4/16/53 He sent us this report on his Life Reading, which he
also gave publicly before assembled members of A.R.E. See
this article and lecture published in
3/01/53 issue of The
Searchlight; also reprinted in Winter '69 A.R.E. Journal:
THE IMPACT OF A LIFE READING
By [
2062]
Life follows a pattern, a karmic evolution perhaps, of ideas
evolving into ideals. The mold may vary, but the motivation
is always a changing sense of values, a change that comes
gradually and surreptitiously with the years. After
the age of thirty life becomes a pattern of principles,
whereas before that age it is a conglomeration of impulses.
Youth has a way of ignoring the important to more seriously
pursue the frivolous. It has the knack, for which
pseudo-sophisticates strive so laboriously, of speaking
lightly of serious things and seriously of light things. Of
such may be God's gifts to the young, but there comes a time
when we should put away childish things. Of such,
nevertheless, was the state of mind when I first heard of
Edgar Cayce.
It was 1937, and I had just moved in line of duty from
Huntsville, Ala., to Hopkinsville, Ky. In this warm,
tobacco-raising community of 10,000 people, I began almost
at once to hear weird tales of super-natural feats of
clairvoyance, of miraculous cures with unorthodox, home-spun
treatments, and of a far-fetched philosophy of life involving
something called reincarnation and karma.
I came to know people who attributed their lives to this man,
several of them. I listened to their stories, sympathized
with them, and took it all with a grain of salt. These
things couldn't be because they were impossible. They were
impossible because I had never before heard of them; they
were not taught in school; and within my meager knowledge
they were not in the Bible, though that was a subject in
which I had practically no interest whatever.
My interests, in brief, were in girls, dancing girls, having
a good time, and girls. That was the field of endeavor
beyond the hours of earning a living. Who cared, really,
what some man 500 miles away in Virginia could do while
ostensibly asleep? Who could believe such fantastic tales
except the gullible and the crackpots? There were other
things more important, and behind it all was an extreme
skepticism of all things unseen.
Perhaps it was fate, or divine Providence, or simply plain
luck, but I was at last prevailed upon to request a 'Life
Reading' from Edgar Cayce for myself. The suggestion had
long been shrugged off with a polite no, and it was with some
misgivings, and a certain amount of curiosity, that I applied
for it through a member of the Association. While my chief
interest in the project was the remote possibility of finding
some magic key to unlock the doors to riches, there was one
other factor that prompted this decision.
Years before, during my early school days, there had been a
subject which unduly excited my imagination. Always a poor
student with no love for study, I rarely did better than
to make passing grades, but on this subject I unaccountably
excelled. The subject was the Civil War and anything
concerning it. Before I was fifteen I was very nearly an
authority on it. Study was a delight; I read everything I
could lay my hands on. For months I religiously clipped a
daily newspaper historical cartoon strip for safekeeping.
I knew all about Pickett's Charge, Bragg's action at
Chichamauga, and the Yankee Andrews stealing the Confederate
train. Dates, places, losses and generals of the most
insignificant skirmishes could be pulled out of my head at
random. I was ready to fight the war over again at the drop
of a hat, and my teachers were dumbfounded.
It was with some expectation then, that I read my 'reading'
on its arrival. I skipped through the pages to find it, and
there it was in no uncertain terms. "Before this we find the
entity was in the land of its present nativity, and during
those periods of turmoils and strife - in that called the
Civil War. The entity was among the southern contingents,
acting in the capacity of what is called the commissary, or
one providing provisions for the handling of those who served
in the capacity of soldiers."
"Thus we find the entity met many of those disturbing
conditions, many of those in activities that brought
the weighty problems of considering manners and means
of distribution, as well as those influences from which
resources might be obtained. Then name then was Carl
Brickner. In the experience the entity gained, for the
sincerity of purpose was manifested in the manner in
which the entity conducted himself."
It was, indeed, fully as I had expected, and, in this
particular passage, somewhat flattering, I thought. Possibly
I could have accepted it then and there but for other
internal evidences of error. I read it with interest until
I came upon this: "Thus there may come to the entity the
opportunity for sowing the seeds of the spirit of truth and
love. Thus may the entity develop and grow to become an
influence, a force, a power for good - ."
Nothing could have been more foreign to me. "An influence
for good!" That was just short of a laugh. I wasn't
interested in sowing goodness; I was interested in sowing my
wild oats! And then, "For thou, veritably, believeth that
in Him ye move and have thy being. Then act in that way
and manner..." I had no such convictions. Reared in strict
orthodoxy, I had never quite fully accepted this premise
since I had begun to think for myself. While I rendered
nominal lip service, skepticism was always in the back of
my mind.
This was amply demonstrated in a passage from my so-called
Egyptian incarnation. "For the entity, then as Zeutex,
became greatly disturbed because of embitterments which arose
between the entity and the Priest. Yet, eventually, through
the deeper considerations of self and its peoples, there
was the absorbing of the ideas and ideals of the Priest..."
