE HERE." [GD's italics [caps]]
12/08/83 GD's note in re 254-57, Par. 20-A: It has just
occurred to me, after all these years, that the reason for
not having a Jew as Chairman of the Board was to prevent
David E. Kahn from being chosen for that particular position
[though he would have been o.k. as Mgr.]. You see, for years
afterward, David Kahn and Morton Blumenthal were in legal
battles, each suing the other. Dave had given the furniture
for the hospital, besides contributing monthly to the upkeep,
etc., just as Morton, Edwin, Tim, Mr. Bradley, etc. He
objected to turning over all assets to Morton. The "Forces"
foresaw problems with Dave as Chairman of the new A.R.E.,
involving it in his personal battle with the Blumenthals.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation