4/30 Booklet published by ANI, Inc.:
THE NEW TO-MORROW
APRIL, 1930
Published Quarterly By
THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL INVESTIGATORS, INC.
At
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA.
Price 25 cents Subscription $1.00
"THAT WE MAY MAKE MANIFEST OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND MAN"
THE NEW TO-MORROW
Published Quarterly by The Association of National
Investigators, Inc.
For Its Members
PUBLICATION OFFICE - Virginia Beach, Va.
EDITORIAL OFFICE - Lexington, Va.
THOMAS J. SUGRUE, Editor HUGH LYNN CAYCE, Managing Editor
Vol. I. APRIL, 1930 No. 2.
CONTENTS
Page
HISTORICAL.................................................2
MEMORIES - Hugh Lynn Cayce.............................2
PHILOSOPHICAL..............................................7
MY CONCEPT OF GOD - PART TWO - Morton H. Blumenthal... 7
MAN'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD - Edgar Cayce...............16
FICTION...................................................21
SUNRISE - Thomas J. Sugrue............................21
A LONG, LONG TIME AGO.................................39
EDITORIAL.................................................24
EDUCATIONAL...............................................22
HOW TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION - Franklin F. Bradley......22
AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT - Hugh Lynn Cayce..............36
NEWS AND VIEWS............................................41
THE LETTER BOX............................................43
Contents fully copyrighted, 1930, by Thomas J. Sugrue.
All rights reserved. Second class mailing privilege
applied for. Subscription rates $1.00 per year, included
in membership dues. (Single copies 25 cents. Foreign
subscriptions $1.50). Address all communications to
Thomas J. Sugrue, Drawer 896, Lexington, Va.
THOUGHTS
Cold, dark winds that are wet with rain
Come out of the west to bring me pain,
And beat on my face as I turn and stare,
Till the rain and tears are mingled there
And I know not which is which.
Somebody plays a vagrant tune
And twists it round a drunken moon,
For two young lovers to disentwine
And an old, old man to drown in wine,
And I know not which is rich.
The seasons come and the seasons go,
And our tears are shed on grass and snow;
And all of our hearts are wrung with pain
And twisted aright with song again
And the perfume of a rose.
And that is the way that Life goes by,
A laughing tear and a smiling sigh;
And there is no end for there was no start,
And the soul goes on when we stop the heart,
And we know not where it goes.
T.J.S.
MEMORIES
Hugh Lynn Cayce
In this paper I want to approach the subject of reincarnation
from its oldest and most popular appeal. I realize that in
so doing I am opening a discussion subject to all manner of
attack from those persons who are practical-minded. Please
remember that as yet I am not trying to prove anything to
you. It is my purpose to strike some note of interest in
your mind and prepare the way for the coming of the mass of
scientifically collected and recorded data which will, in the
future, make some dent on the most hardened skeptics. But
first the ground must be prepared. You must begin to think
and read on the subject. In the end it will be worth your
while. In the end you will come to see that this theory is
not a wild dream for the mystically inclined to go mad over,
but a vital part of the system of laws and processes that
governs your existence and work on this earth. You will
come to understand the value of studying the real background
that lies behind your environment and heredity. History will
mean more to you. Finally you will come to know, through
understanding this process, a little more of just what it
is all about and just what part in the whole affair you
are playing.
In the following paragraphs you are going to find an example
of an experience similar to many you have had, time after
time. Who of you has not come upon some unfamiliar scene,
or watched some happening, that becomes vaguely but
annoyingly familiar. Perhaps it has been some scene
in a foreign country that you have previously never
visited; perhaps it was some individual before unknown,
or it even may have been some object that aroused a sense
of the familiar. Psychology, of course, has worked out for
such cases a very logical explanation, which in many cases
is correct.
Let us take a simple case and follow this line of reasoning.
You stroll into Mrs. Jones' garden for the first time.
Something about the arrangement of the flowers, the benches,
the walkways and the fountain, remind you of something that
you cannot quite remember. You are delighted with the very
atmosphere that seems to hover about the spot. While you
toss platitudes to Mrs. Jones, your mind is searching for
something to establish a grasp upon, a connecting link with
some past experience. The explanation is obvious. Your
artistic sense of proportion is satisfied by the arrangement
in the garden. In your trend of experiences, in reading or
by observation, you have noticed some garden that lacked a
point or two that are included in Mrs. Jones' garden. Your
mind tries to go back to bring out this image. Or perhaps
you have imagined at some time the image of a garden you
would like to be in, and you find in Mrs. Jones' garden
things arranged just as you would like them.
All this is very logical, and very interesting, but there is
the interesting question of just where the first suggestion
of such a garden came from. Just why are you not pleased
by some garden that is more orderly planned, that is more
beautiful or larger, etc.? Why should you imagine for your
own pleasure, just this type of garden? Do you not see that
there is something deeper, something back of this, that may
influence your mental interest in this particular garden?
Is it not possible that in some past experience you enjoyed
a pleasant afternoon in just such a garden as Mrs. Jones',
and that this feeling has been carried over, and influences
you?
This is, of course, a childish, simple illustration. Search
about in your memory, and I believe you will find many that
are far more interesting and explanatory. Memories are
sometimes beautiful things, but how much more lovely they
would be if we could recall at will experiences from all the
pasts! Begin to develop your memory of the past. Write
down your dreams, both night and day, and you will begin to
open a new world of forgotten experiences, more thrilling
than a best-seller, for you will be the hero or heroine.
The following may interest you. The first scene was taken
from Life Readings, the second from actual experiences.
Around the influence of the first on the second there has
been builded a great friendship which has meant much to
the individuals concerned. But let us first have the
experiences, and then the explanation.
The day had come. The usual quiet of the monastery was
disturbed by the low, suppressed murmur of those preparing
for the ceremonies. Here and there through the arches moved
black robed figures, the soft, padded tread of their sandals
and the swish of their gowns blending with the faint sounds
of life awakening in early spring. A lone bird attempted a
few feeble notes; a dog, somewhere in the distance, barked
a bit more joyously than usual. The wind blew gustily, but
it was not cold.
In the shadow of one of the massive stone arches a young man
stood. A ray of sun-light had crept through a crack above
him, streaming in a long streak across the coarse gown he
wore. His attention was caught. It was like the flash
of a gleaming sword blade. It flashed on his hand. No,
what had once been a hand. Only three fingers remained.
Nervously he rubbed the scarred flesh against the cloth
until it irritated him. The three fingers opened and
closed convulsively. It had not been so long ago that
this had held the thongs of a shield. It had not been
so long ago that he, Olif Ericson, stood face to face, and
fought and killed warriors whose hair was as fair as his
own. It seemed a long step from the din of the battle-field
to the quiet of this - this House of God, as they called
it. For a moment he let his mind go back to her. She
was beautiful. But only those things spiritual are really
beautiful. She had smiled. He had loved. Her ways and
manners were strange to him. He had been young. Now he
felt old, so very old. On and on he had gone in a mad
pursuit, losing his heart and head. Finally she had broken
faith with him, laughed at him. There were others, many
others. He could not understand. Life had seemed empty.
Nothing was left. Then there had come the council of Father
Oliof. He smiled as he thought of him. Not many years older
than himself, yet he had brought to Olif the knowledge of the
Christ. A peaceful quietness had filled him. A new horizon
loomed before him. He had forgiven her. The church, the
love of all it stood for, had come to take possession of his
mind and body and soul. The period of noviceship had passed
quickly. Today he was ready to take the final vows. He was
glad. Regrets, one by one, had faded.
The sound of a voice brought him out of his revery. "Are you
ready, Olif?"
He turned to find before him the tall figure of a brother
of the order. It was he who was to lead him to the inner
chapel. Olif nodded and smiled. There was the faintest
sign of an answering smile. Together the two moved off
along the corridor. Not a word passed between them. In the
heart of one there was a great expectancy, an all-enveloping
sense of the nearness of that which is God, in the heart of
the other - who knows what the feeling might have been?
Before a massive door they paused, and Olif's companion
knocked upon it. During the few seconds they waited for
the answering knock Olif's attention centered on the carving
on the door. The crude figures of knights in armor seemed
alive. What curious things they wore. The inscription he
could not read. What a change from a castle to an abode of
monks. The answering knock interrupted his thoughts. The
door opened and he was ushered into a dimly-lit room. On
either side were dark figures that seemed to melt into the
very blackness of the walls. Silence. Only the low, short
breathing of the men was audible. At the far end of the
room there was another door, which now stood open. Beyond
it, kneeling before an altar, he saw the familiar figure of
Father Oliof. A figure advanced from the side and spoke.
Mechanically Olif repeated the words he had learned. In
a daze he went through the ceremony. He crushed the desire
to rush into the next room and throw himself before the
altar. Finally it was over and and he was led on to the
farther door. Slowly it closed behind him and he was alone
with Father Oliof. The priest motioned him to kneel before
the altar. As Olif felt the hand upon his head something
swelled inside him that seemed about to tear him apart.
His voice at first broke, as he repeated the vows, but
gradually it grew stronger with each word. It was over.
Then Father Oliof did a strange thing. He grasped him by
the hand and smiled, ever so faintly.
It was late afternoon. Edward walked restlessly up and down
the room. Everything was quiet in the fraternity house,
though from the outside came an occasional break in the
silence. The fire-bell had rung once, a rooster had crowed,
and now and then a gust of wind would rustle a bunch of dead
leaves that clung tenaciously to the limb of the scrubby
little oak tree near the window.
He was the last one to go through. Damn, it was taking a
long time to run off the final ceremonies of the initiation.
Yes, the past week had been something of a gripe, but now it
was over, and in a few more minutes he would be one of the
the brothers. T. J. really had been nice to him. It would
have been hard without him. He was head of the chapter. He
would probably have a lot to do with the ceremony. Edward's
thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a black-gowned
figure. "Well ole man, it won't be long. Lord, these robes
are hot." The figure adjusted the blindfold on Edward and
piloted him out of the door and up the stairs.
Edward didn't hear much of the exchange of ceremonial
language on the way to the inner council room. The bandage
was too tight and he was wondering just what part T. J. was
going to play in the ceremony. Finally they came to a stand
still before the council room door. The guide knocked.
There came an answering knock and the door opened. Edward
stumbled over the top step and remembered the shoe shine he
had taken so much pains to get. He was led across the room
and told to kneel. The bandage was removed from his eyes.
Before him sat T. J. The black hood was pulled up over his
head. His face was a bit red. He was rather warm. Out of
the corner of his eye Edward caught sight of a line of black
robed figures. The faces of these fellows whom he knew so
well looked strangely white in the glow of the candles. Some
of them began to seem very, very natural in the surroundings,
others became more and more out of place. Edward closed his
eyes quickly and then opened them to look at T. J. again.
How natural he looked! Mechanically Edward repeated the
vows. He looked away. A strange uneasy feeling arose in
him. Everything was becoming too natural. Something inside
seemed to say that the vows he was repeating were incomplete.
He wanted to add to them, but that, he thought, would be a
shine. He went on repeating word after word. Soon it was
over. Everyone was happy and relieved. Everyone shook
hands, all using a different grip. But that didn't matter.
Finally he came to T. J. Edward grasped his hand. They
both smiled. They both understood.
For the two boys who went through the foregoing experience
the knowledge and understanding of the real background has
become an inexhaustive spring of interest. They have come
to know and understand one another better. They are able to
live more in accord with another. The history of the period
of the Danish invasion of England during the time of King
Alfred has become personal history. The study of the
influence of the church of the period almost daily opens
new insights into little characteristics that they are now
able to understand in one another. Friendship has become to
these two boys not just a material thing, but a bond, a union
of thoughts and ideals based on the results of a oneness of
thought and action in the past for a cause. There has come
a friendship that glories in the fact that it has grown
throughout the ages, that it has conquered time and space,
and that coming into this understanding it assures itself
of external cooperation.
Who of you can say that this has not helped these boys? It
has. Will it not be worth your while to try to make your
own memories just as valuable?
MY CONCEPT OF GOD
Part II
Morton H. Blumenthal
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The first installment of this philosophical
treatise by the author of "Heaven on Earth" appeared in the
December issue of "The New To-morrow." In the second part
Mr. Blumenthal sums up and explains the ideas and discoveries
set forth in the first half. He also gives a detailed
explanation of the mind of the Creator and how it differs,
and why it differs, from the human mind before birth and
after death. Later Mr. Blumenthal will go into the history
of the One Concept, and its pluralistic aspects in the
earth-world. The entire text is from a lecture delivered at
the Cayce Hospital, Virginia Beach, Va., September 22, 1929.]
The mind or soul of man has so evolved in time, that upon
change into the physical form of man it becomes self aware
of being the intellectual being it becomes. The mind or
soul of the animal, (being that portion of the one essence
that belongs to this earthly section, or materializing kind
of process of this one life essence), has not previous to
change into physical form, (prior to birth), sufficiently
evolved as to become physically self aware of being the
animal it becomes. The development of that part of the
one essence called environment in the vegetable and mineral
kingdom, has not previously sufficiently evolved to make
manifest in physical form of rocks, trees, etc., that
development of consciousness termed mind or soul - i.e.,
animation and sensation. In other words, the mineral and
animal kingdoms manifest in physical form a development of
that part of the one life essence called consciousness, that
involves only a sectional operation of the whole universal
life essence, whereas in man is made manifest in physical
form not only a sectional representation of the operation
of this one force or essence, but also in the mind or soul
of man, the universal forces themselves. A representative
operation of a section of life makes manifest in the physical
form of the lower material and animal kingdom the universal
forces, raised in the animal to the manifested and
representative form of desires of hunger, fear,
reproduction, and self preservation. Added to this are the
universal forces themselves, (that compose the make-up of
man's soul), and in which combination of representative
sectional forces the universal forces themselves make up the
entity that in manifested physical form becomes man.
Every element in the whole force is present in this mind or
soul of man, as in a drop of water there is present every
element in a whole glass of water. In the mind or soul of
the animal, and consciousness of the vegetable and mineral
kingdom there is represented in physical form only elements
of a sectional or earthly operation of this one life force.
That is the difference in the previous development of
the mind or soul of man and that of the animal, and the
consciousness of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms.
