ESP and Psychic Phenomena
The story of Edgar Cayce's life is filled with examples of what this
extra sense of communication is like. His ability to give readings in
the sleep state could be labeled ESP because he somehow knew
information that he had never studied, and he could see people and
places and events without using his physical sight.
While asleep, he could answer questions on any topic or he could give
descriptions of the individual and his or her surroundings, even though
Cayce was in Virginia Beach and the person receiving the reading might
be in New York City. Because there are so many different types of
extrasensory communication, researchers have broken down the term ESP
into further categories to help explain what is taking place.
Telepathy is the
ability to obtain information psychically by reading the mind of
another person. For example, while Cayce was in Kentucky,
he gave a reading for a man in New York (740-1). He saw the man smoking
a cigar, heard him whistling a particular song, saw him meet with
another man about a piece of property, and saw him look over three
letters. Finally, the sleeping Cayce heard the man telephone another
gentleman and knew the gentleman's name.
All of these events were later verified. Cayce was able to see with
this extra sense everything the man in New York had experienced
firsthand with his normal senses. In our own lives, one example of
telepathy is when we suddenly start thinking about someone we haven't
heard from in a long time and a short while later the phone rings and
that person is on the line.
Another category of
ESP is clairvoyance, the ability to "see" information that
no one else has. For example, suppose you shuffled a deck of cards and
placed them face down, then went through the deck and tried to name
each card (or at least to tell its color). If your percentage of
correct guesses was far beyond what would be expected by random chance,
it would be an example of clairvoyance.
You would not need to be 100 percent accurate to demonstrate
clairvoyance, just statistically (and consistently) greater than random
chance. On the other hand, if you tried the same experiment but had a
friend look at each card and concentrate on it before you guessed, this
would be an example of telepathy.
Looking at one instance from the Cayce readings (2826-1), we find the
case of a person who was in Ohio while Cayce was in Virginia Beach.
During the reading, Cayce correctly gave the person's body temperature.
Now, if the attending doctor in Ohio had known the patient's
temperature before Cayce's reading was given, then this would be an
example of telepathy, since Cayce could have read the doctor's mind.
But if the doctor hadn't known the temperature until after Cayce's
psychic reading, it would be an example of clairvoyance.
A third category of
ESP is precognition, the ability to view events before
they happen. Many of us have had the experience called
déjà vu; for example: you might be having a
conversation with a friend and, all at once, be absolutely positive
that you've had the exact conversation before. You may even know what
your friend is going to say next. The Cayce readings suggest that one
explanation for this phenomenon is that our dreams often foreshadow
future events. Such precognitive dreams may be forgotten and onlydimly
felt at those times as déjà vu experiences.
There are countless examples of precognition in the files of the Cayce
material. In many readings for children, Cayce foresaw what they would
be like as adults, even going so far as to describe hidden talents and
occupational decisions. There are also other examples of this
precognitive ability.
When completing a reading for one woman in New York, Cayce suddenly
started giving a reading for a woman in Missouri, although no one had
solicited it. Her request for help, dated the day after he had
volunteered the information (5700-6), did not arrive until after his
response had already been mailed. Cayce also predicted the stock market
crash (900-425) more than six months before it occurred and foresaw the
outbreak of World War II. He knew that he would die before his two sons
returned home from overseas.
Although some have called Cayce a "prophet," he himself made no such
claims. In fact, in one reading, he described himself as a "lowly,
weak, unworthy channel" (254-76). He rarely made any predictions about
worldwide events, mostly because these kinds of predictions are subject
to countless outside influences.
For example, when psychics try to predict the future, all they can
actually do is foretell a possible future based on current happenings.
If events continue to occur the same course-if people's attitudes,
lifestyles, and world conditions remain the same-then psychics can
"see" what the result will be.
However, the readings make it quite clear that each of us has the gift
of free will. If enough people use their free will and change what they
are currently doing, this in turn will have dramatic effects on the
future.
In the Bible, Jonah went to the evil city of Nineveh to tell the people
about the destruction that was about to come upon them. However, the
people of the city repented of their evil ways. With their free will,
they changed their lives and, as a result, their city was saved. The
ability of precognition, then, is subject to many more influences than
either telepathy or clairvoyance.
The fourth major
category of ESP shown in the Cayce readings is retrocognition,
the ability to see past events. For example, in the life readings
(those readings which dealt with the soul) Cayce would often repeat
aloud significant happenings in a person's life while going back over
the years until the date of the person's birth. In one reading, he
said, "1935-'32-disturbing periods-'31-'36-'26-not any too peaceful!"
etc. (1650-1).
In another life reading (1462-1), Cayce was given the incorrect date
and location of birth for a young girl. In going back over the years he
responded with, "We don't find it here". (He had been incorrectly told
that the child was born on January 24, 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio). Then,
after a short pause, he finally said, "Yes, we have the record here
(looks like it's the wrong place and date)."
It was later discovered that the girl had been born on January 23 (a
day earlier) in New York City and not in Cleveland.
More than eleven years before the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947,
Cayce's readings described a sect of Judaism about which scholars knew
little.
This group was the Essenes. Cayce gave a great deal of information
about their work and their life in the community. For example, he
claimed that in the Essene society men and women worked and lived
together.
At the time of the reading, scholars believed that the Essenes were a
monastic society composed exclusively of men. However, in 1951, more
than six years after Cayce's death, archaeologists made further
excavations at Qumran near the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were
found.
They discovered evidence that both men and women lived together in the
Essene society.
These are just a few of the many examples of ESP in the Cayce readings.
Because "psychic is of the soul," the Cayce information suggests that
it is relatively easy to induce personal psychic experiences. However,
the phenomenon that manifests itself through psychic channels can
oftentimes get us off the track.
The readings suggest that instead of seeking psychic experiences for
the sake of having them, we should seek only those within the context
of spiritual growth, of learning about ourselves, or of being of
service to others.
People often have the tendency to make psychic experiences seem
unusual, out of the ordinary, special, somehow set apart, or perhaps
even frightening. However in the Cayce approach, psychic information is
as natural as an "intuition" or a "hunch." In addition, just because
something is "psychic" does not mean it's 100 percent accurate.
We may wish to work with psychic information to the same degree that we
would listen to the advice of a trusted friend: it can be utilized as
an additional tool for gathering insights and for making decisions - it
shouldn't necessarily be given any more credence than information from
any of our other friends (or senses); however, it shouldn't be given
any less either. In time, individuals may work with their own intuition
in such a way that it becomes as natural as using any of their other
senses: taste, smell, touch, hearing, or sight.
Recommended Reading:
• Your Mind: Unlocking Your Hidden
Power by Henry Reed
• Edgar Cayce on ESP
by Kevin J. Todeschi.
• Understand and Develop Your ESP
by Mark Thurston, Ph.D.
• Venture Inward by
H.L. Cayce
• Edgar Cayce's ESP
by Kevin J. Todeschi
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