Reading 254-45

TEXT OF READING 254-45

Text

Date: 10/27/1928 Sex: M ReadingID: 1183

This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his office, 115 West 35th Street, Virginia Beach, Va., this 27th day of October, 1928, in accordance with request made by Edgar Cayce.

[Edgar Cayce; Mrs. Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. Dr. and Mrs. Thos. B. House.]

Time of Reading 4:30 P. M. Eastern Standard Time.

1. GC: You will have before you the Work and the contemplated meeting that will be held at the Hospital on Nov. 11th. Would it be advisable to at this time give a personal demonstration of the phenomena? If so, what would be the suggestion to be made at that time? Give class and character of reading. You will answer the questions which I will ask you regarding the Hospital and the conducting of same.

2. EC: Yes, we have the Work as is indicated by the meeting as to be held on the 11th, as set. It would not be in keeping with the best interests of that as is contemplated to be propagated and taught at that time. That would react in the manner of being I AM - Look at ME, what I may accomplish! Let that as may be accomplished be well spoken of, and do not parade that that is holy. There was never in the examples set before man by the Master a condition where it, the work (and the same is being exemplified here), was paraded or extolled. Given rather as INDIVIDUAL application of that that might be accomplished through an individual whose spiritual life was awakened to the oneness of the life with the Creator. Make note of that, and so live and so act that THAT may be manifest in thine own life.

3. (Q) Are there any suggestions regarding the program that will help? (A) Those should be given by those in authority or charge of same.

4. (Q) Who should be in charge? (A) The president! [Morton H. Blumenthal]

5. (Q) Would the Forces advise respecting the furnishing of same, how this may be done, and anything else that will be of help to those who are interested in making the success of the institution, as has been given may be expected from same? (A) As has been oft given, through such an institution, properly handled, properly conducted, or in accord (being proper) with the forces as may guide and direct from time to time, this may be a channel through which many may come to a better understanding of their relations to the Creative Energy and to their fellow man. In selection of the furnishings, there should be chosen those in whom the charge of such conducting is to be placed, and THOSE should select that character of furnishing to meet the needs of those conditions as are to be met in the conducting of the hospital or institution. To cause any other is to begin the defeat of the purpose for WHICH this is TO be given to mankind; and it is HARD to kick against the pricks; BUT - make that oneness of purpose in the minds of all, and let it be THY Will, O Lord, not MINE, be done! Each filling that place for which that one is chosen; not that of another. We are through for the present.

Reports

Reports & Follow-up

R1. 10/18/28 Ass’n of Nat’l Investigator, Inc. letter:

THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL INVESTIGATORS, Inc. Virginia Beach, Virginia

Dear Fellow Member:-

Our building, while not complete, has gotten far enough along for us to feel we would like to have all our members make a special effort to be with us on the 11th of November

• 1:30 P.M., to inspect it, and at this time we will have a dedicatory service for the setting of one of the tablets in the entrance to the building.

Now I’m sure you realize it has been quite an effort on the part of the Building Committee to get the work going and keep it going, but we feel that you - with all of us - will be proud of what has been accomplished thus far.

May we not get together at this time? (and the day, Armistice Day, seems so appropriate for such an occasion) that we may show our whole hearted cooperation in what is being undertaken? Please let us know whether or not you are going to find it possible to be with us, for of course we want to make arrangements for entertainment, etc.

Sincerely and brotherly yours,

ASS’N OF NAT’L INVESTIGATORS, INC.

Secretary [signed by] Edgar Cayce [EC:GD]

P.S. The address of the day will be made by Dr. Wm. M. Brown, Professor of Education and Psychology of Washington and Lee University.

[Note: [2901]‘s response [not dated] was written at bottom of above ltr.]

Mr. Cayce:

I regret exceedingly not being able to attend the opening of our hospital. I want to assure you of my sincere interest and to wish you all that is most worth while in your great endeavor. [2901]

R2. 11/11/28 An address by Dr. William Moseley Brown, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Professor of Education and Psychology of Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. Delivered as a part of the Dedication Ceremonies of the Cayce Hospital:

THE INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AS THE NEW BASIS FOR PROGRESS This is Armistice Day! Ten years have passed since the formal cessation of the great struggle known to history as the World War. Ten years have come and gone since the order, “Cease firing”, was passed along the lines to men heart-sick and weary and worn with continual conflict. Some of them had been in the fight for four long years and more, but, ever dauntless and defiant, they refused to join the ranks of quitters. Battle-scarred veterans were they, who had long since undergone the “baphometic fire baptism” of a thousand thundering cannon and as many death-dealing machine guns. They carry about today in their bodies the marks of many a conflict and in their souls - well, who can say what is hidden in the very heart of these men. None of them will talk about their experiences in the war. They have learned the great lesson that speech is often but silver, but silence is golden. They know that the man of action is needed in the world today and that words without actions are but as the sound of the wind rustling through the trees on many a sunny hilltop in the cooling days of the early springtime. We little know what we can stand until the testing time comes and every fibre is strained to the breaking point

• almost, but not quite. Indeed the true test of a man is not what he can do, what he can say, what social or political or business positions he holds, what a fortune he has been able to amass, or even necessarily what he actually is. The true test of the man is what he can STAND
• physically, mentally, morally, spiritually. And many among us today have passed the test, yet go unhonored at our very side.

Ten years of history have been made since that memorable day, November 11, 1918. Progress and retrogression, comedy and laughter, serious and earnest concern about the problems of the world and of mankind. Tragedy, too, has had its inning - deep, stark tragedy in all its ugliness and horror. We say that we have made the world safe for democracy and that we must now make democracy safe for the world. What all this means I do not know, but I believe that the rank and file of us tend to live too much by catch phrases and worn-out saws. Cant and pedantry characterize the thinking and conversation of many of us, even when we consider the matters of most serious concern. Proverbs with but scant content of truth are resorted to to prove anything. Our thoughts are too often lacking in originality, freshness, and vigor. Our actions are too studied and labored, failing of that spontaneity and bubbling-over enthusiasm which is to be found in the words and doings of children. It is well said by One of old: “Except ye become as little children…”

I am an optimist of the optimists, and I believe I see signs of a new day on the horizon of our daily living. With all of our progress in so many lines, it is really amazing how little we have learned to live. Yet how tenaciously we cling to life and how loath we are to surrender our claim upon the good offices of our fellow-men so far as this world is concerned. “The art of living” we hear some say. And what an art!

“ART IS LONG AND TIME IS FLEETING,”

said the poet, and what art is longer than the art of learning how to make a life; not how to make a living, mind you, for even the animal can do that - but how to make a LIFE! With some of us it’s the making a living that is uppermost in our thoughts. The life is left to take care of itself as best it may. There was a widow once who cast in all her living into the treasure-chest of the temple - but not her LIFE! And it was the casting in of her living which made her life what it would never have been otherwise.

To me this occasion is a wonderful one. And you must think so, too, or you would not be here. It marks the consummation of the efforts of years. Work, and much of it; perseverance and consecrated devotion to a new and little recognized cause; but, most of all, prayer and faith have culminated in the achievement which stands before you today, the visible results of the labors of those who have allied themselves with this Association for the benefit of mankind. And what is greater than devotion to a cause which is bigger and more inclusive than oneself? “Tell me what your ambition is,” said someone, “and I will tell you what you are.” But, with all the visible evidence which stands before you today, it is but a small part of what has already been done or, Providence permitting, will be done in the years to come. This is a great occasion, and a happy one. I congratulate the founders of this movement - and they are here among us - for the vision which they have conceived of the possibilities of this new line of study and investigation. I honor those who have contributed of their time and means to bring about the realization, at least to some extent, of a dream of years. I believe that this “experimental laboratory”, which has as its chief object the utilization of ANY knowledge, ANY discovery, ANY invention, which will make life fuller and richer for human beings, will become renowned as a center of truth and wisdom and, to use the expression of Emerson, “the world will make a beaten path to its front door.”

Religion and science, philosophy and psychology, the truths discovered by the ancients as well as by the moderns will be equally welcome here. Nothing is banned except trickery, sham, falsehood. All truths will be used so far as it may be applicable to the betterment of human life, no matter who was its discoverer or in what country or age it was found.

“An ambitious project”, you say. Ah yes, but unless we can bring together under one roof, as it were, and into one laboratory religious, scientific, philosophic, and every other kind of truth, we shall not have that integration of human knowledge which is the SINE QUA NON of all human progress. Here, then, we have a pioneer institution in the field of human endeavor. As human life itself is a most complex process involving all kinds of experience, so we find here a kind of laboratory in which human life will go forward but under observable and controlled conditions, so far as possible. This is not merely a physical or a psychological or even a theological laboratory as such. Much more than that, it is a center in which the rather unusual attempt is made to bring every kind of truth together as needed in the solution of the particular problem under investigation. Always, however, the MOTIF is the betterment of human life and all other endeavors are to be subsidiary to this chief aim. So far as I am aware, such an undertaking has never been attempted before in this country, and probably in the entire world. Here will be your expert in medicine, another expert in psychology, another in theology, another in chemistry, another in psychiatry, and so on as many as may be needed and can be provided with the funds in hand. There are in this country today thousands of specialized laboratories, each of which limits itself to one particular field of investigation. But never before has there been a concerted and successful effort to bring together in one single laboratory every kind of discovery possible which will give the patient, or the subject, relief from his trouble, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. Surely this is a pioneer enterprise and more; it is even daring in its scope. And it has every possibility and probability of success!

Nor must we think of this new venture as being anything less than a venture in faith. It is not proposed to introduce mystery and hocus-pocus as elements in the procedure. Neither does anyone connected with it hope that, by some hitherto undiscovered means, it will be possible to concoct some “elixir of life,” or to unearth the “philosopher’s stone”, or to lay bare the secrets of the “fountain of youth”. The scientific attitude will pervade the inmost recesses of this building and will characterize all who work within its walls. “Truth for the sake of the Truth”, shall be its motto, and whoever finds himself out of harmony with this program must either get “in tune” or depart in peace. And there is no limit to truth and its uses. In theory and in practice, the only effective way to combat the bonds of ignorance and superstition and to fight the ravages of physical and mental disease is to discover the truth, and yet more truth. Every experience must contain a modicum of truth, and, by a slow process of accretion, we arrive at the truth about many things. All real progress in the long history of humanity is marked by milestones of truth erected by its devotees along the highway of time. Nineteen hundred years ago the Great Teacher said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it in abundance”. On another occasion He asserted: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. And if He were once more here in the flesh today, I believe that He would give utterance to the same expressions as being most fitting for an occasion like this. He knew the aspirations of man for the fulness of life. He understood that every philosopher - and who among us is not one?

• was undertaking to set up for himself and others a goal toward which they might strive with some assurance that they would discover reality on arriving at the goal. For many a one, to be sure, his philosophy proved to be little better than the allurement of the bag of gold at the end of the rainbow or the songs of the sirens to the luckless mariners who became their victims. The end of those things was but too often bitterness and death.

Almost since the beginning of time hedonistic philosophers have been with us. Nor have they disappeared yet by any means. “The aim of all life is pleasure,” say they. Enjoy yourself; “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die”. One of them, Omar Khayyam, sang long ago as follows:

“Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that cheers Today of past regrets and future fears: Tomorrow? Why tomorrow I may be Myself with yesterday’s seven thousand years”.

The Epicureans and the Stoics, of Greek fame, had little more than this with which to comfort their declining years. But it failed to work out in human experience, which is the final test of any doctrine or theory. And, for twentieth century living, such a formula would hardly suffice, though many are still trying to use it as a basis for personal development.

Others among the Greek philosophers, notably Socrates and Plato, and a rather noteworthy (though somewhat obscure) writer named Cebes, conceived of happiness as being the underlying principle and the real aim of life. “Eudaimonia”, they called it - “living under the auspices of a good divinity”. And a wonderful advance this was over the notion of living on the pleasure principle solely. In fact, it is difficult, if not impossible, to explain how these pagan philosophers reached such a high pinnacle of truth with the type of background and experience which characterized them. But living under the auspices of a good divinity is not a very good way to attain to fulness of living. There is always and omnipresent the chance that the divinity might become offended with you and the tables will be turned; constant fear and dread that the very ground might be cut away from under your feet. Therefore, appease the divinity, for

“THERE’S A DIVINITY THAT SHAPES OUR ENDS, ROUGH HEW THEM AS WE WILL.”

Is it any wonder, consequently, that the great Greek tragedians were gripped by the cold fear of divinities of various kinds, and that the chief theme of all their tragedies is the absolute impossibility of escaping from the decrees of fate? Such divinities are usually quite arbitrary in their dealings with mankind and woe betide to the poor man who might, even innocently, offend them. Perchance, however, by living the “good life” one might be able to reach such a degree of attainment that one would be able to live under good auspices for the rest of his days. All of which proved a poor substitute for the pleasure principle, since happiness in any real sense was unattainable in this life. One of the Greek philosophers, Solon, is said to have stated that he counted no man happy until after he was dead. A pleasant prospect indeed for most of us!

Nor does the teaching of the Buddhists offer us a much better goal in life. By contemplation we may, forsooth, finally arrive at the point where we shall have the doubtful pleasure, if such it may be called, of being absorbed into the all-nothingness-Nirvana. Negativism has here found its fullest fruition and the motive of all living becomes loss of individuality, of all personal qualities, and, eventually, of even the power of thought and will. A pleasant prospect for the child or the person who is in the health and vigor of young manhood or young womanhood! No Nirvana for them, they say. Let us have something else. And the doctrine of Buddhism fails to stand the test of experience.

Mohammed offered to the faithful a place in the seventh heaven, which was characterized by all sorts of sensual delights; and each Mohammedan warrior who died in battle against the “infidels” was also to have at his disposal in the other world eight beautiful maidens called “houris” to do with as he liked. A type of reward which was calculated to make men wish to die rather than live, and doubtless one of the chief reasons for the fierceness and utter abandon with which the followers of the prophet fought the Christians. But none the less, all this was worth little when it came to bearing the burdens and solving the problems brought on by facing the stern realities of life. Dying is the escape from reality which is sought by fools and irresponsible people. The person who holds to the steadfast conviction that there is, after all, something more to life than mere existence, when he meets a stone wall, climbs over it, or digs through it or under it, or gets around it in some way, and is straightway eager to tackle the next obstacle which dares to present itself.

The Indian with his aspirations to arrive finally at the “happy hunting ground” knew little of the fullness of life of which we in these latter years so often speak. Nor have those who practice the strictest kind of self-abnegation and self-immoliation, mortifying and disfiguring their bodies, come any nearer to discovering the “Open Sesame” to real living. For there is no secret connected with the matter at all, unless we choose to think of it as an open secret. Even the Monastics of the Middle Ages, in their retirement from the world and their physical and spiritual discipline, were not able to find the way to real living. They labored over their manuscripts and their litanies; they chastised themselves unmercifully at times. They thought that they had separated themselves from all danger of contamination which might be found in the world outside. True, they studied and poured over their Latin Testaments. But they never seem to have discovered the significance of the Sermon on the Mount, or, indeed, to have realized its very existence.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are they that mourn… “Blessed are the meek… “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness… “Blessed are the merciful… “Blessed are the pure in heart… “Blessed are the peacemakers… “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…”

Carlyle catches a glimpse of the Eternal when, in one of his finest passages, he expresses the same thought in these words:

“There is in man a Higher than Love of Happiness: he can do without Happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness! Was it not to preach-forth this same Higher that sages and martyrs, the Poet and the Priest, in all times, have spoken and suffered; bearing testimony, through life and through death, of the God- like that is in Man, and how in the Godlike only has he Strength and Freedom? Which God-inspired doctrine art thou also honored to be taught; O Heavens! and broken with manifold merciful Afflictions, even till thou become contrite and learn it! O, thank thy Destiny for these; thankfully bear what yet remain: thou hadst need of them, the Self in thee needed to be annihilated. By benignant fever-paroxysms is Life rooting out the deep-seated chronic Disease and triumphs over Death. On the roaring billows of Time, thou art not engulfed, but borne aloft into the azure of Eternity. Love not Pleasure; love God. This is the Everlasting Yea, wherein all contradiction is solved: wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with him.”

Here then we have it! Seek blessedness; seek God; for these are one and the same. Certainly we have not yet discovered anything to surpass this spiritual emancipation proclamation, and, in a very real sense, we must regard it as a bodily emancipation proclamation likewise. In such organizations as that which is to do its work here we find joined inseparably the belief in the sanctity of the body as well as that of the spirit.

There has been in some quarters an attempt to divorce philosophy from science by the insistence upon the attitude that the scientist must not speculate regarding anything and that the philosopher must not trespass upon the boundaries of scientific inquiry by obtruding his theories and his moralizations upon the scientist. A wholly inadequate view of the factors which enter into human progress and experience is this, and one which likewise will not stand the test of experience itself. For, does not your man of practical affairs live by his philosophy as well as by his science? We all benefit indeed from the advances in scientific inquiry and our life is, to be sure, largely dependent upon what the scientists contribute to the “amenities of living.” But it is, after all, one’s philosophy of life which determines one’s aims, one’s ambitions, one’s ideals, one’s objectives, and, consequently and ultimately, one’s final success in the business of living. Some would have us believe that science and philosophy are as oil and water; they will not mix. On the contrary, the fact is that they have, so to speak, an affinity for each other and the one is indispensable to the other. Surely

“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?”

Dr. B. R. Buckingham, one of our most distinguished students of education from the scientific point of view, has the following to say on this particular point:

“To divorce philosophy and research is impossible - as impossible as to divorce experimental from introspective psychology, and for the same reason. Without the descriptive and speculative processes the experimental or scientific lacks interpretation. Without the scientific methods, philosophical inquiry lacks concreteness. Without science, philosophy is uncertain, conflicting, unconvincing. Without philosophy, science is blind, unmeaning, and petty.

We can imagine no more helpful educational organization than that which should exalt both philosophy and research. For example, a school of education in a great university should in our judgement elevate its research activities through the directive and refining influence of the best philosophical thought.

This does not appear to be thought of. The craze today is for measurement - for counting and comparing in quantitative terms. It would be as silly as it would be untrue for us to deprecate this type of thinking. But there come as a time when the merely quantitative seems incomplete and unsatisfactory. We observe, moreover, that those research workers are most influential who appeal most frequently to higher sanctions than central tendencies or curves of error”.

Thus we find ourselves forced to the conclusion that, in order to attain to the highest and best that is within us, we must utilize the discoveries of the philosopher and of the scientist as well. Both are pushing forward the frontiers of human knowledge and experience; both are using hypotheses, which gradually assume that standing of theories as they are fortified by more and more evidence, and which finally assume the status of law and principle as the evidence becomes in each case practically conclusive. The natural sciences, such as biology, astronomy, geology, physics, and chemistry, are not the only fields to which the term “science” may be legitimately applied. There are social sciences as well - sociology, economics, political science or government. Even history itself, so long as it adopts the scientific point of view and the scientific method, should be considered in this class. Then, in addition, there is another group of sciences which partake partly of the nature of the natural sciences and partly of that of the social sciences, yet which are making a most important contribution to the advancement of human society. Among these may be listed such fields of study as psychology, public health and preventive medicine, mental hygiene, eugenics, euthenics, and the like. It is quite apparent, therefore, that any attempt to draw hard and fast distinctions between the natural sciences and the social sciences must in the end get us into trouble and lead us to the place here we shall assume an entirely artificial outlook upon the various components of human experience. We must “keep out [our?] feet on the ground”, stick to the realities, face the facts always. Human knowledge in not contained in airtight or logic-tight compartments, nor do we have first a chemical experience, then a physical experience, then a mental experience, then a political experience as such. All the elements of experience become blended in such a way, as a matter of actual practice, that it is virtually impossible for us to separate them one from the other. When the body is dissected, individuality and personality are inevitably lost. So, when an experience is broken up into its parts, it ceases to be experience.

It is true that, while philosophy and religion may be characterized by the same eagerness for the discovery of truth as that which is found among the scientists, yet they do not limit themselves to the same subject-matter. The scientist is primarily interested in the material universe, which can be measured, weighed, perceived objectively with the instruments which he has devised for this purpose. But the philosopher and the theologian go over into realms which the scientist does not touch - not that he is afraid to touch them or that he denies their existence. The silence of the scientist on certain matters is sometimes misinterpreted by those who do not know the mind of the scientist, and the statement is made that he denies the validity of things which he cannot perceive through the sense. As a matter of fact, the day of skepticism, agnosticism, and atheism has, at least in America, passed away and it is not longer “the thing to do” to deny the existence of a Supreme Being. In the place of this attitude, which prevailed in some quarters, a half century ago, there has come a conviction that not all can be explained in material terms and that the universe itself is not the result of the operation of blind forces upon material substances. The great difficulty for most of us is, that we must change our point of view somewhat and we must learn, as it were, a new language when we go from our special field of study and research over into another field, which is equally complex and difficult to understand. But this fact does not make the transition from the one field to the other an impossibility, and there are many among us who have succeeded in surmounting the difficulties involved, much to our own delight and edification.

The same thought is beautifully expressed by William H. Carruth in his verses under the title, “Each in His Own Tongue”:

A FIRE-MIST AND A PLANET, A CRYSTAL AND A CELL, A JELLY-FISH AND A SAURIAN, AND CAVES WHERE THE CAVE-MEN DWELL; THEN A SENSE OF LAW AND BEAUTY AND A FACE TURNED FROM THE SOD - SOME CALL IT EVOLUTION, AND OTHERS CALL IT GOD.

A HAZE ON THE FAR HORIZON, THE INFINITE, TENDER SKY, THE RIPE RICH TINT ON THE CORNFIELD, AND THE WILD GEESE SAILING HIGH - AND ALL OVER UPLAND AND LOWLAND THE CHARM OF THE GOLDEN-ROD - SOME OF US CALL IT AUTUMN AND OTHERS CALL IT GOD.

LIKE TIDES ON A CRESCENT SEA-BEACH, WHEN THE MOON IS NEW AND THIN, INTO OUR HEARTS HIGH YEARNINGS COME WELLING AND SURGING IN - COME FROM THE MYSTIC OCEAN, WHOSE RIM NO FOOT HAS TROD, - SOME OF US CALL IT LONGING, AND OTHERS CALL IT GOD.

A PICKET FROZEN ON DUTY, A MOTHER STARVED FOR HER BROOD, SOCRATES DRINKING THE HEMLOCK, AND JESUS ON THE ROOD; AND MILLIONS WHO, HUMBLE AND NAMELESS, THE STRAIGHT, HARD PATHWAY PLOD, - SOME CALL IT CONSECRATION, AND OTHERS CALL IT GOD.

Now all of this must inevitably lead us to the conclusion that there is a need of a more serious attempt at the integration of the sciences than there has been heretofore, in order to provide a more solid and certain basis for the future progress of the human race. In a limited degree we are already providing for this kind of integration, but we must go much further if we would hope to have our efforts meet with even a moderate degree of success. And here, in this new laboratory, conceived and built along new lines and for larger purposes than many of us can now realize, we have one of the first and most concrete attempts to bring together under one roof all those discoveries, laws, and principles which offer any promise of relieving human suffering, in mind, body, spirit, and of ministering to the highest welfare of those who may come here for assistance and guidance.

Who can compass the possibilities of such an organization and such a center? Only time can tell the story adequately. It may be that the results of the work done here in this place will mark the beginning of a new era for the cause of humanity. Others will undoubtedly come to observe the methods used and the effects achieved. The advances in the entire realm of human endeavor over the past twenty-five years lead me to believe that we have but scratched the surface of what will be known and achieved within the next century. The radio, the airplane, the automobile, television, and all the advances which are being made in this “era of electricity” are but an earnest of many still greater things to come. Who can say what we shall soon find out as to mental telepathy, the characteristics of the sub-conscious mind, the influence of mind on body, and a thousand and one similar things? Indeed, I have come literally to believe that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BELIEVETH. The millenium will be upon us ere we are aware of it!

The day of miracles is not past but has only begun. And I recall that, on one occasion, the Master Himself said: “The works that I do shall ye do also, and GREATER THINGS THAN THESE SHALL YE DO, because I go unto my Father”. “Greater things than these”, you will notice; that is, greater things even than the miracles which His humble followers had seen Him perform as He walked up and down in the little country of Palestine and by the shores of the Lake of Galilee. And we have witnessed in our own own day the actual fulfillment of these words. “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached”. Are not all these things true today just as they were nineteen hundred years ago? Yea verily, and more also.

And this building and this spot here are now dedicated to the bringing to pass of “these greater things”.

R3. See Source File Key #254 for booklet on Cayce Hospital with photographs of building and grounds, treatment rooms, Dr. Thomas B. House, etc. re 254-45.

R4. 7/29 Booklet on The Association of National Investigators, Incorporated, Virginia Beach, Virginia:

THAT WE MAY MAKE MANIFEST OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND MAN

THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL INVESTIGATORS, INCORPORATED

The Association of National Investigators was incorporated May 6, 1927, in the State of Virginia. Although founded upon the psychic work of Mr. Edgar Cayce, and although the immediate basis of its formation was to further foster and encourage the physical, mental, and spiritual aid that thousands have and are receiving from Mr. Cayce’s endeavors in the psychic field, the larger and more embracing purpose of the organization is to engage in general psychic research, and to provide for the practical application of any knowledge obtainable through the medium of psychic phenomena. In the matter of specific application the Association seeks to render physical aid to the sick and ailing through its hospital, and also to disseminate and exploit for the good of humanity the knowledge obtained from its research work, through the library, lecture hall, and other educational channels.

Many are already acquainted with the readings given by Mr. Cayce, and the more or less haphazard manner in which they have heretofore been applied, also the wonderful results. Prior to the incorporation of the Association physical diagnoses and remedies for diseases were sent to applicants for readings; who upon receipt of them found great difficulty in securing the treatment prescribed. At best the remedies suggested in the readings were partly carried out, yet it is to the credit of the work of the Association that in spite of these difficulties the results reported were satisfactory. The testimonials on hand at the main office at Virginia Beach speak for many, who through application of the remedies given in their readings found relief from their existent physical disabilities. Under the conditions created by the Association difficulties encountered by the patients in securing treatment have been overcome. Furthermore, each and every reading is now followed systematically, watched, and recorded. Prior to the incorporation of the Association and the erection of the Cayce Hospital about 10,000 readings were given by Mr. Cayce, but the lack of facilities for checking each and every move proved detrimental to the progress of the work and to a proper scientific classification of the phenomena. Records of the method and result of treatment are now filed, as is the information given by the psychic forces on specific diseases. Lack of organization prevented this from bring accomplished in the past, although thousands received just such information in physical readings, and benefitted or not, according to the application thereof.

