The Case Of Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce is the poster boy for psychic abilities. He is supposed to have diagnosed and offered cures for many sick people by slipping into a trance. Most of these cures were effected from long distances. The books about Cayce are really convincing. His sincerity is evident but was he a victim of self-delusion?

I am reluctant to think of Edgar Cayce as a conscious fraud. He seems like a nice, sincere guy who really believes his dreams help sick people. The sceptics who look for solid, verifiable evidence say that his diagnoses and predictions are couche in the same vague language as any fraudulent psychic and his successful predictions are talked up by hid supporters and his failures explained away or ignored.

The fact is, Cayce’s followers do not believe that he has any failures,even though he is supposed to have tried to use his powers to find the Lindbergh baby with a resounding lack of results.

If I really think about it, reading about Edgar Cayce’s incoherent ramblings and comical attempts at explaining the cause of illnesses is one of my life’s disappointments. I really WANTED to believe in him. But looking at the facts, I can’t.

Here is a video of Edgar Cayce taken in 1939 outside an A.R.E. meeting. His closing remarks at the conference finished by putting to the assenbly the question, “What am I doing about my concept of the force I call God?” If this question was at the front of Cayce’s mind during his life it shows that faith and sincerity don’t necessarily dispel delusion.