Certainly I had nothing in common with priests, and how I
could have eventually absorbed the ideas or ideals of one
was beyond my comprehension.
No. Whatever it was talking about, it wasn't talking about
me. For one thing it was too vague; for another it didn't
fit me, the Civil War notwithstanding. I put it away and
promptly forgot it. It gathered dust among unused books
and papers.
Two years later I moved away from Hopkinsville. In 1943
the draft board finally caught up with me in Tennessee and
eventually deposited me in Germany and the Philippines.
It was after my discharge in 1946 that I happened across
Thomas Paine's 'Age of Reason' in a Washington, D.C.
Library. It was the first of the controversial 'higher
criticism' book I read. And it set off a chain reaction
that drove me through stacks of books on both sides of the
question. Almost instantaneously the authenticity of the
Bible, the divinity of Jesus, the existence of a God and
the origin and destiny of man became important to me, too
important to be left hanging in suspense. It didn't matter
so much which way the chips fell; it was the knowledge of the
Truth that concerned me.
If the orthodox religions were fundamentally in error and
without basis, I could conscientiously forget it once and
for all; if skepticism was unfounded, it deserved no further
consideration, in fact, it would demand a more serious view
of things spiritual. Indeed, it was time to make up my mind
and start living it, one way or the other. It was past time
if the divinity schools were correct.
But this thirst for truth was not easily quenched. For every
authority on one side there was one on the other; Plate,
Descartes, Kant, Russell, and Spinoza; Dewey, James,
Goodspeed, and Rimmer, all with varying and conflicting
ideas. The solution, I finally discovered, rested not with
accepting a given theory; it had to come from within. I had
to decide for myself.
The essence of the problem, the key to the dilemma, seemed to
lie in the existence or non-existence of the human soul. I
inclined form the beginning toward a divine origin, perhaps
because of my early church training, but now I wanted proof,
at least to my own satisfaction.
If man has no soul, I decided, then we are no more than
advanced animals; an evolved race of intelligent primates.
Life would be ;without meaning, without purpose; a flick of
existence in eternity and then no more. We were, in short,
civilized animals.
But that word CIVILIZED demands clarification. It means more
than modern cities and transportation and communications.
If it means anything it must mean the voluntary embracing
of a moral code and the upholding of human dignity. Man
has will and reason, and he has a conscience. He has ideals
and principles and nobility. What did Plato say? The three
great principles of life are Truth, Beauty and Goodness.
Why? Which of the animals can appreciate truth, beauty
or goodness? Beauty lies not in the things seen so much as
in the minds of those who see it. Goodness, and there is
a great deal of it in the world, is an impossible virtue
outside the realm of divinity. Only a spark of spirituality
within the human breast could account for this civilization
of man and the pride he takes in it.
On the other hand, if we are simply educated mammals we
should have all the animal instincts and little else. Life
would be a matter of dog eat dog and the survival of the
fittest. Muscular strength would be the only thing that
mattered. There would be no room, and no reason, for law and
order and decency, no pride, ambition nor worship of things
unseen. And man, wherever he has been found, has always
worshipped a higher being.
Suffice it to say, there was no alternative in reconciling
the present state of mankind but to incorporate the existence
of a soul, that divine spark that explains the remarkable
progress of man over the centuries and propels him onward and
upward to still more lofty and noble goals. It is, indeed,
the motivating power that puts him a great deal higher than
the animals and only a little below the angels.
If, then, man is of divine origin, there must be an origin; a
Universal Supreme Being, Consciousness or Force. There must
be a God. And there must be meaning, a purpose, other than
enjoying the fruits of the flesh.
It was with considerable relief that I arrived at these
conclusions, though I had no idea how all this was supposed
to work out. At least I felt I had settled in my own mind
the controversy that had been gnawing at me for a year,
and that it was the beginning, the germ, of the Truth. Man
is immortal. science has long known that matter is not
destroyed, only its form changed; how much more true
would this be with non-matter, the spirit?
My elation was real, and the thought of the modernists
and the materialists who labor under an illusion, or more
correctly, a disillusion, appalled me. I did not pretend to
answer the many related problems, but it was safe to assume
that we would not be here without some sign, some pattern or
light to show us the way back. Christianity at least offered
a tentative solution in principle if not in toto.
But the peace of mind that came with this acceptance was
short-lived. Orthodoxy, I discovered, answered so few of
the real problems; it was more concerned with splitting hairs
over creed and doctrine than in the plight of the human soul.
It was the letter of the law, not the spirit of it, that
prompted much of its output, and these disputes gradually
grew distasteful to me. No one was alarmed. While Rome
burned, we fiddled over the use of sand or water.
Certainly, it seemed to me, we would all be lost if we
carried to their conclusions the principles set forth in
the Bible. Such a course, as I saw it, would mean most
of the people are, will be, and have been abandoned by the
Creator over the ages. Salvation seemed almost a physical
impossibility with the present state of man, not that he is
so bad, but so that he is indifferent. Still, if we are all
children of a loving Father, would he give us up so easily?
It was incompatible with a God of justice, love, and
patience. This conviction I could not escape.
It was in 1950, while living in Toledo, Ohio, that I pulled
from among my forgotten books Thomas Sugrue's THERE IS A
RIVER. I had rad it hurriedly during the early part of my
Army career, but somehow it had not registered, possibly
for a number of reasons. But this time it came under closer
scrutiny; I read and reread the philosophy in the back of
the book; I tore it apart and looked at the pieces. They all
seemed to fit; furthermore, they fitted with what I already
believed to be true. Here was a tangible, workable plan of
life, a plan that tied up all the loose ends of an otherwise
vague conception of religion. Here, at last, was something I
could believe.
I dug up my Life Reading forthwith, now yellowed with the
years, and read it with the understanding that comes with
age and maturity. I was overwhelmed by its impact. "...the
seeds of the spirit of truth...an influence...for good...for
thou, veritably, believeth...then act in that way and
manner..."
But it was not until two years later that I learned the
real story of the Priest and the pattern that was unfolding.
The Priest was, of course, Ra-Ta, Mr. Cayce in his Egyptian
incarnation, and the plot would be almost amusing if it were
not so serious. "For the entity...became greatly disturbed
because of embitterments which arose between the entity
and the Priest. yet, eventually, through the deeper
considerations of self and its peoples, there was the
absorbing of the ideas and ideals of the Priest, or the
turning of the ideas into ideals, through the seeking to
comprehend, to understand, and then to practically apply the
tenets of 'The Lord thy God is One.'" This was precisely
what happened, then and 12,000 years later. I was meeting
myself!
So that is the pattern, and it took just twelve years
to unfold. there are reasons for this, but they are not
important. What is important is that the predicament of the
human soul has a solution. There is a way, and it leads out
of the wilderness and on to a higher road of existence. For
that I am happy.
1/17/60 [
2062]'s letter to Vaughan Shelton:
Dear Vaughan:
I am holding the LP recording, in case you've wondered about
it. I thought I might try to place it elsewhere, but I need
a few of those letters you directed to radio stations. I
have already written a friend of Hugh McPherson's in Akron,
and he also gave me a Boston station to contact. The letters
would be a help in future contacts in this area, say 1/2
dozen. If you need the record please advise.
Well, barring some unforeseen circumstance, I will make the
trip to Russia sponsored by the Methodist Board of World
Peace, in July and August. It's open to anyone interested
in disarmament, would peace, etc., and not exclusively for
Methodists, although many of the 30 maximum in the tour will
be Methodist clergymen. It'll set me back $1675, covering
everything, but I figure I'd better go while I can. If I
hadn't made some money on my house I would never have made
it on the trip.
If you know of any one interested in the Russian situation
pass the info along. They should contact Dr. Carl Soule,
Methodist B of WP, 740 Rush St., Chicago 11, Ill. The Board,
as well as the National Council of Churches, with whom I have
corresponded, are political if not religious liberals. They
believe that American-Russia friendship is the best hope out
of the present dilemma, and this fits in with the readings
very nicely.
I am wondering if the readings have anything more to say on
that subject. All I have is what you printed in the Bulletin
and the old AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER. If there is more I
ought to know about it. Ask Gladys or HL and let me know,
will you? If it is explosive I will keep it confidential.
I never discuss this publicly, anyway.
HL should read and review the recent book, GOD AND THE
SOVIETS, by Dr. Marcus Back, professor of the School of
Religion at Iowa State U. He gives an honest appraisal of
the USSR today and the growth of religion there, which is
very much alive. It's published by Thomas Y. Crowell Co.,
432-4th Ave., NYC, and is the best I've read on the subject,
and I don't think I've missed any.
Don't forget the booklets at Major's Book Store, Charleston.
He was to settle up with you first of the year. Enclosed is
one of his ads.
Best regards, [
2062]
4/24/61 He wrote us that he was considering a Civil Service
job in writing or editing.
10/62 He was introduced in one of his published articles as
"the director of the ... School of Writing & Speaking. His
short stories, articles and humorous pieces have appeared in
... ... and various other publications in the U.S., Canada
and Latin America. He lectures on the Soviet Union, world
affairs and metaphysical subjects; and he has appeared on
radio. He has been active in Methodist church work as a lay
preacher, chairman of the ... and superintendent of an adult
Sunday school."
12/68 "Today, some thirty years after the date of the
reading, I find much of its prophecy to be true and
practically all the past incarnations to be likely and
convincing. I would judge it to be about 75% accurate at
this point in time, and hopefully I have perhaps another
twenty years to go. In any case, that is a degree of
accuracy that I or no one else could have foretold in 1939.
"Since then, I have lived in eight different states,
travelled in sixteen foreign countries, employed mainly
in distribution, writing, and civil law enforcement.
Avocationally, my interests have been in spreading the word
of the Cayce readings, world peace and disarmament, national
and international affairs - that is to say, politics.
We will not have better government until we have better
leadership, and we will not have better leadership until
better people become interested in public affairs."
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation