PureInsight | January 13, 2003
A young man is lying on a couch sound asleep with his eyes closed and hands overlapping on his abdomen. While this young man is asleep, he can still talk with others next to him. More amazingly, he seems to be all knowing. Given a name of a complete stranger, this man can describe his present condition even when the stranger is thousands of miles away.
Throughout his life, this man would give medical advice to countless patients and read people's present and previous lives in his sleep. His family, friends, or strangers that came from afar with skepticism became filled with admiration of his supernormal ability. This man was Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), known as the "Sleeping Prophet" of the 20th century.
Edgar Cayce was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on March 18, 1877. During his childhood, Cayce led the traditional rural life of 19th century America with his religious family. He grew up in an extended family with several generations of the family living under the same roof. At the age of six or seven, he told his parents that he had a vision of relatives who had passed away and he had talked to them. Nobody took his words seriously. Cayce persisted in reading the Bible since his childhood. He would finish reading the Bible once every year.
At the age of thirteen, Cayce had a vision that a beautiful woman appeared to him and asked him what he wanted most in life. He told her that he wanted to help sick people, especially sick children. Soon after, Cayce manifested a supernormal ability to know the contents of a book by heart after sleeping on it even when the contents were far beyond his comprehension. His family had no way of explaining the origin of his supernormal abilities. Regretfully, as Cayce grew older, this kind of supernormal ability gradually disappeared.
It was only in adulthood that Cayce discovered his ability to prophecy under hypnosis. At the age of twenty Cayce became engaged to his true love Gertrude. Cayce wanted to be a preacher at the time, but he was not in a position to fulfill his dream. To make ends meet, he worked first as a clerk in a bookstore then found a job as a salesman for a wholesale stationary company. At the age of twenty-one something momentous happened to Edgar Cayce that would change his life. He suffered from a severe case of laryngitis that would not respond to treatment. Eventually he lost the ability to talk, except to make sound. No doctor was able to do anything for it. Even Cayce himself decided that he would no longer be able to speak, so he apprenticed himself to a photographer thinking there would be fewer demands on his voice.
Cayce continued to suffer from laryngitis without improvement for about a year until, one day when a comedian came to Hopkinsville on a show tour. This man was a better hypnotist than a comedian. Because he had experienced some medical miracles with hypnosis treatment, he offered to help Cayce with his laryngitis. As a last resort Cayce agreed to an experiment with the hypnotist. To everyone's amazement, Edgar could speak normally while under hypnosis but would lose his voice again upon awakening.
A local hypnotist, Al Layne, who had been following the case and was studying suggestive therapeutics and osteopathy, asked permission to conduct another experiment in which he would ask Cayce to recommend a treatment while he was under hypnosis.
So Cayce was again put under hypnosis but instead of being given a post hypnotic suggestion to be able to speak normally, he was asked to talk about what was causing the condition. Cayce spoke very clearly and knowledgeably about his condition and what was needed to cure it. He gave explicit instructions for his cure, which were then carried out by Layne. As instructed by Cayce, Layne gave suggestions to Cayce asking the blood to flow towards his neck, and after a while the skin above Cayce's chest near the throat turned red and warm. About twenty minutes later, Cayce told Layne to give him suggestions asking the blood to resume its normal course. When Cayce woke up from hypnosis, his voice was completely recovered. This was the first time Cayce gave a medical reading under hypnosis. It was March 11, 1901 and provided the circumstances that would bring Edgar Cayce worldwide recognition
Due to Layne's continuous encouragement, Cayce recommended a complete medical treatment for Layne, whose long-term stomach problems were completely cured. Next, he did a medical reading for a retarded girl. Cayce declared in sleep that her mental retardation was caused by an external wound. When the doctor followed Cayce's medical suggestions given during the hypnosis, the little girl successfully regained full usage of her brain.
While everyone is curious and impressed with the fact that Cayce, who had no medical training, could give effective medical recommendations under hypnosis, an ability which he did not possess while he was awake, it was at this time that Cayce's dilemma surfaced.
(To be continued)
Reference:
Edgar Cayce's ESP: Who He Was, What He Said, and How it Come True by Kevin J. Todeschi
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/12/16/19573.html
