Читать книгу Edgar Cayce's Origin and Destiny of Man - Lytle Webb Robinson - Страница 5

By Barbara A. Robinson

The author of this book, Lytle Webb Robinson, passed through “God’s other door” on April 4, 1997, one week before his 84th birthday. He had been hospitalized for several days before being transferred to a private hospice room, where he lapsed into a state of semi-consciousness.

Our four children joined me in a vigil in that clinical setting, and the conversation evolved into a sharing of family stories. We laughed often at past events. To the nurse who checked in frequently, we must have resembled a group in an airport departure area who had gathered to wait with a loved one until time for his plane to leave. A considerable length of time elapsed before there was a lull in the conversation. Just at that moment, some flickering change came over Lytle’s face. We reached out and touched him as he took one final breath. His “flight” had departed. Apparently, he had been listening and chose to remain with us through the review of our lives together.

I open with this story of Lytle’s death as a means of informing readers that his book is not new but a reprint of one first issued in 1972. The text continues to be relevant, however, because most of the information presented is followed by the verbatim Extracts from the Cayce Readings. For those interested, this book has been translated into French, German, Japanese, and Braille.

It came to be written because in the mid-1950s, Hugh Lynn Cayce, Edgar Cayce’s son, was actively recruiting writers to introduce the Edgar Cayce psychic readings to the growing roster of members. Since Lytle was a freelance writer, he was invited to write a comprehensive article on the subject of Creation. To access the material needed for this initial writing project, we traveled to Virginia Beach and stayed in an upstairs bedroom in the Cayce home at 308 Arctic Crescent. A fire-proof vault housing the readings had been installed at that residence, and Gladys Davis, Edgar’s secretary, also had her office there. It seems unthinkable now, but at that time no copying machines were available, and all extracts of the Cayce readings had to be hand-copied or typed, since they were not to be removed from the premises.

Lytle was employed full-time in merchandising, and wrote in the evenings at our home, so we made several Virginia Beach trips to acquire information from the readings. Typing these extracts became my contribution—a privileged one—since it gave me the opportunity to become friends with Gladys. As most know, she not only personified those spiritual qualities which we all strive to attain, but she had a phenomenal memory. Even though the over 14,000 Cayce readings were only partially cataloged, she was able to access information on a wide variety of topics. Whenever we visited, Gladys put other responsibilities aside to assist Lytle, and the times we stayed in the Cayce home, she would leave the vault unlocked at night so that we could obtain readings and type copies well into the night. Gladys deserves credit for all of the early Cayce publications because writers depended on her expertise and generous spirit.

As for Hugh Lynn Cayce, he came across as the consummate professional, but behind that formal façade he genuinely cared about people and reached out to meet their needs. Two of his letters, written over 50 years ago, are still in my files. The first one referred to a theological matter we had discussed but not resolved; the second alluded to his intervention on behalf of our infant son when he was seriously ill. Edgar Cayce set the precedent for reaching out to uplift others, but Hugh Lynn incorporated that philosophy into the A.R.E. standards of operation where it continues to this day.

How we think and act in our relationships with one another determines our own destiny and contributes to the universal destiny of mankind. Therefore we may drift aimlessly through life or choose consciously to awaken spiritually and return to a state of oneness with God. In this difficult undertaking, the Edgar Cayce Life Readings—revealing strengths, weaknesses and inclinations—are invaluable because they emphasize human conditions common to all of us.

Because we seldom review a life reading in entirety, one will be included at the end of this book, followed by a personal evaluation, “The Impact of a Life Reading,” written by the recipient many years later. That person is Lytle W. Robinson.

Tucson, Arizona

July, 2007