Because of this difference, man is a physical form of
soul that knows himself to be that which the soul, (made
of this one spirit), becomes in materialized form - i.e.,
an intellectual, sensuous being. Likewise, because of this
difference, the animal soul (likewise made up of this same
elemental essence, but only a section of it), is NOT able
to know himself to be the materialized formation this lower
development of soul or mind becomes in physical form - i.e.,
two dimensional sensuous being, capable of perceptions,
but not conceptions. Because of a still lower type of
development of that part of this section of one life energy,
(called in mind, soul or consciousness), the vegetable and
mineral kingdom manifest a state of consciousness so low
(inanimate, and not possessing a sensory system), that we
cannot see it, as we may in animal and man. Thus when the
spirit or life energy changes from its mineral, vegetable,
or animal form states, this development of that part of the
life energy called consciousness or mind remains
un-self-conscious, and continues to act, to control the life
essence, to make it automatically return to its materialized
state. This subconscious or inner side of life, having
developed the habit of moving in one direction, continues to
move in that direction, exactly as is demonstrated by it,
while it is in physical form. The subconscious mind of the
animal may be acted upon by man so as to make it operate
along unusual lines, as for example, a dog trained to walk on
his hind legs. Likewise this lower development of mind, in
its elemental state, may be acted upon by a higher developed
elemental mind, to give the lower kind of direction. Once
this direction is given, the spirit with its portion called
mind must continue to do what its first impetus directed
it to do. Once we learn to swim, we always are able
subconsciously to perform the swimming act. A dog, once
able to swim, will automatically swim whenever he gets into
water. Likewise in dematerialized state or elemental state
the creative energy in lower developed form, given direction
by a higher development of that portion of the creative
energy called mind - (i.e., that which we have described
as the Creator's mind), will continue to automatically
follow the direction of this original impetus, and keep
automatically moving in this direction. Thus, the creative
energy once moving into materialized state will continue to
move in this direction, first to become the mineral kingdom,
then the vegetable, then, as form and consciousness is
evolved, into the lower animal, and finally into the higher
animal kingdom. This process is an ever continuous,
perpetual process, exactly as is the process or change
of all materialized forms constantly going on, back into
the elemental state again, in which all matter is conserved.
But what is this higher kind of elemental mind that works
on a lower or sectional portion of the one whole essence,
to make it sectionally operate, to become manifested
materialized formations of this physical world? We have
already described this mind as that belonging to the Creator,
to which every such universally and highly developed mind
in the physical form of man is heir.
Upon change of mind from its physical form to elemental
state (at death), it achieves an elemental kind of viewpoint
(higher than finite three dimensional kind), and in the case
of the development of mind or soul manifesting in man, it
becomes not only aware (as does the animal mind) of life
not in physical but in elemental form, but also becomes
self-aware (as the animal mind does not), of self being
this one essence that is in substance everything that life
is in every and any form. Such is the fourth dimensional
viewpoint of mind after changing from its physical form of
intellect back to the elemental state of the controlling
part of the one life energy.
Such a mind would operate, not as mind operates in three
dimensional physical form, but as it operates in fourth,
and higher dimensional, elemental states. Such a mind,
which is the kind man becomes self aware of possessing
after death, would cognize chairs, tables, trees, and
all things that occupy space, and space itself, to be but
projected formations of one spirit energy that composes
the substance of these forms, as water composes the substance
of those projections called waves. Such a mind would know
itself to be this substance, and be capable of acting UPON
it, to create of it different formations, which would result
in different forms, both as regards shape and states of
consciousness. Thus, if not blocked while in physical form,
the mind or soul of man changes at death to become of the
fourth, higher dimensional elemental kind that this life
essence possesses in its elemental state, and also becomes
self aware of being that. In other words, man changes from
being the Created, and knowing himself to be that, to the
Creator, and becomes aware of himself being that.
Being self conscious from a fourth dimensional viewpoint
of being that one life essence or creative energy that
composes the substance of all space and things in space,
and which under the controlling influence of that part
of the one element called mind, projects itself, one form
of which is the atomic form of this world. Such a being
would see chairs, tables, trees - all objects and the space
between objects, as external surface and projected formations
of this one internal essence, spirit, creative energy, etc.,
that he now finds himself and all reality, or life, to be.
Such a being, self conscious of life and self from a higher
than physical three dimensional viewpoint, (i.e., from a
fourth or higher dimensional viewpoint), would be able to
break self away from the automatic operation of this creative
energy's sectional operation to change into materialized
formation. The mind or soul of the animal returning to
elemental state, continues to act automatically to transform
again into materialized state, but the mind or soul of man,
also returning (as it does at death), to elemental state, is
not subject to automatic activity of the life essence, but
rather, self conscious of self and all being this essence,
may use his volition as to just what he, in elemental state,
will do with himself. Whereas the force with its mind
portion automatically returns to materialized form in the
case of the animal, in the case of man the mind portion is
so universally evolved as to permit it to voluntarily choose
whether it will become that which this one force operates to
become in the Martian section, Mercurian section, or any
other section, terrestrial or celestial, that this one force
is in creative operation to form. Man alone breaks the chain
of automatism evidenced in the operation of this force to
form and constantly reform into the lower material kingdoms.
The mind of man is, in its make-up and spiritual development,
the kind of mind possessed by life in its elemental and
universal state. That is, it is the Creator's mind in
materialized form - i.e., the highest kind of CREATED mind.
The mind of the soul of man, or the portion of the one
creative energy that has universally developed, is in
materialized form that potential or subconscious side of
man's mind (subconscious or subjective), that is doing the
manifesting and developing, and that has covered itself with
a materialized manifested form of mind, (such as the animal
possesses) in order that from a three dimensional viewpoint
it may store knowledge of itself being a separate thing from
the rest of life - i.e., of developing an individuality. It
likewise used the physical form to make manifest its previous
universal development in its ability to know itself to be,
and also its ability to make manifest a previously stored
development in the form of a personality and character,
inherited from previous earthly experiences. Thus, we
have musicians born to non-musical parentage, and genius
of all kinds born to parentage in which no trace of the
individual's particular genius is traceable. Likewise,
we each of us have in our make-up qualities, tendencies,
likes, dislikes, individual to ourselves alone, that are
additional characteristics in our nature to those imposed
upon us by our parents, i.e., are those inherited and stored
in the subconscious mind, which is the seat of the memory,
and which stores knowledge through that put into it by
creations of our imagination, whether the latter is creating
three dimensional ideas while in the physical form of this
world, or fourth and higher dimensional ideas while in the
more elemental forms of other worlds.
The Creator's kind of mind, then, in physical form, is the
universal subconscious side of man's mind, which operating
in conjunction with the physical form-mind, (animal kind)
becomes in materialized state the mind of the Created -
i.e., of intellectual, self conscious, three dimensional
man. On the other hand, the mind of the Creator would be
that side of man's mind called the universal subconscious,
not operating in conjunction with the limited conscious
development of mind, (which latter, in manifested physical
form becomes the animal kind of mind), which the universally
evolved subconscious side of man's mind, not joined to the
animal's mind and changed into physical form, (prior to the
birth and after death), would cognize from the viewpoint of
life in its elemental and not materialized state - i.e., from
a fourth and higher dimensional viewpoint. The latter would
not see life through the physical mask that makes self appear
to be separated from an outside world, but would cognize the
one element called life, ELAN VITAL, creative energy, or God;
and to the extent of developed mental power or will, would
be able to know self to be an individuality in and as part
of this one, and capable of using it to express its higher
dimensional ideas, (that its higher dimensional end is
capable of forming) and to form away, or outside of its
individual self, creations or formations of this one that
it chooses to create. By so using it, newly formed states
of matter and consciousness could be built, just as we
operate upon it in its materialized form from our physical
mind's viewpoint to effect newly created formations - i.e.,
as we build our houses, chairs, etc.; so we subconsciously,
from a fourth dimensional viewpoint, (after death), may work
with the very essence of life, to reproduce of it created
formations of a kind representative of our fourth dimensional
self.
Bearing in mind the difference between the fourth dimensional
viewpoint of mind in the elemental state (i.e., the
dematerialized subconscious state of the Creator's mind),
and the oneness of life to the mind of such a being, and the
three dimensional viewpoint of mind in materialized form,
(in the case of man not only an animal subconscious changed
to materialized form, but also a universally evolved
subconscious kind of mind, by virtue of which addition a
combination is effected that in materialized form becomes
man - bearing in mind, we say, the difference between the
fourth and higher dimensional self-conscious viewpoint of
mind of the elemental life essence in its universal totality,
and the more limited three dimensional viewpoint of this same
mind changed to add itself to a sectional formation of mind;
remembering the difference between the Creator's mind with
its infinite viewpoint and the mind of the Created with its
finite viewpoint, yet the oneness of both kinds of mind, we
are prepared to form some intelligent concept of God.
The mind of God embraces the one total life energy with its
universally evolved portion called mind, in all of its forms,
all of its stages of development, and all of its
self-conscious individual viewpoints, including ourselves;
yet, while in physical form we possess not the Creator's kind
of mind, but rather the kind that mind becomes in physically
created form. God, then, as distinguished from ourselves,
is this one elemental life essence, spirit, creative energy,
ELAN VITAL, or whatever we may call it, with its portion
called mind, which latter includes not only our created
form of mind, or three dimensional self conscious
viewpoints, but also in addition, higher than physical,
three dimensional, self conscious viewpoints; fourth and
higher dimensional, developed and developing self conscious
viewpoints [
900-16, Par. 7-A comment in re MIND used in
9/52 SL].
We are all heirs to this higher state, yet what we will be
able to do with life and ourselves in this changed higher
state will depend on what we learn to do with it in its
physical form from our lower three dimensional viewpoint
in this material form or section of life's process called
a material world. Without the addition of our universally
evolved subconscious, or soul selves, life in materialized
form becomes the two dimensional, unselfconscious animal,
or in lesser developed spiritual state, the one dimensional
lower animal, or in still lower developed state the chaotic
and disbanded state of consciousness made manifest in
materialized formations of the vegetable and mineral
kingdoms.
This unknowable substance of space, then, must be that which
combines together the things that occupy space, and which
is continuous with the things that occupy space, or one
with them, and therefore, is one-fourth dimensional reality,
or is one reality measurable in terms of four dimensions,
rather than being split up into different three dimensional
realities. Our mind so operates as to enable us to obtain
knowledge of realities measurable in terms of three
dimensions only, and therefore, that which physical life
is in cause, or that one four dimensional substance that is
doing the moving or vibrating to become space, and things
that occupy space, eludes our sensuous observation. No
magnifying glass or instrument may change the operations
of our mind so as to enable us to experience and conceive
four dimensionally instead of three dimensionally, and
therefore, no instrument or magnifying glass may enable us
to obtain knowledge of this life essence in its elemental
state. That is, by virtue of its operation, it causes itself
to become changed into three dimensional forms, (we,
ourselves), and in which still lower dimensional physical
form it becomes observable to our physical mind. The latter
form of this unknowable essence is called the Mineral
Kingdom, Vegetable Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and our own
selves, the Kingdom of Man. We then, ourselves, and the
world outside of ourselves, are the result of the process of
some, to us unknowable and inconceivable element, which
element is the creative or causation side of ourselves, and
of our world, and in which causation side of life the mind
operates from a fourth and higher dimensional viewpoint
instead of three dimensionally, as it does in the physical
form of man, or two dimensionally in the physical form of the
animal, or one dimensionally in the physical form of lower
animal, or in a still lesser development in the consciousness
of the vegetable and mineral kingdom.
We, who know ourselves to be it from a three dimensional
viewpoint, are this life element in manifested materialized
form, and our viewpoint and physical state of being is
directly continuous with the fourth and higher dimensional
viewpoints possessed by mind in its de-materialized state,
or in its manifested elemental state - i.e., Creator's kind
of mind we potentially and subconsciously now possess, and
from the higher viewpoint of which we lived prior to change
into physical form, or prior to birth, and from which
viewpoint we will again live, after change back into our
own life's elemental state - i.e., at death.
In other words, in whatever state life exists, in its
essence or causation side, it is that state of consciousness
that governs the process of creating - i.e., that is the
Creator. In this one essence are incorporated infinite,
evolving, growing, progressive self conscious viewpoints,
and this one essence in its infinite changed formations,
and all its growing and ever expanding self conscious
viewpoints, or individualities, (of which we each of us in
physical form is one), this one, in substance unchangeable
quality, that runs through all, is all in any and all
forms and states, with all its pluralistic, evolutionary
developments and conditions already described, is what we
call God - the One Omnipotent, Infinite God or Father.
By understanding our introspective subconscious experiences,
that are of a fourth dimensional nature, we may come to
better understand, even from our physical three dimensional
sensuous viewpoint, what this one creative energy, life
essence, ELAN VITAL, spirit, or God is - i.e., what it must
be, (not as space and things, or worlds occupying space, as
it is to our three dimensional operation of mind), but what
it must be to the fourth and higher dimensional side of mind,
which higher dimensional beings from their higher dimensional
viewpoints cognize things, space, worlds, planets, themselves
and all, to be but different sustained formations of, and by
this One God. This higher or more universal kind of being
with its higher than three dimensional viewpoint, we
ourselves internally and potentially are, and may even
while in physical form, understand ourselves to be that, and
also understand ourselves, and life in total to be, what
that higher dimensional viewpoint cognizes and knows self
and life to be. We may understand that we are a self
conscious viewpoint possessed by the One God - are that
which God is, capable of doing that which God does; yet God,
the Father, is not only our individual self, but
incorporates each and every progressive individual self into
one complete whole [
900-16, Par. 7-A comment in re MIND used
in 9/52 SL].
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
In its elemental or causation state life is One. We each
of us, like all other forms, is it. We know ourselves to
be it, and our knowledge of it and ourselves depends upon
the viewpoint, in the form we take, whether the sensuous
lower dimensional viewpoint of life that consciousness takes
in physical form of this world, or the more elemental and
higher dimensional viewpoint life takes in some other form
of some other world. This One Life Essence or Element that
constitutes the substance of all forms, (of all space and
things in space), or is what creation is in elemental cause,
with its different stages of mind development, including
our own and other higher self conscious developing
individualities, constitutes the One, Total, All-Inclusive
Element called God. The difference between the mind of the
Creator and that of man is a difference in the dimensional
viewpoint and manifested form mind takes on in materialized
form of life, and that higher dimensional viewpoint and more
elemental state of mind possessed by life when not in
manifested materialized form - i.e., in other more elemental
formations than that of this material world. Man is this
One life essence with its controlling element called mind,
which in physical form (at birth) becomes the physical body
of man, with a controlling form of mind called intellect,
knowing himself to be that. To man the higher and more
powerful state of being, (that exists in life's higher or
other than materialized forms), appears as the causation
or creative side of life, and he worships this state of
being as the Creator, or God. This is because the higher
dimensional viewpoint of life in its elemental state
involves a controlling mind of the forces that are made
to project into manifested physical form. Yet man is this
life element with its higher kind of mind, changed (at birth)
into lower materialized form, and changed again, (at death),
back into the elemental state, to view life from a process
of mind possessed by this life essence in its elemental,
(rather than manifested material form) state, and from a
higher than sensuous three dimensional viewpoint; knowing
himself, from more elemental fourth, fifth, sixth, etc.,
to infinite viewpoints, to be this elemental One, this
God. This, despite the fact that God in total is not that
which any one individual self conscious viewpoint knows self
to be, but is the One Element called Life, Creative Energy,
Spirit, etc., that includes within itself each and every
evolving and growing self conscious individuality; whether
ourselves in physical form, other selves in other forms that
this one becomes in more elemental states, or those selves
that have have reached the infinite viewpoint to be self
aware of life in its original primal state as well as all
its projected forms, and projecting forms ever in process
of being affected or created. The latter high state of
conscious we describe as "Son of God," and this the Master
Jesus manifested in the physical form of this world. We,
however, are each of us growing step by step towards this
highest state of being of consciousness. Thus the One
Father embraces us all.
Finally the control we have over this life element, and self
consciousness we possess of being this one element, when we
change from physical form to life in its more elemental
oneness, (when a physical body and brain no longer divides
self from an outside world, but a fourth dimensional
viewpoint enables us to know life only in its oneness), the
individuality and control we maintain in and over this one
when we change at death to self consciously become it in
its more elemental state, depends upon the power of will
we develop to contrive it in its manifested form, while
we remain in its materialized form of man depends upon
our control over it in its lowest materialized form of the
mineral and vegetable kingdoms, (including our own bodies),
over it in its higher materialized form of consciousness
made manifest in the animal - i.e., of our control over
our sensations and desires, and of our inner potential
development to become able to express in terms of creations
outside of ourselves, our higher emotions; and this whether
such self expression or creative outside projection is in
terms of business, finance, law, medicine, art, science,
education, home, social world or whatnot.
If we become dominated by physical environment our self
conscious individuality becomes weakened, and we, upon
change into the elemental state, are weak in our control
over the life oneness that we become dimly self aware of
being, and becomes lost in it, as though wandering about in
a chaotic fog. On the other hand if we obtain self control,
self mastery, in our environment of the home, business,
social world, etc., (i.e. overcome its world), then we
become not dimly self conscious of being the one from a
fourth dimensional viewpoint, but powerfully self conscious
of being it, and of being able to use it to express our
higher dimensional selves, to mentally know ourselves to be
it and to push out upon it to create of it; to express to our
fourth dimensional ideas and retained ideals what we then
think and want it to become. We are mentally weak and thus
dimly self conscious, or mentally strong and thus powerfully
self conscious, of our individual existence in this One.
Your ability to use this One to create with us a projected
expression of yourself, is according to the development of
mental power or weakness while in the physical form of man,
in which form a physical body and mind automatically divides
life into our inner selves and an outside world, and thus
allows us mentally to develop the power to do this for our
mental selves when not in physical form. If we do not take
advantage of this opportunity, the fourth dimensional
viewpoint of the elemental state of life we assume after
death does not afford any further opportunity for this
particular development, for in physical form alone are we
enabled to obtain that mental development that enables us to
know ourselves to individually be the elemental One; to use
it to express our individuality, to be the controlling factor
in its creative operation, and know ourselves to be that
which God is and ourselves be, from the higher dimensional
viewpoint, brilliantly self aware of being that.
MAN'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD
Edgar Cayce
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a transcript of one of
Mr. Cayce's lectures [See 6/58 Searchlight - 2nd article],
delivered at the Cayce Hospital, Virginia Beach, Va.]
Please understand that I am not trying to explain your
relationship to God. I am only hoping that I will be able
to tell you something that will stimulate you to thought.
First it is necessary that we review, as we might say, man's
experience in the earth's plane - so far as we have a history
of it. The broadest understanding that we can get, I think,
is from the Scripture itself. I don't mean that I am going
to preach any special theology or give you an idea of what
I believe in the theology of the day, or the theology of the
past.
It doesn't matter as to what we may claim we believe. What
is really worth while is what does that which we believe make
in our lives? What change, what difference, does a belief
make that may come into your life? That is the thing people
are really interested in. The world does not care whether
you believe the whale swallowed Jonah, or whether Noah
was in the Ark a whole year or only forty days. What is an
individual's belief in those things that have come into his
life that have changed his attitude toward his fellow man,
or towards his God? This is important.
If we take the history given us in the Bible, we would begin
with the first individual that we find had a concept of his
relation to God. Who would this first man be? Not Adam.
No, for Adam's concept at first was his relationship to his
fellow man, or his relationship to his mate - if we take it
just as an individual. It is the seventh from Adam that we
find had a different concept entirely. "Now Enoch walked
with God and he was not, for God took him." He was
considered by the people of that day as a man with an
individuality. First it was known as an individuality
or a personality, if we may put it in those terms. It was
the personality as manifested in the relationship of one
individual to another individual. Enoch, we find, was one
who began to consider his relationship to his Creator - call
Him by what you will or may - whether the God of the first
cause, the God of nature, or the God of the divine. Then we
find there is a different concept that begins to move among
the people. They are moved in a different way and manner.
It changed that man's life.
The next man we find that comes down through history as
one who had a definite religious experience is Noah. Now,
Noah was a just man. He was a perfect man in his day and
generation, but it changed his attitude. Not only did it
change the man's attitude as to his relationship to what
he worshipped as his God, but as to his relationship to
individuals round about him, and it brought a different
activity in his life. That is the kind of thing that we
are trying to get at; to see how these things change about.
Abraham is the next. His experience brought to the world a
great change. He was called out to make of his seed and of
his generation a peculiar people, a separate and distinct
nation. He was an elderly man without an offspring, yet God
spoke to him and made him a great promise. "Now separate
yourself from among these people and go out to a strange
land which I will give to your seed forever as a heritage.
I will make of you a peculiar people, and through your seed
will all the nations of the earth be blessed." Abraham
harkened to that call.
In this very matter there lies for most of us a great fault.
Have any of us so lived that we were called to do a special
thing? Have any of us so lived that we may be guided by
that something from within that will direct us if we would
but stop; to harken to "the Voice?" We notice that when this
call came to Abraham he heard the call and knew it was not
in him that the people were to be blessed, but in the way
that he was to act towards his brethren. He was to separate
himself from these for a peculiar service.
This idea has grown to seed. This is held against those
very people. They separated themselves from others as a
chosen people of God. It was to make a nation that Abraham
was called, and through Abraham should ALL nations be
blessed. Through the acts of this individual, through
his understanding and response to the call, were all people
to find happiness. But when these people begin to make this
promise an individual thing, that "I can sin because I am
chosen," they begin to fall by the way.
Next we come to Jacob. When the day came for Jacob to be
taken to his fathers he called about him his twelve sons
and explained to each his faults and virtues. He showed
them what each, through his concept of his relationship to
Jehovah, had builded, was building, and that to which it
would come in their lives. All that he told them came to
pass.
The next in line is Moses, who is raised up to be a deliverer
of his people. Abraham had been told that his seed would be
in bondage for four hundred years, and then there would be
raised up one who would lead them back to this promised land
which he himself was not allowed, to possess, but which would
become the land of his people, for He would remain to them
a God if they would remain to Him a people. Then, this is
given in a way and manner that it works from both sides.
It isn't that one should set self up and say, it is thus
and so, and cannot be any other way - for we find anything
may be changed by the will of an individual. There is
something that man must do, as well as something that the
Creator must do. There is a purpose in life. It is not a
haphazard thing.
Now we come down to the days when the Jews went out to the
promised land. As they wandered through the wilderness they
began to think about their own personal relationship to God.
They forgot all the hardships through which they had passed
in Egypt. Human nature has always been, and will always
be - just the same. As we pass through life we feel that
the present is about the hardest time we have ever had, but
after a few years have passed we begin to look back on those
things, only seeing the things that have come out of this.
Why? Why does this happen? There is a cause. When the
people murmured, and when they asked that they might have
a physical God, that they might see something that was
tangible, they cried to Moses. You speak of the spirit
and you are able to go up on the mountain and speak with
God. You are able to go up on the mountain and bring us
wonderful messages, but we don't see Him, we don't hear Him.
We hear only those things that you come back and tell us.
We have seen the pillow [pillar] of fire by night and the
cloud by day but these have become every day matters. We
expect these. Now we want to do things that other people
do. We want a God like they have.
They had forgotten they were called out to be a separate and
distinct nation. They had forgotten the call that had come
to their forefathers and the heritage that they were about
to claim.
Throughout all of this Moses maintained his faith in,
and upheld, the God he had come to know through personal
experiences. He had heard the call from within. God to him
had become a personal God. For the people who fought among
themselves at the foot of the mountains God was still the
God of war, the God with the big stick who beat off their
enemies but would turn on them if they went too far.
Cannot we get this idea? God is a personal God. He is
not a God of war or a God of plenty nor even a God of an
individual. He is a God of all. In all things and our
heritage is in Him. We may illustrate this. Just as the
earthly parent feels in respect to his own offspring, so
may we in our own selves conceive of SOMETHING that God may
feel, must feel, about his children, His peoples here in
this world.
It is His purpose that we make ourselves a channel through
which His spirit may manifest. He would use us. You may
say, well I don't want to be used. I heard a lady say this
about her little eight or nine months old boy, "I know his
father wants him to become a great artist, but I don't want
him to do anything that may be called the work of genius
because he will have to suffer physically." She might just
as well have said, "I do not want him to give up the desire
of the flesh for a spiritual life." To my mind that is a
sad condition. What has been the experience of the peoples
of this world when they have forgotten that there is a
purpose in their passing through this experience in this
material plane? That purpose is to make their wills one
with the Creator. Let us prepare to be used as a channel
that He may manifest through us. Write that down. Get it.
It isn't that you are to be bossed over by someone else, for
there is nothing in the world that we can do for God. What
we do we do for the other fellow, for in so doing we become
one with the will of the Father. He has given us control
of the physical world that we may use it for helping our
fellow man. We may be the channel through which the other
fellow, less fortunate than ourselves, may be aided in
whatever is needed for him to gain a better conception of
his relation to his God.
It would be well if we could remember the decision of the
great Jewish leader who said, "Others may do as they may,
but for me and my house, we will worship the living God."
Daily, we are confronted with problems that require just
such a definite stand. Let us remember His promise and be
strong.
We may now trace the history of the Jews on down to the time
when the first king was chosen. Saul was raised up to be
their king and leader yet he failed to understand that the
time had come when the people had developed to the point
where God did not desire a sacrifice of animals, but of
individuals, to His cause. David was the next in line and
despite the fact that he did many things that we today call
sins we may learn many lessons from his attitude toward his
God. Saul tried many times to kill him yet always David
said, "It is not meet that I should raise mine hand against
an anointed of the Lord." It is not right that any one
individual should raise his voice against another individual
who is doing his service in the manner he feels God has
spoken to him. God has never called an individual to lord
it over his brother, but always to become the servant of his
brother.
Finally there comes the last rise to power. The Jewish
nation becomes under King Solomon, David's son, one of the
greatest of the time. After the beautiful temple has been
builded and prosperity comes to the nation the people begin
to forget their relation to God, and led by the king they
turn to the worship of the physical pleasures of the world.
Their fall is near. The period of the prophets follows.
Individuals arise who have a vision of what the relationship
to God should be, but the people will not listen to them,
and the Jews are torn apart as a nation, and scattered to
the four winds.
The question has come down to every age, to every individual:
What is your relationship to your God? It came to Enoch,
to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Moses, to Joshua, to Saul,
to David, to Solomon and it comes just the same to you today.
What is your relation to your God? Remember that He is the
God of the Living, not of the Dead. Remember that in serving
Him you must serve your fellow man, that you must become a
channel through which God may work His divine will here on
earth. When the burdens become hard to bear and you feel
yourself beginning to slip away from the path you know is
right, draw nearer to your God and He will draw nearer to
you. As a child will come and sit at the feet of its
parents, seeking their guidance and advice, asking their
help, just so we must approach through prayer the God who
is our Father and Creator.
First to know God we must believe that He is. We must seek
to find His face. "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it
shall be opened unto you." Now in coming to know Him, is
it not evident that as we consider and help our fellow man
so do we carry out God's work. Our relationship to our God
then becomes our relationship to our brother. There is
nothing that we can do for God, but there is much that we
can do for His Children, His created creatures, and our
brothers. As we go about in our every-day work let us
remember to lend a helping hand wherever we may, and know
that in so doing we are fulfilling the Will of the Creator
and coming ever nearer to our God.
SUNRISE
Thomas Sugrue
Parker walked into a world gray with the expectation of
dawn. Mist on the fields was slowly overcoming inertia
and migrating to nothingness. The air was chill, and he
shivered, ever so slightly. Mustn't do that, he thought.
He walked a few steps farther, and waited for his escort.
One of the soldiers was closing the door. Another was
cursing softly because it was cold. Parker looked at him
and sneered. He wondered whether the paleness of his face
was noticeable, and whether they knew he had not touched the
breakfast they brought him. Was he acting as he should? He
had never seen a man prepare to die, and he was not sure of
the proper decorum. He wondered if he was brave. Someone
had said that a brave man is one who does his duty though
afraid while he is doing it. He was that way. Only this
was hardly a duty, except the bravery part. Why was it his
duty, and why did it frighten him so? He didn't know. It
seemed quite useless now.
The soldier finished bolting the door, and they began
marching. Parker kept step with them mechanically. He
wondered why he was afraid, and why he was afraid to show
his fear. Did it make any difference, now that he was going
to die, and there was no one there to appreciate his courage?
If only someone was there to see it. An audience would help,
for then he would surely not weaken. He remembered his fight
against Princeton, when his ribs were broken, and blood was
clogging his throat, and they called his signal again and
again. Eighty thousand people watched him then, and it had
seemed easy. He remembered the time he fought the school
bully, because the bully had whipped his kid brother. Only
Janet and the beaten Jimmy watched him then, but that was
enough. He loved Janet, wanted to live for her, and he
loved Jimmy, and would like to live for him. Maybe Jimmy
would marry Janet now. He hoped so. Jimmy, who worshipped
him for his protection, and cried when he went away. Janet,
who loved him, and bruised his lips with her kisses when he
went to say goodbye.
But there was no one. No one but the German lieutenant and
his firing squad. They were gross people, unimaginative and
egotistical. They were tired of war now, and wanted to go
home. That was why they looked at him so sullenly. He was
helping to keep them away from home. He smiled slightly.
He would not detain them much longer.
But there were others who would. And they were telling
their jokes in blood, and laughing to hide their fear.
But he couldn't think of them. They were alive, and had
a chance, and he was going to die.
The escort stopped, and he walked alone. Why was his body
afraid? In his mind he had reasoned it a thousand times,
and was content to go. But each time the image came to him
clearly a shock struck him. He could feel one coming now.
Like waves they were, sweeping over him, paralyzing and
nauseating the body. The brain was numbed, and only a
sickness and weakness could be felt. He could not eat,
or smoke, or pray, or do anything, and all because he was
going to die, a thing he had prayed for often, and looked
for eagerly. No, he was not afraid. But his nerves had
gotten away from him. They sensed the physical danger,
and trembled in fear. Why couldn't his body let him alone?
He was prepared to die, and it was playing the baby. It had
always been troublesome. When he wanted to study and dream,
it wanted to play football. When he wanted to roam and tramp
and adventure, it wanted to love and stay at home. And now,
when he wanted to die, it was afraid.
There was nothing to be afraid of, and besides it wouldn't
do any good. They were going to shoot him anyway. He didn't
believe in a Hell or Heaven of course, though he did think
there was some sort of hereafter. A place where one could
rest, or go to work again. Anyhow, it couldn't be worse
than this life, though it might be longer.
He stopped before the wall and turned around. The men were
fussing with their guns. The lieutenant was smoking a
cigarette. He drew a handkerchief from his pocket and
looked inquiringly at Parker. Parker frowned slightly
and shook his head. The lieutenant bowed apologetically
and put the handkerchief away. Parker was annoyed. Now
they would expect him to keep his eyes open.
Well, it was damned near over. All but the shouting. He
looked at the timid dawn, just rising, and frowned again.
He had satisfied himself of everything, and now another
thought arose to worry him.
Jimmy might take care of Janet, and the Devil would take
care of his soul, but who would take care of his fame?
Of course his name would always live at school, and sports
writers would speak of him reminiscently in superlative
terms, but who would know the story of his death, and write
it? The thought worried him, and he frowned more deeply.
The clicking of gun breeches brought him back to reality.
They were getting ready to fire. He was going to die.
Die - Die - Die - Die - Die -
WHY?
He didn't know. Oftentimes he had wished to die, because
he was tired, or unhappy. But now he was neither tired nor
unhappy, and he was going to die anyhow. And he didn't know
why.
A lieutenant raised his hand. The men aimed.
A panic seized him. Wait! Wait! He couldn't die yet! He
didn't know why he was dying!
Careful. Mustn't weaken. He smiled slightly, tightening
his muscles. What a miserable audience! Well, fire away,
dammit! - but he wished he knew why he was dying. The rifles
were disconcerting. He looked toward the sun. It was bright
now, very bright. Last night it had set. Now it was rising.
Maybe -
CRASH -!
His chest was burning, his eyes swimming. He couldn't
breathe. Wisps of blue smoke and black specks floated
before his eyes. And the sun - the sun - rising - he
opened his lips to laugh. What a joke! What a joke on
the lieutenant! He knew now why there was no reason for
his dying. He wasn't dying! They couldn't kill him!
No - No - No -
Parker pitched forward from the wall, and the hard ground
smashed his face and licked his blood.
"Through the heart," said the grizzled veteran, squinting
down his gun barrel, "I always shoot for the heart."
The young man next to him shuddered. It was his first
experience on the firing squad.
"He smiled," he whispered, in an awed tone.
"They all do," said the veteran cynically, "the captain says
it is muscular contraction. I do not know. Perhaps it seems
humorous to them."
"He was a very brave man," said the lieutenant, throwing away
his cigarette.
FANTASY
Dreams - shadows - black and hurrying. Fear - visions -
crying at night when stars are gone, and streets are long
and silent. Kaleidoscope etchings - flitting against white
paths of shimmer - nothingness. Regrets - revenge - madness.
A velvet kiss - roses dipped in wine - turning black in
sunshine. Never go back - never go back.
Worlds - whirling - bubbles of thin glass in eddies of
backwash - blather. White arms - fading - fading - fading
- calling me on to darkness - fear. Why am I weeping?
Where have I been? What is it? Why is it? Life - life -
life. The past - fragrant memories - no pain - no
heartaches. The present - dark - fleeting - strange -
passing - instantaneous - ununderstandable - nothing. What
is it? What is it? Future - black apes whirling -
merry-go-round - onward - onward. Where?
Three gods have called me on - a woman - wine - dreams. Let
me wake to bathe in red wine and feed on kisses - bruised -
inarticulate - inexpressable - maddening. Something dragging
- calling - back - back - back!
Men - men - screaming, cursing, crying. Mud - mud - mud!
They are dead - dead - all dead. Blood - here - on my
hands - on my head. I am dying - dying - dreaming. War -
pestilence - raging! Glory - glory - hell. They are dead
- dead - all dead. Blood - on my hands - on my head.
Wine - kisses - dreams. Dragging me back. No - no - I will
not go. Please - please - please! Shadows - faces - dying
- dying - dying. Never go back. Never go back. No
yesterday. No to-morrow. Only now - dreams - kisses -
wine. Bubbles - laughter - drink - drink - drink.
Bubbles - laughter - bursting - bursting - bursting. Down -
down - down. Never go back. Never go back. No yesterday.
No to-morrow. Only now. Falling - falling - falling. Down
- down - down. Love - life - dreams - Don Mikel [T.J.S.]
EDITORIAL
Her turn from art to religion on my chance remark that
one mistake more or less hardly made a difference brought
me to a jolting sense of uncomfortableness and a realization
of my hostess. Mrs. Perkinham was quite harmless talking
of the modern trend and Mr. Cabell's romantic indecencies.
I credited her with knowing less about philosophy than
literature, but in this field she was inflamed, and I
could hardly ignore her positive acidity and continue my
idle concern in a long cigarette while she assailed the
slender freedom of my thoughts. People, she hissed in her
righteous indignation, were entirely horrid in their attitude
toward Christ. I was crushed, and murmured apologies,
conscious that I was included in her category of people
with an attitude. There were, it seemed, people and
attitudes who gave no consideration to the longevity of
convention and religious custom. To those few remaining
patriots of the past age of morals and proper manners had
come an enlightened conviction that these moderns were
going to hell, and because Mrs. Perkinham had come to like
my art she was sorry that I could not be saved. I became
increasingly uncomfortable, and crushed the cigarette in a
bronze ash-tray whose female figures were neatly clothed
in shapeless Grecian robes. Perhaps it was only because I
had lost the loving influence of a home, and perhaps if I
would reform with true fidelity and zeal I might be spared.
I was humbly sorry as I left, turning with a slight shudder
from the spectacle of a woman in pity and rage over something
she understood as a firm truth because it denied all that was
free and natural in a body and mind closer to earth than God.
They are a dying race in America to-day, fighting a lone
battle against something quite as bad in the extremity of
its reaction, and no more healthy and normal. The old Guard
is rather vague in its description of a cause, preferring to
leave the question of a law caused by their own fanaticism
out of it, and cherishing tender memories of a war they
sponsored because they did not have to go in person. It
is well that they ignore the heavy fact that making the
world safe for democracy, and fighting the Demon Rum,
have the similar paradox of empty platitudes. The idea
that democracy cannot be safeguarded or Rum defeated would
leave them pitifully bereft of something to long for. The
further idea that there is no true democracy and Rum is not
a demon, would tear every vestige of pride and purpose from
the blue silk of abolition that cries in a wilderness of sin
for the mirage of sterile minds and the tepid stillness of
docile acquiescence.
Meanwhile the ghosts of Oscar Wilde and the exonerated Zola
flit in muttering exasperation, while literary chevaliers
pander to a taste grown mawkish in the unfragrant conception
of realism. Popular editions in drugstore displays, the
final bar of judgement for the best-seller, reek with the
filth of abnormal psychology grown less fragrant in the
calico of popular fiction. Tired of ineffectual court
scenes, New York reformers silently cut the luscious lines
from sex plays, and preserve them in guarded scrap-books,
ignoring the chorus girls and revues because they attend
them, and referring to an enforcement grown rotten with
senility, the night clubs and speakeasies that spatter the
country with the indelicacies of a broken and over-ripe
fruit.
So from the left comes a strident cry of "No Standards," and
the right rumbles an answer, "Values or Nothing."
It is not a question of which is right, but the harder
problem of seeking a middle way. To pick a course between
two lines of crying fanatics is more difficult than
combatting either. It is pertinent to note that tolerance
has never existed in actuality, though its ideal has swept
through the dregs of each inquisition. A debt of honor goes
begging in a world of selfish illusions, where the chimeras
of yesterday are forgotten in the mundane happiness induced
by individual achievement.
Massachusetts points with pride to a heritage of transplanted
freedom, plucked from the native intolerance of a frenzied
religious age by stern courage and an implacable desire for
justice and liberty. The misty spectacle of Roger Williams
fleeing through frozen swamps, and the drab drama of witch-
burning are conveniently forgotten in the exotic memory of
bigotry triumphant on virgin ground. It was at Philadelphia
some years later that Freedom was noted as being born. This
renaissance seemed to denote an inability to prosper, though
admitting the possibility of reincarnation.
At an inconveniently tender age, I noted the incompatibility
of God's all-seeing mercy and goodness with the Hell of
mortal sin to a maiden of middle age who was living in smug
security, having saved her soul by unimpeachable conduct
over a period of forty years. I shall never forget the
horror with which she received my impiety and agnosticism.
God, I was peremptorily informed, in His infinite wisdom had
created Hell for just such sinners as I showed promise of
becoming. The fact that I offered no objection other than
the natural curiosity of a child over a puzzling dilemma,
had nothing to do with my eventual descent to perdition.
My duty was to believe, not to think. That faith might need
a foundation of reason was preposterous to a mind trained
from childhood in the theory of tradition. It was not that
she could not reason, but having been forbidden the use of
such a faculty, she had never developed or discovered it.
Of such is the right, predestined to fortitude and values,
based on the fundamental doctrine that what is pleasant must
be necessarily wrong.
I have often had a mean desire to paint for this ancient
friend the various and attractive aspects of the nether
oblivion as related by Plato, Lucian, Dante, Pope, and the
modern Mr. Cabell of Virginia, and to test its promised
bliss against that of her material heaven. But the memory
of a smiling provincialism, buxom in printed calico, and
gracious in the endless toil of feeding ravenous Christian
imps from a cookie jar always filled, has made me forebear.
It is not only possible but true that for her, a reasonable
interpretation would cause chaos if accepted, and the
religion of her forefathers made a saint of a woman whose
greatest tragedy was the lack of a husband and children
to benefit by the radiance of a true Christian love that
knew sacrifice because it was part of her. Her one fault
was in praying for the unorthodox, and damning the
unchristian. To her these latter were hopelessly lost
in a world governed by ten commandments and a host of
prerogatives, supplement to something she knew only by
clerical interpretation.
Whether Christianity was founded on Peter or a geological
impediment, it is meaningless to attribute divine safety
from error to human beings. Whether these humans are made
in the image and likeness of God, or have made Him to their
image and likeness, has no bearing on the question of which
of the numberless sects is right. That the interpretations
of apostolic successionists is superior to those of radical
successionists has likewise no bearing. Fundamentally, they
must all be wrong, for if all were right there would be no
separation. It is impossible to satisfy all people with a
single doctrine, nor can a single person be satisfied with
a doctrine that is not pleasing to himself, and amenable to
his way of thinking and manner of living. The primary object
of every dissenter is to find a justification for himself.
The assenters have either found themselves justified, or
given up some of their cherished ideas and pleasures for
an ideal future, ardently promised, and necessarily worth
while.
It is from the latter class that reformers and abolitionists
are born. I make no brief against the sincerity of such
people. It is merely necessary to note in passing that
ideals are seldom based on the theory of sublimation and
objectivity. Self-privationists who have given up cherished
desires for salvation cannot naturally believe salvation
possible for those who continue to express their natural
tendencies. It is for this reason that we are benighted
with people imploring us against every natural move of body
and mind, for in their several manners is included everything
not, in their sense, strictly religious, even to the shaving
of our beards. And to offset these charitable denunciators
of our very existence there thrives the reactionary left,
eager to supply every demand for a mental or physical
sensation which exists, and is desired only because it
opposes the opposite wing.
There is a middle ground somewhere, but is it hard to
find, difficult to approach, and virtually uninhabited. In
addition its inhabitants are subject to the damnation of both
wings, and it is a feat of admirable gymnastics to keep from
falling to one side or the other in the endless struggle that
uses this middle ground for a battlefield.
One naturally looks to the field of higher education and
intelligence for the most enlightened view of any situation.
In the minds of the Olympian masters dwells the only
unprejudiced view of right and wrong, oppression and
repression, politics and government, and the metaphysical
questions which bother none but the sincerely religious.
I was quite content to listen to a rather aged professor
once monologue on the beauties of old wine, rare dishes,
tender delicacies of the palate, and the goodness and joy
of life in general to one who understands and appreciates
them. He was red-cheeked and sparkling over the old liqueur
as he related the odors of rare flowers, the wines and mixed
drinks of the continent, and withal the joys of a meal well
selected, perfectly cooked, and appetizingly served, after
exercise in the open air had made the healthy body desirous
of fuel. I smiled agreement, drained my glass, and observed
how fortunate the enlightened also were to believe such
things were not sinful, and that a physical hell would not
punish them. His glass stopped half-way to his parted mouth
as I lit a cigarette and continued that we have the added
enjoyment of knowing we had loved them before and would be
privileged to attain them again, in perhaps greater and more
appreciable measure. Creative evolution and Reincarnation
I mentioned casually, were the most enlightened and truly
virtuous accomplishments of the newer metaphysical
scientists. I was glad that we were able to enjoy a glass
of wine or a delicate fowl without fear or sin nowadays.
He neglected to drink his wine, and a puzzled, and I thought
rather pained look, spread over his face as he lit his pipe
and puffed reflectively in silence. I was content to leave
after the conversation made several futile attempts at
revival, and was sorry for my remarks as he bade me good
night. Next day he greeted me in class with what I deemed
a cold reserve, and also a look of triumphant magnanimity.
I have always believed that he prayed against me, and have
always been glad that I was unable to precipitate him into
what would surely have been an uncomfortable situation. He
had settled his philosophical affairs at twenty, and taught
peacefully ever since. It was not for me to disturb a man
revered for his gentle tolerance and deep scholasticism.
The attitude is universal in its two-fold aspect. A young
woman thought me a prig for refusing to learn a much too
athletic dance. She interpreted my excuse of insufficient
stamina to be an inference of vulgarity. It is true I
believed the dance lacking in grace and exact propriety,
but I never said so to her. One of her male companions later
interpreted my refusal of a drink from his patent flask to
prejudice and sobriety. That is not true. I had too much
respect for my stomach to insult it with the varnish he
carried. It is thus that Flaming Youth flouts a code better
than any it can boast, yet somehow inadequate in that it
incites such rebellion.
The left is too young in the present to have descendents,
but its ranks are filled by the sons and daughters of the
declining right. Business men for whom God exists in a two
million dollar edifice on Sunday, and an empty paraphrase
the rest of the week, are not apt to inspire either religious
fervor or ethical nicety. For the hypocrite a long chain
of damnation exists, for the man is much more worthy who
outspokenly declaims his impropriety than he who considers
physical presence and monetary support sufficient for eternal
salvation.
It is not an insoluble problem nor a hopeless situation.
It is much easier to be tolerant than intolerant, despite
the active superiority of the latter. The basic fallacy
seems to be the constant belief in a definite right and a
definite wrong, so closely drawn as to exclude all members
of any but the particular sect which propounds it. That we
all worship a single God is Christianity's binding cord, yet
unless this one God is worshipped in just the way each sect
designates, there is a certain amount of disgrace attached
to the delinquent. This is particularly true of the older
and stronger religions, and would undoubtedly be true of the
younger and smaller sects were it not necessary that they
allow a certain amount of latitude in the interest of self-
preservation. Perhaps the next largest misunderstanding is
the prohibition of certain simple pleasures and ideas, which
are sometimes the most definite line that can be drawn
between two Christian faiths. In these prohibitions lies
the danger of prejudice, for a denied pleasure can hardly
be appreciated in one who is apparently just as secure in
soul, since his church condones the practice.
If these rules and interpretations, together with the
prohibitive laws, could be at the same time so generalized
and yet specifically unmistakable in their moral scope,
a great deal of the intolerant attitude would automatically
cease. Fundamentally it is based on details and material
differences, and these are trivial in comparison to the
broad issues involved. A belief in the same God and broad
Christian principles would bind every man to his fellow man
without the niceties of discrimination which so frequently
spoil a mutual understanding. This is not at all impossible,
and America in the past fifty years has made gigantic strides
in that direction. The end is not obviously near, but the
dissolution of sectarian barriers is well begun.
Though it is beautifully ideal, it is not at all practical,
or even desirable, that the various sects and churches merge
into one universal Christian religion. In the first place
each fills a particular niche in regard to the many strata
of society in America. They have been builded by groups who
have other ties than religious; such as political, economic,
and purely social. In the second place, they are established
too firmly in the regular schedule of life to permit
disruption without chaos. Further than that, to be coldly
material, they represent an outlay of monetary resource,
together with an economical system, which is indispensable
to the present system of living. It would be as foolish to
bring every big business under a single head and try to run
them all from a central office as it would to coalesce the
various churches.
There is a simple and more effective solution, based on
purely mental changes. The practicability of the system
has been exhibited throughout history, and is more than
ever successful today.
Rousseau, in his "Confessions," described a man who, to his
mind, was tolerant. The picture is vivid and true, and is
worth more than passing notice.
"Externally he was devout, like a Spaniard, but in his heart
he had the piety of an angel. Except myself, he was the only
man I ever saw whose principles were not intolerant. He
never in his life asked any person his opinion in matters
of religion. It was not of the least consequence to him
whether his friend was a Jew, a Protestant, a Turk, a Bigot,
or an Atheist, provided he was an honest man. Obstinate and
headstrong in matters of indifference but the moment religion
was in question, even the moral part, he collected himself,
was silent, or simply said, 'I am charged with the care of
myself only.'"
Were the great philosopher alive to-day he would see many
whom he believed tolerant, for it little matters to-day
in questions of business and social intercourse what the
religion is, so long as a person's character is permissible.
It is in matters of religion that tolerance is lacking
however, and it is in these matters that progress is most
needed.
It is not the religious principle of allowing each man to
worship as he sees fit that we need, but the tolerance
which brings each man together regardless of which sect
he embraces. It is not enough to let a man go the way he
chooses and then shun him for it. Since he worships the same
God and is loyal to the same country, why not admit him as
one of the same brotherhood? If we can adopt this common
sense attitude in the bulk we shall have accomplished the
majority of a great task.
If the astronomer can measure stars without losing his God,
cannot other men seek God without losing their religion? Is
it not possible for two men to be rivals in business, members
of different churches, yet friends in a common search for the
secrets of truth and enlightenment? There is no necessity
for changing or giving up a particular church membership
or form of worship because one is partner to an enterprise
which tries to put in active force the basic principles of
Christianity. It is this attitude of the original idea
of tolerance in religion which has kept mankind from
advancing to a more reasonable and enlightened view of
God and universal truth. We have left to the theologians
entirely the settling of such matters, and these have been
true to tradition. Hence comes the stagnation, and to-day
religion is centuries behind the time. Just as morals
fluctuate with fashion, history, and time itself, so
religions must find themselves adapted to the environment
of contemporary civilization. To-day Christianity is out
of tune with the time, and there seems but one way of
accomplishing harmony.
If we can apply the same men and methods to religion and
philosophy that we have given to science we shall very soon
discover that religion is in perfect accord with our lives,
rather than a thing handed down from our parents as a rather
unpleasant birth-mark that we must carry through life. Had
Christianity the attitude of science and art we would all
be devoutly religious. It is not that we have no inherent
belief in the precepts of Christ, but merely that they are
so formed as to come in apparent conflict with the modern
routine of living. With a common sense interpretation and
understanding of the principles, philosophy, and law, how
much more compatible and meaningful would be the rites and
customs we adhere to now as mere forms. Not that these
forms and rites should be done away with, but an effort
should be made to explain them in the light of something
vital and familiar in the present.
It is, of course, a philanthropic idea to suppose that
business men, professors, and doctors of divinity can band
together in an effort to bring about such a condition.
However, philanthropists are not wholly lacking in the world,
nor are they unmindful of the duty civilization seems to have
imposed on them.
In the present age, everything has been discovered,
exploited, explained, examined, improved, and brought
to the highest possible state of perfection. Everything,
it seems, but the most important part of life - the spiritual
side. Not that it should be exploited, but how needful has
mankind always been of an explanation or a discovery of, and
most of all an understanding and ability to use, that spark
of our nature which alone stands out as something above the
beast. The discoveries of science have given more leisure
and opportunity for education and mental development, and
that development has gone to further improve a luxury already
tottering on the uncertain edifice of rank materialism.
In the meantime the spiritual and philosophical has been
allowed to become out of date, and in spite of the
faithfulness with which we perform the rites and ceremonies
of organized Christianity we are lacking in the proper
spirit and fervor, through a misunderstanding entirely
caused by the tenaciousness with which religion clings
to its medieval garments of dogma and explanation. Unless
something is done to bring us all to a realization of our
dependency on a higher being, and a realization that man
is weak and imperfect, we shall soon be so conceited with
our mechanical miracles as to entirely forget the initial
and inevitable cause of them all and ourselves.
Individual minds have always been concerned with such
problems, but to-day there is no individual capable of
accomplishing such a work. It is a task for organization
in an age of organization, and the backing of business men
and educators is needed rather than that of the clergy. It
is not a task for the clergy, or a question of reforming the
church, it is a duty of far-reaching minds who appreciate the
necessity of balance in a life quite apt to fall to the side
of materialism and passive acceptance of the spirit.
When a furniture manufacturer, let us say, and a broker;
with perhaps a dealer in interior decorations, or paints
and lacquers; combine with a doctor, a learned professor,
and a photographer; to search for the truths and beauties
of life, the spirit of true tolerance is born, and its
work begun. When that same group organizes itself into
an association for the propagating of the good they find
to mankind, yet maintaining each for himself his own private
business, life, and religion, the spirit of true tolerance
is rightly manifest. When, further than that, these men
invite into their association every interested person,
regardless of sect or creed, and with such a band of
far-seeing but practical idealists, conceive and execute a
program whose every detail is in harmony with the central
idea of aiding mankind; when such "details" include elaborate
research in the fields of philosophy, education, mechanics,
archeology, medicine, history, and spiritual awakening;
when the truths, theories, cures, secrets, and beauties
thus discovered or re-discovered are installed in practical
institutions which fit them into the everyday life of each
person, to that person's advantage and advancement; and
when, last of all, these theories, ideals, and truths embody
a pure and emancipated spirit of Christianity that breathes
contentment and happiness into the soul and opens for every
person a new land of attainment and reward; then we may say
that tolerance is alive, manifest, and growing.
There is a valley of godliness beyond the world of bi-sexual
intercourse and tri-dimensional understanding. There is a
heaven of happiness beyond the carnal satisfaction of desire
and insatiableness of immortality. There is imbedded in each
individual soul the capability of communion and fusion with
the one beginning, the individual concept which projected
all things from itself. Life is soul, and soul is God,
and betwixt and between there lies a valley of shadows,
inarticulate and grotesque. To those who see it represents
an interlard of happy struggling, to others an iniquitous
playground of chimeras. With the tolerance of wisdom and
magnanimity, the ideals and desires of something finer and
higher than figures of earth, there comes a white road, long
and straight, and because it has no ending it is the grandest
one to travel.
HOW TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION
Franklin F. Bradley
The present title is a meaningless phrase. One cannot
"obtain an education." One either "arrives at the method
of living which is called an educated one;" or else "obtains
a degree of learning." The latter is important, but the
former more so. The latter is common, the former rare.
This article is a continuation of the ideas expressed in the
last issue, under the title, "Education - What It Consists
Of."
Granted that an education is a method of living, governed by
direct, rapid, and correct judgement; and granted that the
results of education are rich qualities of mind and spirit,
contentment, appreciations, friendships, and position and
honor among men; there are few who would not sacrifice much
to become educated.
My conviction is firm that under present methods only the
exceptional person can become educated. I know probably
a thousand people, and not more than a half score of them
are truly educated. Yet I live in the shadow of a great
university and belong to university faculty groups, and
other groups of "graduates."
In studying schools from kindergarten to post-graduate an
interesting thing appears; kindergarten work leads the field.
It has been blessed by contact with the best minds. In its
highest development we find children being taught to think
logically, to coordinate their different faculties, to care
for their bodies, to use their imaginations, and to complete
tasks. All this and more is done while the interest
is maintained. Further, there is found a sequence of
performances.
Most schools beyond kindergarten spend the majority of the
time of the pupil on book learning, solely on a basis of
unrelated subjects. Some day they will wake to the need
of carrying through the best kindergarten ideas, and
improving on them.
We have as yet few schools where the average student may
secure an education as it is here defined. There are some
where the sunshine is arriving, and there will be more as
the years pass.
In the midst of discussions on the musical age, the art age,
the mechanical age, the architectural age, etc., I venture a
prophesy that we are approaching the Educational Age - which
will, from its very nature, dominate all others.
In the Educational Age we will recognize every human life as
having a career - a career of living.
EDUCATORS complain that the business of living, as usually
carried out by their students, instead of continuing what
they have been taught, tends rather to wipe it out.
BUSINESS MEN complain that educators devote too much energy
to teaching subjects unrelated to the requirements of
successful business careers.
STUDENTS complain that they are forced to make passing grades
in subjects that hold no interest, and only a fugitive
memory; that they sally forth from college convinced they
are prepared to succeed, and all too soon wake to the fact
that they are not.
PSYCHOLOGISTS use the students for their stamping ground,
forgetting that if the educators, the business men, etc.,
etc., were also psychoanalyzed to proper effect, that the
student grist would satisfy demands of the business world.
As a friend of mine once said, "For just one year keep all
children out of school, and put all parents into school,
if you would produce practical education."
In brief, continuity is necessary. Pupil, teacher, parent,
business associate, etc., must be a part of the plan - all
hooked together without friction - that permits the graduate
to fit smoothly into his career of successful living and
enables the world to appreciate it, and him.
It is evident that complete education is made up of a study
of more things outside of books than inside them. Because
no two people are alike in character of brain activity, nor
in their natural surroundings; and also because of the
complexity of the subject, it is very difficult to so chart
a course of procedure that it becomes a universal answer to
the challenge "How to Obtain an Education."
The dozen most important steps to be taken in the case of one
individual would be vastly different from the same number of
steps for another individual, because of varied experiences,
hereditary tendencies, national points of view, etc.
For the purpose of this paper a single illustration will be
taken, that of a young American who has had a reasonable
amount of "book learning," and has lived the life of an
average, energetic, intelligent young American.
If there is a young man, as indicated above, who really
desires to educate himself, he must as a basic principle
accept the fact that older men have been equally intelligent
and have made progress, and that he must base his growth and
development upon the findings of such individuals. In this
way he will go much further, and come much closer to the
ideal of a perfectly educated man than if he advances step
by step on the basis of his own individual experiences.
If you are such a young man, and ask me how to arrive at
such an educated method of living, my answer is as follows:
Reach as high a decree of learning as your time and finances
permit. Seek out a mature friend whom you regard as living
a successful life from the standpoints of finance, civic
duties, home life, and enjoyment of purely intellectual
pursuits. Beguile this man into taking you over, as doctor
would a patient. Let the program of your development
under his care consist in grounding you most thoroughly
in a progressive and persistent way, over a period of years,
in a list of subjects something like the following:
To know the business of earning and holding MONEY (worldly
possessions).
To understand the retention and happiness and renewal of
YOUTH.
To approach your fellow man in his own LANGUAGE and method
of thought.
To develop and live with a practical IMAGINATION.
To make and hold many FRIENDS of MANY KINDS.
To learn the enjoyment of EDUCATION, of intellectual life,
and of being governed by it.
To have the COURAGE of your convictions.
To make, honor, and love your home.
To possess outward and inward mental, physical, and spiritual
personableness and ADDRESS.
To persuade personal RECOGNITION to come when due.
To listen to GUIDANCE, sift it, and follow it when sound.
To know the ends sought, separating ESSENTIALS from
non-essentials, wheat from chaff; striding forward,
avoiding lost motion, unto the end that you pass your
strength to a hundred others.
The list must vary a little with the needs of different
individuals, and with the functioning of the "Mentor."
It is hoped to analyze in a homely and detailed way, in
our next issue, each of the dozen points mentioned above.
One of the world's great artists was asked the best method
by which a talented young man could reach the highest goal
in that line. The reply was that there was only one method
to be considered. It lay in the young man's attaching
himself to some artist who had already made a definite mark
in that profession, and absorbing all that artist could give
him; and on that as a stepping stone, rise to the limits of
his own ability. The reason given was that in the depth of
the successful artist was an accumulation of the
extracurricular things, the balance wheel, the dynamo, the
vision, etc., which ordinarily the student does not get from
his teacher.
Some day we will have a clan of receptive and diligent
students learning to absorb the elements that make for
educated living. Also we will have a body of men and
women capable of, and willing to give of, the essence
of living to the younger generation. We have a few of
each to-day. We need more.
AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
Hugh Lynn Cayce
You have heard it said over and over again that the children
are the hope of a nation. This statement, like many other
accepted American aphorisms, has become, to the average
parent, a meaningless group of words without any real
purport. The training of a child becomes something of
a burden to be placed upon the state as much as possible.
A mother will fight valiantly for her offspring as long as
it remains to her a baby, but once the child begins to think
for itself, she begins to misunderstand it. The father
glances away from his business now and then, long enough
to toss the growing infant a word of encouragement, which
all too often becomes a reproof for some little interference.
During this period of early education, when a readjustment
of the home is in progress, the formal education of the child
becomes vitally important. It is a well known psychological
fact that the impressions made on a child during the grammar
school and high school ages are those that are to go far in
molding the nature and character of the prospective man
or woman. Great steps have been taken in recent years to
improve our nation's system of public education, but no one
will deny that there is still a long road to travel, and
every broadminded man and woman will look with favor upon
any project that has for its purpose the advancement and
improvement of methods of primary and preparatory education.
It is with a great deal of pleasure that we take this
opportunity to announce that at Virginia Beach, Virginia,
the very center of the Association's work, there has been
established a boys' school which has for its principles
these very ideas of improving the methods of primary and
preparatory education. There have been several members of
the Association who have taken a personal interest in
studying the methods and ideals of this school. Professor
Francis H. Greene, headmaster and founder of the school,
has been kind enough to give me a few notes on the methods
and ideas he is following. I have visited the school, and
know many of the pupils and their parents, and the reactions
that have come as a result of Professor Greene's methods.
I wish to outline these briefly for you, and remind you
that progressive education is not entirely dead in the
United States.
"The Virginia Beach School for Boys" was opened at Virginia
Beach, Virginia, last fall. Professor Greene obtained
temporary quarters in a large building fronting on the
Atlantic Ocean, an ideal location in many respects. He
began with a very select group of boys between the ages
of eight and fifteen. These boys receive careful personal
attention. They are studied as individuals, and their
respective weaknesses analyzed and strengthened. Every
boy is taught the meaning of honor, and his word is
accepted without question as soon as he understands
the full significance of the term. As much attention
is paid to the building of character as to the building
of the mind. Professor Greene puts the matter simply in
these words: "The growing years are the years when character
is made. Habits of life are formed, and it is the duty of
this school to see the future citizens started on the right
path."
At the present time two important programs are carried out.
The mental training is carried on by opening for the lower
grades the following studies: Arithmetic, Language, History,
Geography, Reading, Spelling, Spoken English, and Penmanship.
In the upper grades the courses of Rhetoric, Composition,
Public Speaking, Latin, French, German, Greek, History,
General Science, Physics and Chemistry are provided. Each
student is aided in selecting subjects that will tend to
hold for him the most interest. Regular class room procedure
is carried on, but every effort is made to stimulate interest
rather than give the pupil a mass of undigested knowledge.
The second program that is followed is the placing of
emphasis on physical training. The boys are taught to play
to get the most enjoyment out of exercising and caring for
their bodies. Baseball, tennis, football, hiking, etc.,
became an important part of each day's work.
In the future Professor Greene plans to gradually enlarge
his school to include preparation for college work. Special
emphasis will be placed on assisting each student, through
a study of the student, in finding just what life work
he is best fitted to take up. In making these studies,
all known tests and psychological aids will be employed.
Professor Greene is a firm believer in the idea of teaching
a boy how to adapt himself to his surroundings and make the
best of them. He begins this training in his lowest classes
by teaching correct habits and methods of study.
It is planned to continue the school on the Ocean Front until
1932, when a modern structure to house the students, provide
ample class room space, and meet all the requirements of a
boys' boarding school, will be erected. A location is now
being considered that will allow complete space for all
outdoor activities, including water sports.
On June 15th Professor Greene is opening the first series
of camps that will be continued each summer to carry on the
work of the school. The first camp will be located on a
beautiful inland water-way, Linkhorn bay, near Virginia
Beach. Instruction will be continued in secondary school
subjects, but the great emphasis will be placed on camp
life. The daily program may include any of the numerous
sports that are popular near Virginia Beach; golf, baseball,
boating, swimming, tennis, or hiking. Every effort will be
made to carry on the ideas of developing a well rounded
nature in each pupil. "Within a boy," says Professor
Greene, "lies an unlimited, undeveloped amount of potential
energy. It is our purpose to loose this energy, to train
and guide it that the boy may became a man; a man well
fitted to live among his fellow men."
The important thing for members of the Association to
realize is that here very near us, near the center of our
work, there is being attempted a project that involves
many of the principles for which we stand. If there is
one word that should characterize the work of the Association
of National Investigators, Inc., it is the word "Education."
I do not mean haphazard, unsystematic education, but
carefully planned, intelligent training of the mind and body.
I believe that many of you who read this magazine will be
intensely interested to know of the existence of this
school, which is founded on progressive educational methods.
Education in any form is to be praised, but intelligent
education merits not only praise but personal interest.
May I here express the hope that, as the Association moves
out into educational fields, as it is going to do in the
near future in a very tangible manner, all the members,
as well as the heads of our educational departments, will
work hand-in-hand with Professor Greene in this, the greatest
of all human projects, the training of American Youth.
TO-MORROW
"It is a long way off - to-morrow," said Olion sadly, "and
for some people it never comes."
"But for you and me it will come," she whispered quickly,
"and you will come to me again, with this white rose I have
given you, and you shall tell me again of the way I must love
you, and the far country you will take me to."
And she went close to him, and he held her tightly in his
arms and bruised her lips with his kisses, as the perfume
of her tangled hair brushed tenderly against a white rose
in his own.
"To-morrow, Olion."
"To-morrow, Heladne - it is a long time."
"To lovers, yes, but to the sun it is only a few hours. It
will be here soon, and then another day will come, and we
will go away together to the far land of our love."
She kissed him again, and the white sand wavered and fled as
he walked slowly to his horse. Heladne watched as the moon
and sand made a black silhouette of his departure.
"A long time," he said. "I do not understand. For me, a
little sleep, then to-morrow, and Olion will be here."
The white shoulders shrugged, and the little forehead
unpuckered. Heladne climbed slowly into bed and sighed,
sleepily.
It is not far from the arms of a woman to the steel of her
rival. The moon blinked at Olion, not understanding his
silence. It is a long way off - to-morrow. For lovers, yes.
- Don Mikel [T.J.S.]
A LONG, LONG TIME AGO
"We will give her to Aram-San," said the King, "and he will
be pacified, and let us live in peace." And because he was
an old man who loved peace the King smiled, and because he
loved his daughter very much he sighed, for the kingdom of
Aram-San was far away.
So letters were sent to Aram-San, and he received them
kindly, and set a day for his coming, and for the wedding.
And the King sent for his daughter and took her in his arms
and kissed her, and told her she would marry Aram-San. And
she bowed before him, and accepted his will, and kissed his
hand. But there were tears in her eyes when she turned away,
and that day she kept to her chamber, and would see no one.
And now began preparations for the coming of the great King
from far away, and for the wedding, and about the castle I
could find no one to listen to my tales or songs, nor had
the King time for my verses or company. The slaves were
brought from the pyramid to work at home, and they erected
an entrance of alabaster and faience that led to the river,
and lined it with tapestries of gold and statues of Rah.
The soldiers spent all the days drilling and maneuvering,
and the Red Platoon of the Princess each day practised the
Manuel of Marriage, for they were to be her escort to the
sacred altar.
After a time the hammering stopped, and the days were more
peaceful; only the drilling went on each morning for hours
at a time. Egypt was ready for Aram-San. Far away the
pyramid builders again took up their task, and farther away
a great king set out for Egypt. Within the castle two people
waited, one for his tomb, the other for her husband.
And now I did not see her often, as I used to. She did not
come with her innocent questions and the wonder in her wide
blue eyes at the tales I told her. She did not feed the
birds that came to listen to my lute each evening, nor did
she come to sit at my feet amid the orchids at sundown, when
I played the songs of love and olden days. Only did I see
her at sunrise, when the old priest gave us blessings and we
bowed in worship. She covered herself in the white robes
of the Daughters of Rah then, and the tiny feet, sandalled
in gold, showed as she knelt in prayer.
So the days went by, and became shorter and shorter. The
orchids were paler, and the nights colder, and because I am
an old man and garrulous, I became very lonely and sad, for
I had no one to talk to. The king had no time for me, the
Princess stayed away from everything, and my birds flew from
my music, as if I sang of unhappiness. The soldiers paraded,
the Red Platoon drilled. Egypt awaited Aram-San.
He came at sunset. I heard the shouting in the garden, but
I did not go to see. I am an old man, and I have seen many
Kings come and go. Aram-San was a tyrant. I did not like
him. I played to my birds, but they were frightened of the
noise, so I went to my room and read my books.
That night there was a feast, and Aram-San was toasted and
feted, and everything was in his honor. He sat in silence at
the head of the long table, smiling and nodding at each new
compliment. But his eyes and his mind were on the Princess,
who sat next to him. When the wine had flowed for a long
time, and the music and the conversation heightened to a
babble I crept away. I could not bear longer to look at
the Princess, or at the foreign King, who was looking at
her constantly.
So I went into the garden and played my flute, and though
there were no birds to hear me, and the orchids were asleep,
I played very beautifully, for my heart was aching and my
soul was troubled. The faint breeze was soothing, and the
smell of fresh earth comforting, and after awhile I ceased
playing, and turned to look at the moon. It hung across
the palace, lighting that part of the garden away from me.
I watched it a long time, and wondered if it knew. But soon
I knew that it did, for into the garden, and very close to
me, came the Princess. And he who was with her was not
Aram-San. I went away very softly, so as not to disturb
them, and that night I thought a long time before sleep
would come.
The air was very hot next day, and very still. The soldiers
drilled, and there were games, and more feasting and drinking
of wine. At evening the musicians began to play, and the
ceremony began. I sat high in the great temple of Rah,
where the incense came very faintly, and the notes of the
music were scattered, so that only the purest of them reached
me.
So the Princess married Aram-San, and the Red Platoon
escorted her to the Temple, and formed a canopy of bodies
and crossed swords through which she walked to the Sacred
Altar. She walked slowly, keeping time to the music. A
shaft of sunlight fell on the swords and they gleamed and
flashed like diamonds. The Princess bowed her head, then
raised it again, and came to the end of her journey.
Something gleamed and flashed in the fitful and dying
sunlight, something brighter than the glare of swords.
I am very old, and my sight is dim, and I was far way,
but to me it seemed to come from the cheeks of a soldier,
a member of the Red Platoon. And that would be a tear.
To-day the news has come that the pyramid is almost finished.
That is well, for the King is very old and tired. He has not
been happy since the princess left, and the tales of her
unhappiness have made him very sad. I too, am old, and I
have no pyramid. But now the birds do not flee from me,
and the orchids are blooming again.
The Red Platoon is not parading to-day. They are burying
a comrade, a young fellow, who died of a strange malady.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The above is a fanciful scene from old
Egyptian days, prompted by an incident in the Life Reading
of the author Thomas Sugrue.)
NEWS AND VIEWS
of
THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL INVESTIGATORS, INC., AND
THE CAYCE HOSPITAL
Since the last issue of this magazine things have been going
forward with such rapidity that a volume of progress must be
recorded. Each committee of the Association has gone ahead
with its far-reaching program, and definite and material
advances are recorded and visible. New buildings have been
planned, and some are already in the process of construction.
More real estate has been added to the Association holdings,
and improvements have been many and various in the present
buildings of the Association, especially the Cayce Hospital.
Dr. Lyman A. Lydic arrived at Virginia Beach on the 2nd of
January, 1930, to take up his duties as Chief of Staff of
the Cayce Hospital. Previous to his selection for this
office Dr. Lydic was a prominent physician in Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. Lydic has been quite busy every since, as the hospital
has been well filled during the past few months. Changes
and improvements have been many, and Dr. Lydic expressed
himself as delighted with the facilities and organization.
Among the improvements is a Club, or Smoking Room, in the
basement of the hospital. This has been attractively
furnished and admirably fitted for lounging, reading, or
playing cards. It has proven a most delightful means of
recreation for the convalescing patients during the winter
months.
Reconstruction work has been done on the tennis court, and
it has been carefully guarded against seasonal storms. A
correction and improvement has been made in the heating
system, and to the rear of the main building, a new bulkhead
was added. An eight car garage with service room is among
the exterior additions, and with the acquisition of land
behind the hospital, prospects of a sunken garden have
arisen.
Within the building many additions may be seen. In the
office a telephone switchboard has been installed, with two
trunk lines and eight extensions. In the lobby a bronze
tablet bearing the names, of the original officers is to be
seen.
With regard to the medical facilities the new Hydro-Therapy
room has been considerably enlarged, and the Electro-Therapy
room has been removed to more suitable quarters.
Looking into the Research Department one sees a number
of books being compiled, containing data gleaned from the
readings. These volumes contain chapters on every phase
of the work, though at the present the largest advances
have been made along the line of physical diagnoses. The
information thus recorded will in the future be studied by
physicians along with experience in actual cases.
With this material largely complete for the present, a
different phase is being compiled; that of the theosophical,
theological, and philosophical nature. Metaphysicians will
eventually study this material, and much of it will be
gotten into proper form by the Educational Committee for
presentation to members, in order that they may be benefitted
in their individual lives by application of the truths
contained therein. This as may be seen, is in exact
accordance with the ideas and purpose of the association.
The Research Office itself has been recently refinished, the
walls have been painted and additional equipment installed.
For the present the Accounting Department is located here,
under the direction of Mr. L. J. Hesson, formerly of
Chicago, who recently came to Virginia Beach to serve
in this capacity.
The Educational Committee has been most active in the recent
past. Although it is too early for any definite
announcements, before very long the new and extensive plan of
this portion of the work will be ready for publication. With
the return of President and Mrs. Morton H. Blumenthal, with
their son Morton, Jr., from a six weeks' stay in Europe, the
study class and lectures Mr. Blumenthal conducts will begin
again on March twenty-third.
The first annual Review of the Association will appear in
April. It will contain a resume of the work since its
beginning, and present in concise form the events and
development of the Association from its conception to
the present time. It is being printed by the Benson
Printing Co., of Nashville, Tennessee.
Approximately two hundred and ten readings were given by
Edgar Cayce during the months of January, February, and
March. Appointments have been made up to June 1, and there
is a long waiting list after that, as it was decided to
withhold definite dates until the present appointments
are disposed of. Hospital patients are given preference
of course, and the urgency and sincerity of the case is
always taken into account.
Mr. Morris Rome of New York City presented the Cayce Hospital
with a beautiful piano as a Christmas gift, and also as
a token of appreciation for the spirit manifested by the
hospital and the service it is rendering to mankind.
Mr. Edgar Cayce was presented with an oil painting of himself
by Mr. David Levy, in appreciation of his "kindness and help
to 'Sonny' Levy."
The winter has passed quickly at Virginia Beach, with the
rapid advancement of plans and the many improvements. With
the end of the official year on July 1, a momentous stride
forward in every department of the Association will have
been made. With plans already carefully laid and well
launched for the coming years, the spirit of the Association
receives more zest with every forward stride, and there is
not a prediction which could safely limit its bounds.
THE LETTER BOX [Noted on page 263 of paperback edition
"There Is A River".]
It is with particular pleasure that we print the following
letter and affidavit, recently received from a patient in
the Cayce Hospital. This department is especially anxious
to receive any such communications, and it wishes to impress
its readers with the idea that questions, criticisms, and
comments of any kind are welcome. We should like the
opportunity of hearing just how the magazine is being
received, or the Association itself. There must surely
be a great deal of reaction, favorable, and unfavorable,
and also many questions, which arise in the minds not only
of our newer friends, but the members themselves. It is for
such that this department was created, and nothing will be
more pleasing than to have the readers make use of it.
Virginia Beach, Va.
March 5, 1930.
Mr. Thomas J. Sugrue, Editor,
Drawer 896,
Lexington, Va.
Dear Sir:
Enclosed you will find a short personal testimonial, which
I have written voluntarily, and this is to ask that you print
it in the next issue of THE NEW TOMORROW.
I have been a patient here for several weeks and feel that
I am obliged to say at least this much.
Yours very truly,
FRANK H. ISAACS
Several years ago Mr. Cayce was recommended to the writer.
Like many other skeptics, I could not be easily convinced,
but finding no relief from suffering of a shell shock
condition, as a last resort I decided to investigate this
new method of obtaining relief.
I was certainly surprised to discover that in a few days I
had completely recovered. I am grateful for having been led
to this avenue through the courtesy of Mr. David E. Kahn, and
I am thankful to God for having something to live for in the
future.
FRANK H. ISAACS
The following is a transcript of a letter written by
Dr. Lyman A. Lydic, Chief of Staff of the Cayce Hospital,
to one of his old teachers, Dr. E. S. Winslow, of Waterville,
Maine. The letter is particularly interesting in that it
reveals the enthusiastic reaction which Dr. Lydic experienced
at the outset of his new work, and the fervor with which he
has set out to serve in his important capacity.
Virginia Beach, Va.
March 5, 1930
Dr. E. S. Winslow,
Waterville, Me.