The Cayce Hospital, which is the hospital of the Association, at Virginia Beach, Va., furnishes an opportunity for those who seek physical readings and treatment exactly as prescribed in them to get such at the hands of competent and sympathetic physicians. The hospital is conducted along the most modern, scientific, and ethical lines. Every comfort and service possible is provided patients. The charges for room, board, and treatment are such as is customary to an institution of its kind.

Lectures are delivered each Sunday by President Blumenthal and Mr. Cayce in the lecture hall of the hospital, and President Blumenthal conducts a study class on alternate Saturday afternoons in the same place. The work is studied from a philosophical standpoint, with a view to educating the individual to a complete understanding of himself and the life he lives. These lectures and study classes are free to everyone, and all are urged to attend if interested.

Those not acquainted with the physical and life readings furnished by the Association through the psychic endeavors of Mr. Cayce may apply for information concerning them at the main office at Virginia Beach, where details concerning the past history of Mr. Cayce and his work, and the Association prior to its incorporation, may be obtained. The results of the application of treatments suggested in the physical readings are carefully recorded and systematically classified, and these records are open for inspection to members of the Association.

There are many psychic research societies formed for the study and recording of phenomena, but it is safe to say that the Association of National Investigators, Inc., is the only Society that in addition to psychic research work seeks to apply in its own hospital treatments for the cure of disease. The Association was incorporated that this hospital mights be built and put at the disposal of those seeking relief from this source. There is, of course, the customary ward in the hospital for those who are unable to pay for treatments, and one day each week is devoted to giving readings for the benefit of those unable to pay for them.

Equally, if not more important than the medical purpose of the Association, is the educational phase of the organization’s work. The library and lecture hall in the hospital serve as a center in which the results of the psychic work are carefully recorded. It also serves as a center from which authoritative documents and literature are obtained on the subject. Knowledge from the psychic sources covers a vast field, including not only physical diagnoses, but information in the fields of philosophy, theosophy, theology, science, and every phase of human endeavor and spiritual life. The library and lecture hall serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas on all these subjects, and also serves as the central point from which is disseminated the truths gained from the spiritual or psychic source.

At the present time Mr. Cayce’s psychic ability furnishes the Association with its channel for research work, but the Society does not plan to confine itself to his manifestation. It is training and including in its research work all who possess sufficient psychic development of mind and are desirous of co-operating with the Association to achieve the purpose of scientifically studying, recording, and applying the phenomena, and exploiting the knowledge derived therefrom in a philanthropic manner for the good of mankind. Those directly in the employ of the Association or its hospital receive financial remuneration commensurate with the service rendered of course, the amount being fixed by the Board of Trustees. The latter, as well as the officers for the corporation and members of its committees, receive no financial compensation for their services in these capacities.

To many, psychic phenomena is but a vagary that has to do with prophesies or superstition, something to be feared or shunned. Finally then, the Association of National Investigators, Inc., seeks to demonstrate that psychic phenomena and the phenomena of life are one and the same thing. The divine manifests its Being or Life or consciousness, and the psychic or subconscious forces, though unconscious to the intellect, manifest their being in consciousness of another character than intellectual.

Nevertheless, both belong to the same essence and process that expresses itself in the form of “Mind,” or “Soul.” In substance it is spirit, in which a self-contained element through a process of development becomes consciousness or soul. This developing element of subconscious consciousness is demonstrated when the physical forces are subjugated; as, for example, in the experiencing of certain kinds of dreams or visions or other intuitive or psychic manifestations; or in the psychic work of Mr. Cayce, where a complete and thorough physical diagnosis is given in perfectly rational manner through the subjected physical faculties - i.e., when Mr. Cayce becomes intellectually unconscious, or unalive, and manifests through a subconscious kind of consciousness, or aliveness.

The purpose of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., then, as will be stated more fully later, is to scientifically carry on the research work in the field of psychic phenomena, to record the results thereof, and to apply them for the benefit of health, knowledge, and spiritual welfare of those seeking aid from the psychic force. It is evident that this organization is engaged in a great work, its scope of activity reaching out to every class, creed, and race, and its purpose embracing the mental, moral, physical and spiritual good of all humanity.

Three hard and fast provisions govern the operation of the Association work:

First: As already stated, the membership and purpose and work of the Organization is limited to no class or creed. The only provision here made is that every applicant for membership and for aid have a faith in the Divine.

Second: That this organization shall in no way be used or represented to stand for any particular doctrine, religion, or nationality. The purpose of this Society is scientific study and application of psychic phenomena as related to man in his relationship to the world and to earthly life, as well as his relation to the universe and the universal forces. It is not to establish any new religion, although new thought and new interpretations of old truth may emanate.

Third: It is definitely stated in the charter of this Association, granted by the State of Virginia, that any profits or monies collected by the Association shall go towards the purely philanthropic work of the Corporation. Membership dues, donations, hospital fees and profits from all transactions shall go towards the upkeep and maintenance of the institution and purely philanthropic work of the Association.

The Board of Trustees (limited to fifteen), being vested with the vote, form the governing body of the Association, and are limited in their operations by the charter and by-laws, the latter of which are hereinafter set forth.

”…THE WORKS THAT I DO SHALL YE DO ALSO; AND GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL YE DO; BECAUSE I GO UNTO MY FATHER.” - JOHN, CH. 14:12.

OUR IDEAL AND PHILOSOPHY

Deep in the hearts of each and every right thinking person there dwells the ideal that acts as the mainspring of our life, namely, love for the Divine Creator. Regardless of our concept of God, we love Him for His deeds, which, of course, embraces creation. He has created us as an image of Himself and His universe, (as a drop containing every element of the ocean is an image of the whole body of water), and has given to us the opportunity of enjoying like Him a consciousness of ourselves being alive. Being a duplication of Him, in potentiality, we are alive to His work of creation. By development of our potential abilities we become self aware of the process of creation being our own work as well as His. We love Him, then, for His gift of life to us, for His promise that the gift shall be eternal, and, above all, for His long suffering as well as patience with our sins which are born of ignorance during the process of our achieving through earthly experience necessary potential development. Indeed, many of us, although bearing no malice, curse the Creator in one breath while He furnishes us the power to draw another. We defile our bodies with ill-formed habits, while His pulsating, life-giving flow sustains those bodies and continues in process of creating new and other beautiful physiques. Sometimes, in a secret moment, while regarding the majesty and beauty of nature, or, while marveling at the wonderful phenomena of a new born baby, or while at prayer either at home or in church, we turn our hearts to God, and pour forth our love. Then do we intuitively feel His forgiveness, His infinite mercy and patience, and the divine inflow of His love. He is the potentiality that manifests itself as the phenomena of life, whether of creation or our subjective selves, and thus we belong to Him and He to us.

We, are, each of us, an integral part of God in the intellectual effect form of man, that this spiritual Godly essence takes in the earthly environment, and know ourselves to be that. Thus it is that we are free to live our own concept of life. Thus it also is that whatever concept we choose to express in and of our own life, is representative of our idea of God. Since we are that which the life, essence or God becomes in materialized form, we will likewise remain this same essence when we change at death from the materialized manifested form, to become one with the manifesting spiritual essence itself. From the changed viewpoint that we will then enjoy as an internal force of intelligence, we shall come to know ourselves to be that which God is in essence, just as we now know ourselves to be that which the spiritual Godly essence changes itself to become in the materialized form it takes in this earthly environment. God then has created, of Himself, a portion (each of our own selves) that by virtue of His process of creation, becomes able to achieve a companionate self awareness and individuality in Union with and one with each and every self-conscious and individuality, or portion, that God in one potential spiritual essence embraces.

Are our prayers and our good intentions the best we may do in gratitude for such good and perfect gifts? May we not help keep the breath in the body by aiding physically the sick and suffering? May we not counteract sin by fighting the ignorance and lack of understanding that breeds it? Of course we may, and shall! - all of us who are members of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., for all of us banded together to manifest in deed our love for the Creator, will through the Association engage actively in educating those who are as yet unawakened to the glory of the creative work of the spirit father.

Through psychic research may we, the members of the Association, gain the necessary knowledge that will fit us to work on earth for creation, as does the mighty creative energy of life function to sustain creation throughout the whole of that called space. Then may we and shall we, inscribe our names in the book of life, and in that chapter that has to do with early experiences, and thus make our deeds create for us merited love in the hearts and minds of the right-thinking portion of humanity. We, the members of this Association, and all who choose to join with us, shall strive to throw our influence on the side of the good and the spiritual, in order that the generations of men may cling to the link that binds them to the universe, to the noble, the beautiful, the honorable, and to the whole ideal while in this earthly process of development, rather than permit the influences of the purely material life to drag the inner developing potentiality that manifests itself in the form of physical personalities in the mire of animalistic materialism, that turns love into passion and adultery, nobleness into wrath, hatred, and temper, honor into greed and selfishness, beauty into filth, and the imagination into slavery to physical desires.

This is the ideal of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., to the accomplishment of which it is giving and shall continue to give its untiring energy and efforts, and in the heart and soul of the Association there lives the conviction that behind it are the mighty, eternal and unyielding creative forces of the universe.

MORTON H. BLUMENTHAL, PRESIDENT.

“IN HIM IS THE LIGHT, AND THE LIGHT IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.”

OUR PURPOSE

Any endeavor, whether that of an individual, or of a group of individuals, is motivated by an ideal, or an idea, or by both. In the case of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., an ideal inspired the desire to serve humanity in the minds of a few individuals interested in the study of the phenomena of life, and in particular, the study of psychic phenomena as made manifest in the work of Mr. Edgar Cayce. These individuals co-operated to form the present Association of National investigators, Inc., with the idea in mind to investigate the psychic work of Mr. Cayce, and obtain, if possible, the relationship of this remarkable phenomena to that of life, and in particular, to the life of man and to human welfare.

To accomplish this end, the Cayce Hospital for Research and Enlightenment was created for the purpose of receiving patients who desired medical treatment, according to suggestions made in the so-called physical readings, the latter being made for patients who request same. Previous to the creation of this institution, thousands had benefitted in health from their own haphazard application of information contained in physical readings, secured by themselves from Mr. Cayce. The latter’s remarkable psychic mental development enabled him to furnish these physical diagnoses to applicants, together with suggestions for remedy of their ills. The creation of the hospital for scientific application of these treatments, and for the maintenance of records of the results thereof, in a systematic fashion, seemed a logical and justifiable step to the interested group surrounding Mr. Cayce’s work. Although this institution has been completed and has been functioning only a few months, a history of the cases treated in the hospital, and the excellent results to the patients achieved, and systematically recorded, have to date, proven the step a wise and progressive one.

The hospital, however, does not in itself represent the complete realization of the ideal in the hearts and minds of the individuals who first inaugurated the Association for the purpose of investigation of psychic phenomena. True, in the formative years of this Association, the present members of the Board of Trustees had but a vague idealistic urge to perform a service for Good, for God, for Man, and this ideal then represented itself in the minds of these individuals in the form of a crude idea, a hospital where patients might be scientifically treated by proper and authorized physicians, according to their physical readings, (the latter psychically made by Mr. Edgar Cayce), and results of these treatments carefully and systematically recorded. Since the successful realization of this latter idea, the Board of Trustees, together with many members of the Association, have found other and additional channels of service opened to them. There have been presented new fields to pioneer in, and new scientific worlds to conquer. A wider, broader, and more extensive channel of idealistic self-expression in connection with psychic investigation has sprung up. The latter, and more important field of activity, has to do with education.

Those of us who composed, and now make up the Board of Trustees, of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., found a greater service in connection with psychic investigations than ministering to human ills in teaching people of their individual psychic abilities of mind, and of the value to their lives of proper and intelligent application of knowledge obtained through the use of these potential or hidden mental (intuitive) faculties. The first step in this new and more important direction consisted in first thoroughly grounding ourselves in that which we seek to teach others. That is to say, we had to first bring into our consciousness realization of a higher fourth dimensional viewpoint, of which the properly educated human mind is capable, and thus obtain knowledge of life as it exists in self, and the world, or Universe, to this higher fourth dimensional viewpoint. By this method, many of us became possessed of knowledge of the internal world of causes, and of application, that may be made of same in the external or material world of effect. Such knowledge, we found, is internal and fourth dimensional in character, and obtainable by the human mind from the internal fourth dimensional viewpoint alone, and is not obtainable by the mind seeking knowledge of life from the externalized three dimensional, physical viewpoint of the mind. We came to the conclusion, then, that the psychic readings given by Mr. Cayce, whether physical or philosophical, or anything else in character, demonstrate the fourth dimensional operation of the indwelling subjective (often called subconscious) mind, and its ability to give to our observing physical selves, information not only of the inner subjective spiritual and permanent side of life, but also to give information applicable for the good of our external physical selves while we live in the temporary material form that life assumes in this world.

Today, certain members of this organization have, through concentrated effort and specific application of the study of the psychic forces made manifest in and through man, and thus in and through their individual selves, achieved for themselves a development of the introspective and intuitional faculties of mind. These latter faculties are often described as belonging to the subconscious, or subjective, and inner department of the mind. These individuals have; through application of, and experience in the introspective method, obtained greater knowledge and greater understanding of the primary purport and purpose of such a work as the Association of National Investigators, Inc., has undertaken.

These individuals, some members of our Board of Trustees, some members of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., have come to a realization of the great responsibility resting upon them, and entailed in the accomplishment of the educational end that must be achieved if the Association is to accomplish its whole purpose. By virtue of knowledge obtained through their own intuitional faculties, these few individuals have come to understand better the importance of the obligation they have assumed to man and to God in grouping themselves together as a Board of Trustees and as an organization to carry on the work of the Association of National Investigators, Inc., that its ideal in totality may be realized. They, today, recognize that this obligation makes it necessary that our Association formulate a plan, by which there may be introduced into the world a scientific method of obtaining knowledge introspectively, a higher method, if you please, of obtaining a deeper knowledge of life, and of self, self’s relationship to life, than it is possible to obtain through use of the physical faculties or sensory organism alone. This higher method of obtaining a deeper self-awakening of the truth of that which self and life is, embraces a method of obtaining understanding of self, and of life, from the higher, inner subjective or subconscious viewpoint, the latter of which is often called the fourth-dimensional viewpoint.

Knowledge so obtained brings to the individual self realization of being that very introspective source himself, from which hidden or subconscious recesses, such information comes. He awakens to self realization of being not only that which he is physically, but also to that which he is subconsciously, i.e., to that complete and total being he is in mind or soul. By this means, he may obtain an awakening of the purpose of life, and of being alive, and may fashion his daily activities accordingly. Thus he may, to a greater extent, speed and facilitate the development of his own internal soul being, and generally accelerate the evolutionary process of life.

No greater program ever confronted any group of men or women, and no group of men or women ever assumed greater responsibility in seeking to carry out its ideal. By virtue of the past development of each of us, or at least of those of us who compose the Board of Trustees, we may feel, with all confidence, that we are prepared to successfully carry out the burden of this large and important program. Furthermore, in a reading it has been given that in the process of carrying out this program, we shall individually and collectively have the full co-operation of the forces from the cosmic plane, even from the highest plane, the throne itself. It has been given that such co-operation and aid may be expected, and it has been promised that it shall be given.

It is obvious that we cannot hope to heal every living creature in our hospital. It is also obvious that the process by which individuals are benefitted physically in our hospital is but a representation of the application of knowledge introspectively obtained, and a demonstration of the fact that a system for the obtaining of such knowledge may be formulated and used by the individual for his own benefit. This must be the true and whole purpose of this hospital of ours, for otherwise the thing for which it stands would appear merely as a freak of nature, a contradiction of natural law. If this were true, our time would be wasted on a mere will o’ the wisp, a meaningless outlaw to the basic laws of life, God, and Man.

This, however, is not true! On the contrary, the work propagated by this Association in or outside of the hospital, demonstrates the operation of the real and vital forces of life, not merely the portion that is physical, but the elements of the whole mind. It demonstrates the rational oneness of life, the universality of the operation of the forces of life, or laws governing life in any form, whether physical or otherwise, and in particular, as they govern the mind and life in the physical form of man.

Our hospital, and the psychic work attached thereto, can only be a demonstration of the introspective method of obtaining knowledge, by which means the internal operating forces of life may become applicable to and by each individual, for his better development and happier existence, even while in the physical form of man, living in and as a part of this material world.

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF OUR ASSOCIATION, THEN, IS EDUCATION.

The education of the individual, that he may attain a closer relationship to the higher powers of his own mind, that he may for and by himself achieve greater development of mind, as well as greater material benefit, for his physical being in the material environment. The achievement of our purpose will enable the human race to use for its own good, in every department of its life, physical and spiritual, an introspective method of obtaining knowledge, that individuals may so develop their intuitional forces as to become able to be guided by a higher dimensional viewpoint, the viewpoint that such intuitional development brings self realization of possessing. This is the all embracing aim and deeper purpose, the whole ideal, of this Association. [Original pp. 19-20-21 xeroxed for Dr. McGarey 7/31/69.]

The method for exploiting this system of obtaining knowledge introspectively will some day embrace a great Association of learning. It will take the form of a University where science, history, philosophy, engineering, etc., will be taught in a manner embracing both the objective and introspective methods of obtaining knowledge. In this university knowledge thus obtained will enable us to form a curriculum in which science, history, philosophy, and the arts may be taught as in no other seat of learning.

Such an institution of learning is the dream of the future, and as such it may now be only presented as a future prospect, not an applicable plan for present action. For the present, it behooves each and every one of us who has taken, as a member of the Association, and in particular, members of our Board of Trustees, the responsibility of exploiting our primary purpose of benefit to mankind, to subscribe in faith to that very introspective method that we represent, and that our psychic experiments objectify. Let us gain for ourselves a greater understanding of the meaning of this method in our own lives. Let us understand its application for our own good, for our own spiritual development and spiritual awakening, as well as our own material comforts. Let us live as an example to man, that we may demonstrate to individuals, to classes and masses, in terms of mental freedom, mental power, and material welfare and happiness, the benefits to be derived by and from the application for ourselves of knowledge introspectively obtained. Let us do this not for ourselves, but that all may see demonstrated in our lives, in our work, in our institutions, the benefits that may come to the individual by virtue of the application of just such an introspective method. We may then, individually and collectively, exploit in harmonious co-operation our program for the benefit of Mankind, for the benefit of civilization, and for the benefit of posterity. First to individuals as they approach us, second to the classes, or groups, or organizations, as they come to us, and finally, to all peoples, as a worldwide educational movement. By the initiation of such a movement we may give an impulse to the evolving of a higher stage of civilization, and a greater race of man. Thus shall the consciousness of man be raised a degree in enlightenment, in breadth of vision, and in power. Thus may civilization be raised from its present materialistic vying to a spiritual power applicable in the material world, for the benefit of one’s own soul development, as well as for the greater comfort and material happiness of the soul in the physical form of man.

The accomplishment of this purpose means a process of education of the race and the individuals composing it to a greater power of mental insight and physical application.

It is for us to supply the individuals with a systematized plan whereby such means may be scientifically used to achieve realization of the existence of the internal life forces, their functions, their purpose, and their application for the benefit of each individual and the whole of mankind.

What a blessing it is to understand that our daily toil with its material return is not the chief and only aim of our earthly experience! What a blessing to realize the development we are achieving of potential abilities of mind or soul by virtue of mental and physical application made in our every day field of daily material endeavors! This we obtain for the benefit of our real self, for our whole mind, that manifests itself in our own physical form as a personality or individuality, whether pertaining to ourselves as Doctors, Lawyers, Artists, Business men or women, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, etc.

No material accomplishment can in itself bring complete peace in mind and happiness, though it is possible that mental accomplishment and mental achievement may bring such peace of mind without the corresponding material success. It is also true, however, that the application of knowledge intuitively or introspectively obtained from the internal forces of life, through use of the subjective faculties of mind, may, and does bring such physical success, aid, and material return. By virtue of this mankind may become relieved of the daily grindstone and obtain leisure for the higher moral and cultural development, and in this is the blessing of such material success.

The most effective method in general of obtaining this higher development is through service to mankind. In our own case, it may mean only service to our primary purpose, and its accomplishment for our institution, that incorporates the good along these EDUCATIONAL LINES, that may thus be accomplished for humanity. But our every movement with respect to the work, if it is to achieve success, must represent a co-operative willingness on our part, and in particular on the part of those of us who compose the Board of Trustees, to join hands and protect, propagate, and exploit the service to man that our work will initiate.

The prophets of old ceased their wailing in troublous times, substituting service for admonition, that the remnants of a benighted race might be saved. The Master, the Prince of Peace Himself, served as no man before or since has served, just such a cause as our Association holds as its main purpose. That He at the right hand of Power should stoop to our lowly dwelling place on earth, that we should even hear His voice through a reading, proves that the ideals and truths of yesterday are still those of today, that our work is still His work, even as it was, while He, in the form of man, walked, lived and taught among men, and this despite our present day scientific methods, and religious differences. It proves that He serves Man and God today as of old, and His example of service for evolution, and for creation, stands today as an example of service, for us.

Let His example inspire us to join hands in harmony and covenant that so long as we, who form this human chain, shall live in the flesh, none inside or outside our ranks shall disturb or break through its protecting strength, and the harmony by which we again uphold the banner, upon which is stamped the ideal for which He lived and died, and for which He pleaded, and still pleads, for us to uphold His ideal of service is our ideal, and therefore, let us covenant to the extent of our human strength to carry out in co-operation, one with another, each in his own place and field of endeavor, the one primary purpose of our organization, that as has been promised, He in return may establish His covenant in us, and through us glorify our work and ourselves.

We have in this Association the individual development and ability that collectively make up perfection, power, mind, God, and man. It is true that weakness of the flesh creep in and manifest in our nature, yet even these may be overcome through a united devotion to the cause for which our Association stands, a cause whose devotion demands service through individual willingness to sacrifice personal aggrandizement.

By application of all the faculties of mind that may be used to obtain experience and a true concept of life, fear, worry, and failure may be wiped from the slate of life, and power and glory and achievement become the ordinary possessions of each and every individual. It is our duty to serve man and God, that the human race may be so elevated and so educated and so specifically instructed in the method of application of their own intuitive faculties of mind, as to bring into the life of each individual that experience which will reveal to and for him the living and existing truth of his own soul being and its creative forces, in their relation to physical, spiritual, and universal existence.

To the accomplishment of this end, we may extend such devotion and such service as to call forth the co-operation and protection and aid, yea the blessings and glorification, of the throne of Jehovah itself.

MORTON H. AND EDWIN D. BLUMENTHAL THOMAS B. BROWN

“AND THE WHOLE WORLD WAS OF ONE LANGUAGE, AND OF ONE SPEECH.”

• GENESIS, CH. 11:1.

“BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM.”

RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION

1. QUALIFICATIONS: Every individual is qualified for membership, the only provision being that applicants must have faith in the Divine, around the psychic manifestations of which the activities of the Association hinge.

2. NUMBERS OF MEMBERS: At the present time no limitation has been placed upon the number of memberships.

3. PRIVILEGES:

(a) Each member may apply for readings for himself or immediate unmarried members of the family. Readings will not be furnished unless applicant is a member of the Association, or a relation to a member, (mother, father, husband, wife, or unmarried son, daughter, sister or brother).

(b) Each member, and only a member, may be admitted to the hospital for treatment. The family rule does not apply with regard to entrance to the Institute.

(c) Members together with their immediate family have access to library and lecture hall.

(d) Members alone may take part in the research work of the Institute, or in any of the Association activities interesting to them, medical, educational, or in the field of social service.

(e) Members only may serve on one or more of the various committees of the corporation.

4. DUES AND CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIPS:

(a) Associate Membership: This membership is a privilege to those who have had readings prior to the Association’s incorporation, merely upon application thereof, and entitles members to all privileges for one year, and is renewable. Dues for Associate members are $15 for the year. It is expected that this class of membership will not remain open very long.

(b) Subscription Membership: The yearly dues for this membership are $20.00, and is open to all who have not previously had any experience in obtaining readings from the Association or from Mr. Cayce. It carries with it the privilege of an initial reading without any extra charge. The duration of this membership is for one year, and includes all the benefits and privileges of the Association for that time.

(c) Life Membership: A payment of $250.00 is required, and is payable at one time when membership is granted. This entitles applicant to one reading, free of charge, and to the privileges of the Association for life without any further dues.

(d) Endowment Membership: This embraces those who choose to endow any particular phase of the Association’s work, or the Association in general. It provides the means for organization to serve those who desire help from this source, and cannot afford any monetary contributions. This class of membership carries the same privileges as the Life Membership and includes those who choose to donate $1,000 or more to the Association.

5. HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER: Membership application blanks may be secured by writing to the Secretary of the Association (Mr. Edgar Cayce) at Virginia Beach, Va. The blank should be completely filled out and check for first year’s dues, for Life Membership or for donation, attached thereto, and both forwarded to the Secretary of the Corporation at the above address, who will acknowledge receipt of same. A membership card will be forwarded applicant upon his election to the Association. Should applicant, for any reason, not be elected, dues will be returned promptly. All inquiries by mail or in person should be made at the main office at Virginia Beach, Va., in care of Mr. Cayce.

READINGS

1. WHAT THEY ARE: Information from the psychic source on any subject presented.

2. KIND OF READINGS: Unless for special research work or for exceptional conditions, only two kinds of readings are given and they are as follows:

(a) PHYSICAL DIAGNOSES: This includes a thorough diagnosis of the body and brain forces, and also suggestions for treatment of existent disease or sickness.

(b) LIFE READING: These include information on the evolutionary development of the individuality giving the history of the past development of the soul entity, including the potential ability evolved in past earth incarnation, which it, at the present time, makes manifest in the form of the personality peculiar to each of us. A most interesting treatise from the philosophical, theological, theosophical or metaphysical viewpoint, yet given in simple form for the layman.

3. QUALIFICATIONS:

(a) Applicant for a reading must be a member of the Association or an immediate unmarried member of the family.

(b) A book of application blanks for readings will be furnished each and every member. This may be secured by writing the Secretary at Virginia Beach, Va. No reading will be given unless an application blank is properly filled out and returned to the Secretary, together with the regular fixed fee of ten dollars. No other letter, information or explanation is required, other than called for on application blank. Location of applicant and time are no factors, as reading will be given in Virginia Beach for any member who applies, and who may be in any location, and at any appointed time. The subconscious knows no time or space.

(c) In reply to the application for reading, the individual will receive from the Secretary or Assistant Secretary an appointment for a reading. The applicant for a physical reading must be at the address given on application blank at the time appointed for the taking of the reading. Applicants finding the time of appointment inconvenient, should so advise the Secretary immediately upon receipt of same, and ask for another appointment at another time. In the case of Life Readings, no appointment is necessary, but date and place of birth must be furnished. Applicant will be notified when this reading is to be taken.

4. FEES: A regular fee of 10 is charged members for each reading, which must accompany application blank. Simply fill out the blank, attach check of 10, and send both to Secretary. The Association will then make the appointment, and Mr. Cayce will give the reading. Each member should keep a supply of application blanks on hand.

5. RESEARCH: Readings of this character will be taken for and by properly authorized individuals, and are open for inspection to all members. Any choosing to visit the institute and view the work are welcome, provided the number visiting at any one time is not so great as to be detrimental to the comfort of patients, and the carrying on of the work itself. There will be positively no readings taken as tests, for only those who have faith in the living, active, divine or psychic forces, existent within, are eligible to membership or to apply for help from the psychic source.

LIBRARY AND LECTURE HALL

All members have free access to the Library and Lecture Hall to the extent of accommodations.

GOVERNING BODY

1. The vote and governing body consists of a Board of ten to fifteen Trustees herein named.

2. The Board is limited by the charter granted by the state of Virginia and by the by-laws hereinafter set forth.

3. No class of membership possesses the privilege of vote. All members in so far as relationship to the Association is concerned are bound by rules, regulations, and laws passed by the Board of Trustees.

4. Members may join in this work by serving on committees and by donating financially for the benefit of the poor, the sick and the crippled. No organization offers greater opportunity for individual and collective service for the benefit of suffering humanity.

DONATIONS

1. Aside from membership dues, any donations from $1.00 up are welcome. Every dollar donated will be spent to help the poor and the sick who are unable to pay for aid, or will go towards the upkeep of the hospital and educational work of the Association. Each donation will be acknowledged.

2. Donors who choose to become benefactors of humanity may endow a number of memberships for the benefit of the poor, or further this beautiful work by endowing some phase of its activity - the hospital, library, etc.

3. The money, as provided by the State charter and by-laws, goes towards fighting disease, helping the sick and poor, or for educational purposes as well as research work in the field of psychic phenomena, but nothing for individual profit.

PUBLICATIONS

All publications and publicity of the Association is under the supervision of the Educational Committee and the Publication Editor. The membership dues include a yearly subscription to THE NEW TO-MORROW, which is published in October, January, April, and July of each year. The ANNUAL REPORT is published in May of each year and distributed to such members as care to subscribe to it.

BY-LAWS OF THE CORPORATION

ARTICLE 1 - NAME AND SEAL

This corporation shall be known by the name of Association of National Investigators, Incorporated, and shall have a common seal, which shall be kept in custody of the Secretary-Treasurer.

ARTICLE 2 - OFFICERS

The officers of the Corporation shall be a President, six vice-presidents, a secretary-treasurer, and an assistant secretary, who shall be elected by the Trustees for a period of three years and shall hold office until their successors are elected and qualify. Position of Secretary and Treasurer may be united in one person.

The President shall preside at all meetings and shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Corporation; shall sign all deeds, and necessary papers, and perform such other duties as generally belong to the office. In the absence or disability of the President, the Vice-President shall exercise all of his functions. It shall be the duty of the Secretary-Treasurer to keep a record of the minutes of the Trustees in a book to be provided for that purpose. He shall keep such book of accounts, as may be necessary and he shall keep all moneys, deeds, bonds, valuable papers, and securities of the corporation. He shall keep the accounts of the corporation and render a statement at each annual meeting of the Trustees, and perform such other duties as generally belong to his office. He shall be custodian of all funds, and sign all checks. All expenditures shall be made upon proper authorization.

ARTICLE 3 - ANNUAL MEETING

The regular annual meeting of the Trustees shall be held at twelve o’clock noon on the first Saturday of June each year in the principal office of the corporation and if such day be a holiday then the said meeting shall be held on the Monday following the first Saturday of June. A majority shall constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE 4 - PRINCIPAL OFFICE

The principal office of the corporation shall be at Virginia Beach, Virginia.

ARTICLE 5 - SPECIAL MEETINGS

Special meetings of the Trustees may be held at such place as they may deem proper, whenever called in writing or by vote of a majority of the Trustees and shall be held at least four times a year, but at least two of these meetings shall be held at Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Notices of each special meeting indicating briefly the object thereof shall be mailed by the Secretary to the Trustees not less than five days prior to such meetings.

If all the trustees shall waive notice of said special meeting, no notice of such meeting will be required and when all the trustees meet in person or by proxy, such meetings shall be valid, for all purposes without call or notice, and at such meetings any corporate action may be taken.

ARTICLE 6 - TRUSTEES

The maximum number of Trustees shall be fifteen with a minimum number of ten. Vacancies occurring in the Trustees shall be filled by election of said trustees upon a majority vote. The Trustees shall serve for a period of three years. The Trustees shall have full control of the affairs of the corporation, control of all funds, gifts, and endowments, and the voting power shall be vested in and limited to the said Trustees. They shall have full power to appoint and relieve the necessary committees for the carrying on of the affairs and purposes of the corporation and have full power to delegate to said committees such powers as they deem wise.

Voting may be done by proxy. The Trustees shall make all appropriation of funds of the corporation, and all property of the corporation shall be under their control. No activity of the Corporation shall be for private profit. The Trustees shall have full power to buy, sell, exchange, or encumber the real estate of the Corporation.

ARTICLE 7 - COMMITTEES

Committees appointed by the Trustees shall elect their own chairman and the said chairman shall report direct to the said Trustees. Committees shall have full power to act for the purposes for which they are appointed and have full authority over funds appropriated for their use by the Trustees. All funds received by committees shall be reported to the Treasurer. Each committee shall establish its own by-laws, schedules of fees and rules, but shall make no rules in violation of these by-laws, the laws of any State or Governmental body. Members of the committees shall be confined to members of the Corporation, but not necessarily members of the Trustees. All committees shall report at least once each year to the Trustees.

ARTICLE 8 - MEMBERSHIP

The membership shall consist of those who desire to become members and who are willing to contribute to the work of the Corporation, the amount to be determined by the Trustees as the minimum membership fee. Members shall have no vote, but the voting power shall be vested in the Trustees. The number of members shall be limited as may be determined by the Trustees. The Trustees may designate a class of members as charter members and provide for other classes of members as they deem wise.

Members shall have entree [entry?] into the sanitarium or hospital. Except upon conditions laid down by State laws, only members will be received, or those entering must become members of the Association. Emergency cases that cannot await approval of membership committee may be admitted to hospital and their membership enacted upon by committees thereafter. With these exceptions no non-member shall be admitted to hospital. The hospital shall be granted a certain number of emergency memberships by the central board, when and if the memberships quota of the Association is filled, such that emergency applications for entrance to the hospital may be cared for, provided that institution is not full.

Members of the Association alone may have access to the institutions of the Associations - may participate in the work and benefits to be derived from same.

Members alone shall have access to library, research work, records, hospital within, of course the laws provided for this by the committees in charge of these institutions.

Members alone shall be entitled to readings, subject to the regulation of gaining such.

Members may signify their desire to join any phase of the hospital, social service, research, library, publication, educational, etc., work of the Association and shall be granted the privilege of engaging in same in accordance with the laws of same and needs of same.

Readings shall be furnished by appointment and no guarantee of same is made, the time and granting of the request depending upon previous engagements. Each and every request shall be subject to approval of Mr. Cayce.

On motion duly made and seconded, it was resolved that the officers and Trustees as named, in the Certificate of Incorporation, be, and they are hereby elected as officers and members of the Board of Trustees for the ensuing year, or until their successors are elected and qualify.

On motion duly made and adopted a seal was presented at the meeting with the words, “Association of National Investigators, Incorporated, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1927.”

THE INSTITUTE HOSPITAL

The Cayce Hospital of Research and Enlightenment was founded by the Association of National Investigators, Inc., and the members of this organization, on November 11, 1928. It is an imposing structure, erected on a hillside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, at Virginia Beach, Va. The front of the hospital looks out upon a flower-studded terrace of green, beyond which the broad expanse of water may be seen.

The equipment of the hospital is modern and complete in every detail, including therapeutic and X-ray machines and facilities for baths. Every possible effort is made by those in charge to give the utmost comfort and convenience to each patient. Broad, roomy porches surround two floors of the building, and the south side of the upper porch is enclosed in the vitaglass, so that patients are not only given the utmost in comfort but the utmost in healthful surroundings.

The lower floor includes Therapeutic and bath rooms, as well as an X-Ray, laboratory and dispensary. The main floor includes a large living room, spacious dining hall, diet and cooking kitchens, together with offices, treatment rooms, and living quarters for the physician in charge. There is also on this floor a library and lecture hall.

The hospital floor is one flight up. It includes rooms overlooking beautifully terraced grounds and the broad expanse of the ocean. Others face the healthful pine forests for which Virginia Beach is noted.

There are also two wards, each furnished with a bath. Each of the pay rooms has a connecting bath, so that every patient will be given those comforts necessary to home life and beneficial to convalescence.

The top floor is laid out for patients more active than others. A 12-car garage in the rear is finished off with living quarters for the servants. A nurses’ home is under construction. This has been made necessary as the hospital has been entirely filled and more space for patients was needed. The construction of this home will release ten additional beds for the use of patients.

The surrounding country is ideally located for such an institution and such an important scientific investigation as our investigators seek to make in this hospital.

Bounded by the Atantic Ocean on one side, Chesapeake Bay on the other, with a beautifully wooded mainland, the environment of Virginia Beach is conducive to health. Its beautiful hotels, golf courses and beach activities, as well as the interesting drives through historic country are assurance against monotony. The hum of industry, the rush of the city, and the usual playground are all absent from Virginia Beach, and the air about the place is full of quiet charm and comfort. It is little wonder that the readings themselves gave this place as the ideal location for the hospital, and for the radiation of truths pertaining to psychic phenomenon and the mystic. In this place, and in this manner, does the Association carry on its humanitarian activities.

Each individual must enroll as a member of the Association before obtaining entrance to the hospital. It is planned to make the institution an educational as well as a medical center, and in order that this correlated purpose may be achieved the hospital includes a lecture hall and library.

The building itself is constructed of concrete and shingles, so built as to allow additions whenever sufficient funds enable the Association to expand in their work of healing the sick and relieving the suffering, whether from physical or mental causes. Thousands of dollars have been spent on the grounds and the hospital building, and thousands more will be spent that this glorious task may reach a successful pinnacle.

OFFICERS, BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES

OFFICERS

Morton H. Blumenthal, PRESIDENT

Thomas B. Brown, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT

Edwin D. Blumenthal, VICE-PRESIDENT Hugh Lynn Cayce, VICE-PRESIDENT David E. Kahn, VICE-PRESIDENT F. A. Van Patten, VICE-PRESIDENT M. B. Wyrick, VICE-PRESIDENT

Edgar Cayce, SECRETARY AND TREASURER Gladys Davis, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

F. F. Bradley David E. Kahn Edwin D. Blumenthal

TRUSTEES

Edgar Cayce, CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Morton H. Blumenthal, New York, N.Y.

M. B. Wyrick, Chicago, Ill. Thomas B. Brown, Dayton, Ohio Edwin D. Blumenthal, New York, N.Y. Hugh Lynn Cayce, Virginia Beach, Va. David E. Kahn, New York, N.Y. F. A. Van Patten, Virginia Beach, Va. Edgar Cayce, Virginia Beach, Va. Gladys Davis, Virginia Beach, Va. Gertrude Evans Cayce, Virginia Beach, Va. Franklin F. Bradley, Chicago, Ill. Lucille Kahn, New York, N.Y. Adeline Levy Blumenthal, New York, N.Y.

THAT WE MAY MAKE MANIFEST OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND MAN

COMMITTEES

MEMBERSHIP AND READING COMMITTEE

Edgar Cayce Thos. B. Brown Walker E. Land

EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE

Dr. Wm. M. Brown Franklin F. Bradley Morton H. Blumenthal

FINANCE COMMITTEE

Edwin D. Blumenthal Edgar Cayce David E. Kahn Thos. B. Brown Morton Blumenthal

HISTORICAL COMMITTEE

Hugh Lynn Cayce Gladys Davis Thomas Sugrue

PUBLIC CONTACT COMMITTEE

David E. Kahn Edwin D. Blumenthal F. F. Bradley

MEDICAL CONTACT COMMITTEE

Dr. Lyman A. Lydic Dr. James R. Parker

CAYCE HOSPITAL COMMITTEE

F. F. Bradley Edgar Cayce Edwin D. Blumenthal

LIBRARY COMMITTEE

Morton H. Blumenthal Sara C. Atkinson Thomas J. Sugrue

MECHANICAL APPLIANCE COMMITTEE

Thos. B. Brown Gray Salter F. F. Bradley

ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMMITTEE

F. F. Bradley, assisted by Hugh Lynn Cayce

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

To be appointed by President

REAL ESTATE COMMITTEE

David E. Kahn, CHAIRMAN F. A. Van Patten Thomas B. Brown

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Linden Shroyer, DATASTICIAN Mildred Davis, ASSISTANT

PUBLICATION EDITOR

Thomas J. Sugrue

R5. 11/27/28 E. Clair [4833]‘s ltr. to EC explaining why she did not come to the Cayce Hospital dedication ceremonies on 11/11/28 [written by her sister, [4835]]:

ETHLYNE CLAIR BOX 73 HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.

My dear Mr. Cayce;

Owing to the fact that I have been away making a new picture, your letter of Oct. 18th. has just been brought to my attention. How sorry I am that a telegram wasn’t sent you on the 11th. the day of the laying of the Corner Stone.

Although a little late, please accept my heartiest congratulations on having reached your goal, and the splendid work I know you are doing.

Knowing your power, and having seen it tried and tested I know you will now be able to make rapid strides toward helping your fellow-man. How could I ever forget the wonderful things you did in Selma! I have always had the utmost faith in you, and I am certainly very happy that you have this wonderful hospital and splendid backing.

Speaking of Selma: it was my pleasure to return there last summer on a personal appearance tour, and the people were perfectly marvelous to me. It was if Mary Pickford had suddenly dropped in on them. I was presented with the key to the city by Mayor Rowan, and all that sort of thing. It made me feel very good to return to the home-town having made good.

With a heart full of good wishes and hopes that I will have the pleasure of dropping in on my next trip east and south, and loads of love to Mrs. Cayce and Hugh Lynn. I am, Your sincere friend, [signed] Ethlyne Clair [E.C./A.W.]

R6. 1/11/29 EC’s ltr. to Ethlyne Clair - answering her ltr. of 11/27/28:

Dear Ethlyne:

Your letter of Nov. 27th and your beautiful Christmas Card has been on my desk for some time.

Feeling that you would possibly like to read the address made at the dedication of our Hospital, I am sending you a copy of it. Don’t know how to tell you how much we appreciated your letting us hear from you. We often think and speak of you. Hugh Lynn was home from college for Christmas, and although I was not very well myself, we enjoyed having him with us.

We think the building is going to be beautiful when we can get the furniture and equipment proper for handling the members who will wish admittance there for help. I just came back from New York, where I finished purchasing the furniture, rugs, and such like.

I am in hopes that some of these days, on your trip East, that you will include our part of the country in your program. I noticed from the Selma papers (which we get) that you took the city by storm. I’m sure it was very gratifying to you to go back there, after being away so many years and having made a success out of your career.

While we are waiting on the shipments, I’m going to steal away for a little while and I trust I’ll be able to drop in on your father in Atlanta, as I’m going through that way. I had a note from him - he promised to let me hear from him, but I haven’t as yet.

Again thanking you, and hoping that you will let us hear from you - with love from all, I am

Sincerely, Edgar Cayce [EC:GD]

R7. 8/3/37 Card from Malcolm Williamson [Ethlyne Clair’s brother], Chicago:

Dear Radio Friend:

Many thanks! I was very happy to hear from you and hope you will write again. I am sorry to say, my plans for publishing a book did not materialize. However, I am still hoping. Thank you for your loyal support.

Sincerely, [signed] Malcolm Claire [“Uncle Malcolm”, Children’s Program]

R8. 8/29/37, 12/2/37 GD’s note: He obtained Life Rdgs. for his daughters, [1434] and [1489].

R9. 7/29/42 Verbal report from Edgar Cayce: …Ethlyne [4833] is married and living in Birmingham, Ala.

Background

Background

B1. 10/10/28 See EC’s letter to [341] saying Dr. William Moseley Brown had agreed to make the dedication address at opening of Cayce Hospital on 11/11/28.

Mentioned Entities

A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment), Purpose, Ideal, Virginia Beach, Morton Blumenthal, Soul, Cayce Hospital, Subconscious Mind, David Kahn, Hugh Lynn Cayce, King David, New York City, Psychic Development, Gladys Davis, Greece, Jesus Christ, Thomas Sugrue, Throne of God, Chicago, Dreams

Source: The Complete Edgar Cayce Readings, A.R.E. CD-ROM (2006). Reading 254-45, ReadingID 1183.