Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00310)

Dear Martin,

You asked about my approach in the Cayce book.  I thought I had
already stated it.  The title is Edgar Cayce in Context, and
the subtitle keeps changing but for now is Historical
Perspectives on the Readings.  What the book tries to do is to
place Cayce's teachings in context of their antecedents, as
well as his contemporaries who taught similar doctrines.  After
a historical introduction, there are four long chapters:

Christian Theosopher, which examines the universalistic
neo-Gnostic interpretation of Christianity in the readings.

Esoteric Psychologist, which investigates Cayce's model of the
human constitution, his meditation guidelines, astrological
system, interpretation of attitudes and emotions, pattern of
group work, and explanation of psychic phenomena.

Holistic Health Advisor, which explores Cayce's record as a
psychic diagnostician, the general dietary and health
guidelines in the readings, and the specific treatments for
various illnesses.

Clairvoyant Time Traveler, which examines Cayce's portrayal of
the past and future, with emphasis on Atlantis, ancient Egypt,
the time of Christ, and the near future.

Underlying all this are two questions: where in previous
literature are the teachings of the Cayce readings found? and
how did these get into the readings?  The first question is
easy enough: Blavatsky, Steiner, Gurdjieff, Radhasoami, New
Thought, liberal Protestantism, Freud, Jung, osteopathy, the
Hay diet, Donnelly, and some others.  The second is much harder
to answer, and I'm still working on it.  But the testimony of
people who knew him is unanimous to the effect that he was not
a heavy reader of such material, and in a waking state of
consciousness appeared quite unfamiliar with it.  Unless this
is a carefully orchestrated coverup (and I'll be going to
Hopkinsville to do some research on possible conflicting
reports) he somehow absorbed all this material another way than
reading.  Since there are plenty of errors, we can rule out direct access
to some absolute storehouse of truth, which Cayce himself never
claimed.  He said that his subconscious mind could link itself
to any or all other subconscious minds, and find the answer to
any question that way.  Something like this does indeed seem to
be the modus operandi.  The problem is, all mistaken notions
ever thought by anyone are out there to be tapped into as
easily as all truths ever known-- and an entranced person
cannot distinguish among them very well.

Hope that helps.