Dear Doctor:
No doubt the news that I am now located at the Cayce
Hospital, Virginia Beach, Va., will come as a great surprise
to you, as you probably thought I was permanently established
in Dayton, Ohio. In fact, it all happened so quickly that I
am still surprised myself.
I became acquainted with Mr. Cayce while he was a resident
of Dayton, Ohio six years ago, and since that time he has
made Virginia Beach his permanent home. During the last
thirty years Mr. Cayce has become known throughout the
country for his wonderful power of psychic diagnoses and
treatment, and reached the climax in gathering around him
countless intellectual and influential friends. This
brought about the establishing of the Association of
National Investigators, Inc. In going about to
scientifically investigate the phenomena manifested
through Mr. Cayce, they naturally established the hospital.
Having seen many of these cases while Mr. Cayce was in
Dayton, I was drawn to this when it was established on a
scientific basis, so when I investigated and found that
it was on this basis, with the facilities for handling the
phenomena in this manner, I decided to cast my lot with it.
When I arrived, the work had been under the supervision of
others who were wholly in sympathy with it, and the
undertaking here. You will be interested in knowing the
type of cases being handled every day at the hospital. We
are equipped to handle every type of case with the exception
of contagious and mental diseases.
At the present time we have patients under treatment for
congenital inco-ordination of mental and physical faculties,
ulcers of the stomach, acute gastritis, general pruritus,
mucous colitis, spastic paraplegia, tabes dorsalis, optic
neuritis, with partial blindness, shell shock with its
typical manifestations, hysteria, acute osteomyelitis,
all types of gynecological cases, and so on. You will
note that some of these cases are considered beyond help
by the medical profession, and I must say that we haven't
a case which is not responding in a very encouraging manner.
We can handle twenty-five to thirty patients and are equipped
to carry on the purpose of the research by checking the
psychic diagnoses by every modern means, which includes
complete history taking and physical examination, through
X-Ray examination, including gastro-intestinal and Graham
dye test, blood chemistry, Wasserman, Widal, blood counts,
spinal smears, tissue slides, and urinalysis, chemical and
microscopic.
In the form of treatment, we are prepared to give
osteopathic, medical, all types of electro-therapy and
hydrotherapy and colonic irrigation. So you can see that
we have a very complete armamentarian with which to confirm
the diagnosis and prove the efficacy of the treatment as
outlined by Mr. Cayce's readings.
As I am expecting you very shortly to make a visit, it will
be a pleasure to show you our complete Research Department
and the work that is being carried on.
Sincerely yours,
L. A. LYDIC
Chief of Staff
"THAT WE MAY MAKE MANIFEST OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND MAN"
ANNOUNCING
THE ANNUAL REVIEW
of
The Association of National Investigators, Inc.
on
APRIL, 1930
Containing the history, purpose, activities, plans, and
record of the Association from its founding to the present
date; with the organization, committees, and financial
reports for the year.
The ANNUAL REVIEW is the first permanent record of the
Association's work, progress, and perspective. It contains
sections devoted to each department, with views of the CAYCE
HOSPITAL and its surroundings.
The Association invites its members and friends to subscribe
to the ANNUAL REVIEW, which will appear in a limited edition.
SUBSCRIPTIONS - $2.00
SECRETARY, THE ASS'N OF NAT'L INVESTIGATORS, INC.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Dear Sir:
I am enclosing a check for ........, for which send me
( ) The Annual Review, ( ) The New To-Morrow for one year.
( ) Information on the Cayce Hospital and the Association
in general, ( ) "Heaven on Earth," by Mr. Morton H.
Blumenthal.
Name.....................................................
Street Address...........................................
City and State...........................................
NOTE: Mark x in the space before publications desired.
Membership in the Association includes subscription to
the "New To-Morrow." Information on the Association and
Hospital, and copies of "Heaven on Earth," are free.
9/29/40 Program of the Dedication Ceremonies of Library,
Office and Vault. [A condensed version of Thomas Sugrue's
lecture "The New Tomorrow" [see below] was printed in the
Jan. 1957 issue of THE SEARCHLIGHT - See
1861-5 Reports]:
DEDICATION CEREMONIES
LIBRARY, OFFICES AND VAULT [Addition to Edgar Cayce's home
on Arctic Crescent] of the
ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT, Incorporated
Virginia Beach, Va.
Sunday Afternoon, September 29, 1940.
Mr. Noah Miller, President of the Association, presided.
Miss Florence Edmonds, Member of the Board of Trustees,
led an opening period for meditation.
Opening Remarks
Noah Miller, President.
This is a happy occasion for all of us. We have gathered
here this afternoon to dedicate the new library, offices
and record vault of the Association for Research and
Enlightenment, Inc., and in so doing pay tribute to Edgar
Cayce.
It is important, I believe, that every member of the
Association recognize the step forward which this structure
represents. These offices, library and vault have not
been built for Mr. Cayce. His part of the work for the
Association could have gone on without them. This library,
these offices and our record vault have been built by and
for the members of the Association who recognize their
opportunity and responsibility in studying and presenting
the good which they have found in Mr. Cayce's work.
This is the dawn of a new day for our Association. In this
dedication we symbolize our desires and determination to take
forward strides in preserving, studying and presenting the
thousands of unusual records in our files.
Let us not pause in our work other than to give thanks for
this privilege.
We have come to that point in our program when we are to
dedicate the vault which is to contain the records of the
Association. With a simple, yet symbolic, act we will now,
in your presence, signify the importance of the records being
preserved and studied by our Association.
Here before me are the typed copies of three original
readings. They are important readings. The first one
is the oldest written record of one of Mr. Edgar Cayce's
psychic readings. Significantly, this record bears the
name, Gertrude Cayce. As you have often heard Mr. Cayce
say, the results of this reading, the help given his wife,
caused him to give himself to this work. The date is
September 23, 1911 - that was twenty-nine years ago [538-1].
The second reading was given in March, 1931. It is one
of the organization readings for our present Association.
I would like to read you a passage from it [254-54]:-
"In the manner as has been given, as to how each individual
is to attune themselves for that purpose of gaining an
understanding of their individual relationship to the
furtherance of the good that may be obtained through those
channels, or that phenomena that manifests itself, little -
as yet - has been done by any. Some, true, have held intact
those ideals - yet making the ideal of such a concrete
example in their individual lives have been put rather
in abeyance until further developments. Would further
developments be expected, would be well that each take that
as is desired in self, as to how self is to be used, as to
how self may act TO THAT source THAT individual has chosen
as its desire to see developed through the phenomena; for
from the desire of the heart the mouth speaketh, and as one
holds an objective near and dear in the heart, so does the
activities become in keeping with that so MUCH desired; for
where the treasure is the heart is also. Unless that as is
determined in self is wholly in keeping with those precepts,
those principles that may make for a continuity of life, hope
itself, LITTLE may be expected; for, as given, this - here -
in this place - now - may become as a shining light to many,
or may become the laughing stock of many. Do not expect
that evil days will not come upon each and every one, for
- as given - indeed offences must come, but woe unto him
by whom they come! So prepare thine OWN life, thine OWN
manifestations of that as is gained FROM same, that the evil
may not be spoken of by thine acts, thine words, the manner
of life, the manner of conducting thine OWN going in and
coming out. Should thee, thine self, feel thou art not able
to drink of that cup, then put not forth thine hand to grasp
same, and DO the FIRST THINGS first! It has been given as
to how each, in their prayer, in their supplication, should
seek, ask for, those of questionings, those of intents,
those of purposes to set forth before others that are afar,
or those that are constantly being drawn to a something that
many know not what. Art thou able in thine own heart, thine
own life, to answer the questions of such? for it has oft
been given, be able to at all times answer for the hope that
is held within THINE OWN heart. Does the manifestations of
the phenomena mean so little, even in the beginning, that
only few have offered, "Show ME, O God, how I may be of
service?" Let that answer come from that source, for those
who be upon the Lord's side need not be afraid, and if the
Lord be not in that thou doest, then have little or nothing
to do with same, in ANY manner, in ANY office, for it must
surely come to naught.
In the beginning, then, BEGIN aright!"
Today, as when that reading was given, we are responsible for
the furtherance of this work, the presentation of it to our
fellow man; for, we have found it to be good.
The third reading before me is the one which was given
yesterday afternoon, our most recent record. It was given
for the man, who eleven years ago, was the first patient in
the Cayce Hospital.
At this time I will turn these documents over to Miss
Gladys Davis, Secretary of the Association, and Custodian
of the Records. She will place them in the new vault.
Note: - Mr. Miller next introduced Mr. Thomas Sugrue,
Chairman of the Department of Publications, who delivered
the major address of the afternoon. A transcript follows:
THE NEW TOMORROW
By Thomas Sugrue
An address delivered at the dedication of the library and
offices of the Association for Research and Enlightenment,
Inc., Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Sunday
afternoon, September 29th, 1940.
Nine years ago, on the afternoon of June 6, 1931, I sat on
the stairs at 115 - 35th Street, Virginia Beach, while this
association was organized. My contribution to the meeting
was small. I suggested that the title be association FOR
research and enlightenment instead of association OF research
and enlightenment...one word was my donation. Today my
patience is rewarded: I've been told that I can use as many
words as I wish. I hope you will think, when I am finished,
that I resisted the temptation manfully, and held myself to a
gentlemanly quota.
The details of that first meeting of the association have
for the most part escaped my memory, but I remember the
weather better than yesterday's. It was a warm, sunny,
peaceful spring afternoon, only disturbed by the birds and
the insects, who were making a great deal of fuss about
preparations for the summer. There were no blustery
winds...only a small breeze that went about from flower
to flower, listening to complaints and promising to get
everything attended to, in time.
That was what I felt about this new association, as I sat on
the stairs. I felt that we were done with expecting other
people to transport us to physical and spiritual wealth
without effort on our part. I felt that we had returned
now to a normal way of doing things, and that if we would be
patient, and persist, that everything would be attended to,
in time.
It would take time because it was not an external
organization we were about to build, but an internal one.
Outside the sun shone everywhere, but only from those places
where the seed of life existed in the earth did things grow:
and the breeze was telling the young plants that the
sunshine alone could not turn them green; they had first to
fill the arteries of their leaves and stems with the magic
fluid of chlorophyll.
That was our problem. We all possessed the magic fluid of
the spirit, but in most of us it had not flowed out through
the arteries of our mind and burst into the blooms of faith,
hope, and charity. It was hidden in the barren shale of ego,
its roots dried out in the sandy wastes of vanity, conceit,
and selfishness. We thought we were pretty good as we talked
about our intentions that afternoon. Since then we have
learned that when we think most well of ourselves we are apt
to be least admirable...pride goeth before a fall. We had a
lot of things to learn: I think, now, that we have learned
some of them, because I felt very strongly that afternoon
that not a single brick would be set upon another for this
new association until the internal bricks had been levelled
and trued and solidly set in their places.
I do not mean to be too flattering when I say that we have
learned. There is before us yet the larger task of
application. No virtue is worth the sound of its name, as
St. Thomas Aquinas said, unless it be translated into the
action of love.
This building is our challenge. Now that we've got it, what
are we going to do about it?
Well, first let us see what it is that we have learned; what
it is that we possess.
The essence of human existence is the struggle for identity.
Man wants to know, first of all, who he is. The baby in his
crib, crying without apparent reason, is soothed by the sight
of his mother. He identifies himself with her. In her face
he sees the reality of his existence: she is the star to
which he clings in the strange, unknown world in which he
finds himself.
Later he struggles for identity in other ways - as an
intelligence, acquiring knowledge and using it; as a social
personality, joining with others in play and work; as a
philosophical atom, contemplating himself in relation to life
as a whole. Finally, he feels the urge to seek completion
outside himself, by identifying and joining himself with a
loved one, and by becoming with this loved one and with life
itself, the co-creator of new life, new individuals, who seek
their identity in the worlds of the flesh, the mind, and the
spirit.
In our spiritual lives we follow the same pattern, but it
takes longer for each phase to be accomplished. The search
for identity presents the Satanic question: do we belong to
God, or to ourselves? The ego demands self-rule; it wants to
be left alone, to do as it pleases. The spirit whispers a
different way, talking to us through our instincts, our
intuition, our conscience, our emotions. For these the ego
sets traps, so subtle that they are often unrecognizable as
such. And when we DO discover them, other traps are laid.
There is apparently no end to our ability to fool ourselves.
Our desires are made to look like our purposes; our appetites
appear in the guise of our ambitions; our idle dreams take on
the semblance of destiny.
If we do not desire a thing, we claim for our lack of desire
the virtue of self-denial; if we DO desire a thing, we point
to our zeal in pursuing it as proof of our vitality and
alertness - and we will not have it any other way except
that we are doing it for others.
If we want a person of the other sex, it's love; if we don't
want him or her, it's friendship. If we have no ambitions,
we are modest and humble; if we have ambitions, we seek to
serve our country and its people. If we are poor, the Lord
is blessing us in disguise; if we are rich, the Lord is
rewarding us for virtue.
If we endure pain and hardship, these are the tests of
saints; if we have happiness, happiness is the state of
the blessed.
Whatever it is that we are, whatever it is that we want -
such, the ego will counsel, is right and just and most to be
admired and pursued.
Until we have passed this barrier and arrive at the
knowledge that we are of the spirit, not of the ego, not
of the capricious will, we are continually caught in this
mesh of self-deceit; we fall before it a hundred times a
day, and only because the invisible hands of the merciful
spirit are there to lift us again and set us once more on
our way are we able to keep going.
But we will merely go round and round, falling and rising
again, unless we find the door that leads to the magic mirror
in which we may see the reflection of our true self. There
are two ways to find this door: we can be dragged to it by
suffering; or we can find it by the torch of the Christ mind,
walking up the steps of wisdom, peace, and charity.
Most of those who find the door use both ways. They start
out following the torch; they lose their way and are dragged
up the final long stairway by heartache and loneliness. Or
they are set on the path by loneliness and heartache, and
seeing the torch ahead, they follow it.
By these methods, I think, the members of the association for
research and enlightenment who have remained true to its
ideals and purposes through the years, have arrived at, and
passed through the first door. They know who they are, and
they see ahead of them, in the new tomorrow that is symbol-
ized by this building, WHY they are - and what they must do
because of that why.
It means a new direction, a new purpose, for their lives.
Hitherto the force of their thoughts has been centripetal -
inward, toward themselves, in self-analysis, in examination
of conscience and instincts, in listening for truth. This
was the path of the wanderer in search of himself; this was
the way of men who must keep watch on themselves lest they
deceive themselves.
Now the way is centrifugal - outward, towards others, in
an effort for the common good - in a genuine recognition of
the brotherhood of man in the reality of the spirit. Self,
having recognized self, can be trusted to act correctly. It
will be NATURAL now for self to act for the good of others;
this has become a desire in itself, for desire is now fused
with purpose, and purpose is fused with destiny. This is the
second great stage in the evolution of the spirit of man.
The members of this association have committed themselves.
There is only one way for them to go: forward, in the
service of mankind. This they MUST do before the last
great journey is permitted them: the search for the face of
God, which is the end of every man.
So now it is time to turn outward toward a greater reality
than the individual - toward the human society of which we
are all a part - toward all of the things of which the social
texture is made up - toward those supra-personal ideals to
which men devote themselves, and without which they would
fail in their quest for completion and happiness - toward
the disinterested love and service of the heart of the world,
which aches so bitterly for the folly of its desires.
From all this the association and its faithful members have
stood a little apart, preparing themselves. The time has now
come to go forth.
Let me say again that it is not my intention to flatter
either the association or its members. Neither do I think
they should be falsely modest.
Because they have learned a few things; because they have
discovered the true nature of themselves, does not mean that
they are infallible in conduct and thought - that they no
longer make mistakes. Far from it - they may even make more
of them. But there is a difference.
Now they make mistakes with the knowledge that they ARE
mistakes - not in the notion that they are right and just
acts. Therefore they have the ability to recover from them
more quickly.
And - what is more important, their mistakes have a purpose.
They will continue to err, but more and more they will err on
the side of justice.
But mistakes, sins, mean less than action.
"Love," said St. Augustine, "and then do what you will."
Then the reality of love is encountered - and love is the
emanation of spirit - it becomes the impelling force in
life, and all action naturally is in the right direction.
I believe it is true that certain members of this
association could be left to do what they will, in the
certainty that their actions would involuntarily be in the
interests of others.
But it is in this doing, this acting, which is the problem
before the members of the association now. There is a word
in the dictionary - velleity - which is defined as "inert
aspiration" - a dolorous state in which the person wants to
accomplish something but hasn't the gumption to do anything
about it.
One of the great philosophical fallacies is the vision set
forth, without any means for accomplishing it. This was the
weakness of the Platonists and the mystics of all times. The
Platonists accurately envisioned the goal of man, but were
ignorant of the way which led to it. It was Christ who
provided the way, and it is Christianity which has given man
a practical means, in ethics and morals, of accomplishing
this end. But much of Christianity has made the mistake of
substituting the means for the end - of making ethics and
morals ends in themselves, rather than pathways of
enlightenment and spiritual evolution. Many reasoning
people have turned away from modern Christianity because
they find no satisfactory explanation of codes of conduct
which seem to exist for their own sakes. But more people
have turned from Christianity in our time because they
looked in a false mirror and saw what the ego wished them to
see - a resplendent St. Michael, already saved and
transcendent, and permitted indulgence in all that he
desired.
When the Roman Empire began to crumble, and calamity after
calamity was reported to the people, they began to look for
a solace beyond the material world...but they wanted a
religion which would make the way to salvation easy: they
didn't want to give up any of the pleasant living to which
they had become accustomed. Consequently many isms and
pseudo-religions sprang into life, and within Christianity
itself, which was struggling for a foothold in the empire,
there arose movements aimed at making the whole thing easier
for people.
In our time much the same thing has happened. Since the
organization of this association a dozen sects and societies
for salvation have risen to popularity and fallen again -
fallen because in them the people have followed a rainbow,
and eventually they have discovered it to be just that.
But Christianity has itself fumbled the problems of restating
its purpose, of saying to modern people in modern terms what
Christianity is, and what it means to people, and what it
means to civilization. The church has had a hard time
explaining - and proving - to people that Christianity is
a living thing - that it is life itself.
Christians have found embarrassment in people of other
religions, who have seemed to live more Christian lives
than the Christians. Again history is being repeated, for
during the decline of the Roman Empire, when a certain man
named Faustus, a Manichean in religion, was accused of not
being a Christian, he replied to Augustine himself:
"Do I accept the Gospel? You ask me if I accept it,
although it is apparent that I do, for I obey its commands.
I should rather ask if you accept it, for I see in you no
signs of your accepting it. I have left father, mother,
wife, children, and all else required by the Gospel. Perhaps
you do not know what is called the Gospel. It is nothing
else save the preaching and the commands of Christ. I have
parted with gold and silver, having ceased to carry money
in my purse; content with daily bread, without care for the
morrow, as to how I shall be fed or clothed. You see in me
the beatitudes of Christ; and you ask, do I believe the
Gospel? ...But you say to believe the Gospel is not only
to do what it commands, but also to believe all that is
written in it, and especially that God was born. But neither
is believing the Gospel only to believe that Jesus was born,
but also to obey His commandments. If therefore you say that
I do not believe the Gospel because I pass over the Birth,
much more do you not believe because you treat His
commandments with contempt. If, as you say, belief in the
Gospel includes faith in the genealogies and obedience to
its precepts, why do you, an imperfect man, condemn me,
another imperfect man? Let us suppose that you are right,
that perfect faith consists of two parts, one consisting in
word, of the confession that Christ was born, the other in
deed, observance of Christ's precepts: mark that I have
chosen the hard and painful part, you that which is light
and easy. Why then do you assail me for taking upon myself
the more difficult part of faith, leaving to you, as a weak
brother, the easier task? Come, let us ask Christ Himself,
and learn from His own mouth what is the chief means of
salvation. Who shall enter into Thy kingdom, O Christ? HE
THAT DOTH THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN. That is His
answer. Not 'he that confesses that I was born.'"
That is precisely why no sect, no ism, no cult, no
philosophical society has been permitted to form around the
work of Edgar Cayce...for the philosophy of the free mind of
Edgar Cayce, speaking through him in readings, has stated
over and over again that He, Christ IS the light, IS the way,
IS the truth...
The first duty of members of the association, then, is to be
Christians...to live as Christians, and to thus reflect in
their own lives the truth which they have found, with the
help of these readings, within themselves.
This they have done - many of them - and already it has
brought inquiries from others who have begun to wonder to
what they may cling. What is it that has helped you so?
Where do you get the strength and serenity which you seem
to possess? These questions have been asked of some of you.
You must have an answer to those questions, and to many
others.
The example will be watched more and more, as time goes on.
The explanation must be ready. Only the other day one of the
young members of the association, walking down a street in
Norfolk, found that she had involuntarily swerved to avoid
walking under a ladder. She went back and deliberately
walked under the ladder. A block farther on an old lady
started to cross in front of her, then waited for the girl
to go, since the youngster had the right of way. But the
young lady found herself involuntarily stopping, giving the
right of way to the old lady.
These actions, I think, symbolize the present state of
the members of the association: still making mistakes,
submitting to old superstitions, but doggedly fighting
against them and correcting mistakes where they can be
corrected: beginning in other things to act thoughtfully,
justly, and courteously, without taking conscious thought.
And these are the people who must now carry forward the work
of this association: they will do it because they want to,
and because now, I believe, they cannot help doing it.
What, precisely, is this work? What has this association to
offer the world?
Obviously whatever the association has to offer the world
is continued in its records, in the more than 12,000
stenographic reports of Mr. Cayce's readings, which will
be housed in this vault, and which will be studied in this
library...
That study must be made possible, first of all...without it
the association will continue to serve only the individuals
who have readings and the small groups which can carry on
their own investigations...with that study made, almost
anything is possible.
There are helps here for everyone...for the sick and for
those who help the sick...the medical doctor, the osteopath,
the homeopath, the neuropath, the physiotherapist, the
directors of sanatoria, the psychologists and psychiatrists,
the surgeons, the scientists, can all be aided, can all be
enlightened, and through them and their ministrations all
peoples, everywhere, can live more healthfully and fully.
This is not moonshine; this is not idle dreaming. This
can be done - but it will take time, work, perseverance.
The remedies must be tested, must be presented to the proper
persons, must prove their efficacy. But they are here; they
exist, now, at this moment.
Those who are studying the laws of psychic phenomena -
so-called, can be enlightened and helped. In the readings
there is information on the laws of telepathy, clairvoyance,
and all the other manifestations of the supernormal. These
can be tested; these can be proved; these can be presented.
Those who study the human body as a psychic vehicle, who
are interested in the laws of personality, talent, genius,
etc., can be enlightened and helped, so that vocational
guidance can become an exact science. This is not foolish
bragging; this can be done. But it will take time, it will
take patience, it will require forbearance in the face of
ridicule, criticism, and neglect.
Finally, there is in these readings a philosophy, a system
of living, that answers the challenge of the present day.
This is an age in which, as the poet said, "the old faiths
loosen and rend;" the beliefs our fathers and forefathers
lived by are crumbling. Science has pushed back the stars,
magnified time, expanded the universe, found a new world in
the atom, turned topsy-turvey every notion that man possessed
regarding the world in which he lived and the other worlds
he saw shining in his night.
It has come swiftly, and it is moving even more swiftly -
toward the end of the age of power and materiality, toward
a new tomorrow when the only wealth which men will seek is
wealth of the mind, and the only knowledge that will be
prized is knowledge of the spirit...let me read you what
one person has written of that day...:
And in that time, so the prophets have written; when the
Twentieth Century shall have passed away, and the sign of
God-man is in the sky: peace shall reign upon the earth,
and no man shall hate his brother.
Neither shall there be war, nor pestilence, nor poverty,
nor any other of the shameful things which man has done unto
himself since first he knew shame.
And a great land shall have risen out of the ocean of the
Atlantic, and many islands also, to care for those who were
forced from their homes in the land that destroyed itself,
that was called Europe.
Nations that are great shall have perished, and all men,
seeking to be brothers shall have put their hands to a common
pledge, and raised up a single force to rule them: the force
of wisdom.
Then wisdom shall sit in the palaces of cities, and on the
mountain tops, and breathe in the hearts of men.
Wise men shall sit in judgement, and order the ways of their
brethren, and listen for the voice of God.
For wisdom is the knowledge of God, and of His whereabouts,
and of his laws and His mercy, and the beauty of His
creations.
So wisdom brings peace, and teaches love, and sets the face
of man toward his spirit.
And in that time these things shall be, and the earth and
the sky and the sea shall open to man their secrets.
Atoms shall put their shoulders to the wheels of commerce,
so that trees may grow unharried, and rest in their graves
of coal and oil without hindrance.
Sound from heaven shall bend itself to the ears of man, that
he may hear the music of the spheres, and understand the
rhythms of his soul.
Colors and perfumes shall rise up from the sea to fashion
beautiful images, and nourish the dreams of the young.
And through all the land, love, like a famished child, shall
sit down to a feast, and rise up filled with joy.
No soldiers shall march; no guns shall sound; no bitterness
or lies shall do disservice to the lips of anyone.
No debts shall be made; yet all promises shall be fulfilled.
Death shall come to meet no man; all men shall go to meet
death.
In the spring forget-me-nots shall blanket the fields, and
the hearts of maidens shall turn to the hearts of men, and
the sun shall follow its course in the heavens.
And God shall be pleased a little, looking at man, and tint
the roses with a deeper red, and raise the skylark in the
sky.*
Today that age is being born - in travail and sorrow, with
suffering for everyone. To show others the beautiful thing
that is ahead; to help others endure the present for the sake
of the future; to help a little in anticipating such a day...
even to lay a few stones of the path that leads to its
achievement...this is a high and glorious privilege...and
it is a high and glorious privilege which I believe the
members of this association have been accorded: today it
challenges them; tomorrow it must be done.
All men seek God; all men, eventually, find Him. It is the
wandering that is long and painful, that can be shortened
and gladdened by wisdom, mercy, and charity. That is what
the members of this association can do...they can help men
to find themselves and their God...each, as the poet said,
in his own tongue...
A fire mist and a planet,
A crystal and a cell;
A jellyfish and a Saurian,
And a cave where the cavemen dwell.
Then a sense of law and duty,
And a face turned from the clod;
Some call it evolution, and others call it God.
* [Poem by Thomas Sugrue using prophecies from various
sources.]
A mist on the far horizon,
The infinite, tender sky,
The ripe, rich tint of the cornfield,
And the wild geese sailing high,
And all over upland and lowland,
The sign of the goldenrod,
Some of us call it autumn,
And others call it God.
Like tides on a crescent sea beach,
When the moon is new and thin,
Unto our hearts high yearnings,
Come welling and surging in,
Come from the mystic ocean,
Whose rim no foot has trod,
Some of us call it longing,
And others call it God.
A picket frozen on duty,
A mother, starved for her brood;
Socrates drinking the hemlock,
And Jesus, on the rood;
And the millions who humble and nameless,
The straight hard pathway trod;
Some call it consecration,
And others call it God.*
That is the challenge to the members of this association:
to help others to know the truth: the truth which shall
set them free.
Already much has been done. This building is a monument to
the association for research and enlightenment; the
association for research and enlightenment is a monument to
the work of Edgar Cayce, the work of Edgar Cayce is a
monument to truth...
Remember this, and remember also the words of the Psalmist:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the
mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the
city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most
High.
* ["Each In His Own Tongue," by William Herbert Carrutha.]
CONCLUSION - EDGAR CAYCE
There is only one thing I want to say. That is, "Thank you."
As you know, two years ago I had a dream which gave me the
first concrete idea as to a manner in which this building
might come into actual existence. As I thought of it, it
seemed far away. The Readings have indicated for years that
when a sufficient number of individuals had been convinced
personally as to the value of the information, they would
help pass it on to others. When I had this dream, I sent
a copy to every member of the Association. [See
11/15/38
ltr. under
1469-1 Reports. See also under
254-103 Reports.]
Today we are able to see the result of this letter. The
money, time and energy which have made this possible have
come from those whom I have tried to help.
One of the carpenters, working on the building, said to me
the other day, 'Well, Mr. Cayce, I've heard about you...
I've heard a lot of people say a lot of things about you, but
I don't think I've ever met a man just like you. I don't
know what it is, that is different, but there's something!"
He possibly has never seen even a copy of a Reading; he
doesn't know what it is all about. Yet, when we started
putting in our library, the first set of books was given by
this man. It is helpful to know that our efforts stimulate
such attitudes in individuals.
We are dedicating this building for a service to humanity.
"Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren,
ye do it unto me." The service to our fellow man is the
greatest service we can do for our Maker. For, it is seeing
in our fellow man something we could worship in our Maker
that leads us on, to hope for, to be the very best possible
channel for good. The work of studying our records and
preparing them for distribution is just beginning. We need
your cooperation and the assistance of every member of the
Association. We are ready to go forward.
Thank you! Thank you for helping me to make this possible.
Let us close with a word of prayer:
Gracious God, we thank Thee for Thy blessing to us. We thank
Thee for the gift of Thy love, and the manifestations of
Thyself in the earth through Thy Son, Jesus Christ. As we
have come here this afternoon to dedicate this building for
the purpose that we may better serve our fellow men, may we
each dedicate...rededicate...our lives to Thee. For it is
in Thee that we live and move and have our being. Be Thou,
O God, the guide. Direct us in the things we do and say,
and help us to choose Thy ways. Now, may the blessings of
the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be on each and every
one, as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
11/07/40 HLC's letter to Mrs. [
264]: "We are off to N.Y. for
a short trip beginning next Sunday. Mother, Dad and Gladys
will go up for the first week and I will be there for the
next two with Dad. We will have two open meetings this year,
one of them devoted to the Expansion program. We will be a
the Kahn's again, 20 Woods Lane, Scarsdale, N.Y."
3/15/41 Building Fund letter by Marguerite A. Poss - see
under
1757-1 Reports.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation