A.R.E. Journal, 1974, Vol. IX, No. 1
In 1947, in Chicago, at one of my very first lectures, I was confronted with the dilemma as to what point of view to take regarding communication with Edgar Cayce. After the lecture several people came up to speak to me. One of the first was a man who told me that he was the minister of a local spiritualist church. He said that he was very sorry to have to give me the message he had for me but that Edgar Cayce had been at the lecture, standing at my right side. My father had communicated to him that he was very sorry that he ever gave many of his psychic readings. He wanted me to burn all of them to stop the work which had been launched to study his records. I got the man's name and address and thanked him. Moments later I was confronted with another message bearer, a lady who was also a minister of a spiritualist church - this one on the outskirts of Chicago―said that she was happy to give me a message from Edgar Cayce. He had been there for the evening lecture, standing just to my left, and he wanted me to “go forward with the work of the organization.” You pay your money and take your choice!
The whole field of psychical research is one which, at times, is extremely confusing. Evidence for survival is hard to clarify and harder to prove. In the light of modern telepathic and clairvoyant research, it seems almost impossible. We are frequently confused by what we see and hear. Too often we take words at their face value and are apt to misunderstand scientific data. There is a great deal of information on life after death in thousands of the psychic readings given by Edgar Cayce between 1901 and 1945. He was not a medium in the ordinary sense of the word. That is to say that insofar as we could determine, he did not have guides nor controls. There were times when he seemed to stop on the beam of light on which he traveled to talk with those who were on other planes of consciousness or in a state of so-called death. On such occasions we [in the room while he gave a reading] could hear only one side of the telephone-like conversation.
In Virginia Beach, Virginia, On July 9, 1934, Edgar Cayce had completed a physical check reading for one of my mother's cousins―a man who had cancer and was to die shortly. Edgar Cayce had been given the suggestion to awaken. My father then, apparently, began to talk with my uncle, my mother's brother, who had died in his early twenties while he was in the southwest receiving treatment for tuberculosis. At the time he went to the southwest for this treatment, his grandfather was in the process of supervising construction of the home to which many members of the large family gathered, from time to time, for family reunions and special events. Also prior to his illness my uncle had been on the baseball team. According to the conversation, as it appears in the readings, in my uncle's mind the house construction had been finished on another level of consciousness and he was there with other members of the family who also had died. It seems he continued to play baseball. In his consciousness, however, he had apparently arrived at a state of mind where he could say:
...for we have reached together [that place] where we see the light and know the pathway to the Savior is along the narrow way that leads to His throne. We are on that plane where you have heard it spoken of that the body, the mind, are one with those things we have builded.
--Edgar Cayce reading 5730-13
Later, when we asked questions about this communication, Edgar Cayce described this plane of consciousness as similar, in many ways, to the earth plane but of finer structure. Included in this reading is the following:
For the soul lives on; and as conditions are only the release of the soul body from a house of clay the activities in the world of matter are only changed in their relationships to that which produces same and that [which] the physical body sees in material or three-dimensional form.
--Edgar Cayce reading 5756-14
His reference to light was of special interest to us, because there were about seventeen times when Edgar Cayce retained memory from the altered state of consciousness from which he gave psychic information. On these occasions the memories related to his moving on a shaft of light. From the readings on these memories I have put together a composite statement as follows:
I see myself as a tiny dot outside of my physical body, which lies inert before me. I find myself oppressed by darkness, and there is a feeling of terrific loneliness. Suddenly, I am conscious of a beam of white light. As this tiny dot, I move upward in the light, knowing that I must follow it or be lost.
As I move along this path of light, I gradually become conscious of various levels upon which there is movement. Upon the first levels there are vague, horrible shapes, grotesque forms such as one sees in nightmares. Passing on, there begin to appear on either side misshapen forms of human beings with some part of the body magnified. Again there is change, and I become conscious of gray-hooded forms moving downward. Gradually, these become lighter in color. Then the direction changes and these forms move upward, and the color of the robes grows rapidly lighter. Next, there begin to appear on either side vague outlines of houses, walls, trees, etc., but everything is motionless. As I pass on, there is more light and movement in what appear to be normal cities and towns. With the growth of movement I become conscious of sounds. At first they are indistinct rumblings and then there is music, laughter, and the singing of birds. There is more and more light. The colors become very beautiful, and there is only a blending of sound and color. Quite suddenly, I come upon a hall of records. It is a hall without walls, without a ceiling, but I am conscious of seeing an old man who hands me a large book, a record of the individual for whom I seek information.
Many individuals questioned Edgar Cayce about life after death. Part 2 will look at psychic information from entities who have died.
