Customer Reviews

The Story of Edgar Cayce: There is a River

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In the mid-sixties I bought a paperback called "There is a River" by Thomas Sugrue. I believe he wrote it in the 1940s. Reading this book as many times as I had, inspired me to form a metaphysical study group at a Chicago area public library that lasted until the early 70s. During that time we became local "experts" on Cayce and everything he wrote.

Today, the interpretations of his readings and writings have changed - and that's not a good thing. At a bookstore recently, I sat down and studied this edition for a few hours and I regret to say that this updated version has been modified and changed to the degree that it has altered Sugrue's original and authentic insights into the Cayce he knew personally.

I'm grateful that I had learned about Cayce when his sons were still in control of publications coming out of A.R.E. in Virginia Beach. Things have changed over the years and whomever is in control today seems to be turning a once benevolent institution into a for-profit book selling organization in the name of Edgar Cayce.

I would recommend for anyone who has a sincere interest in learning from one of the original and genuine interpretations of Cayce's readings, to forego this edition and search for the original "There is a River" by Thomas Sugrue - who knew him personally.

The story of Edgar Cayce's life will inspire, uplift, sadden, and enlighten you. Now known as the Father of holistic medicine - he relates that we are mind, body, and spirit - all which works together for good. Reading this book is the beginning of the rest of your life. Once awakened, you can never go back to the way you were. This book is an introduction to a man, his family, his life, but greater, the soul's journey through time. It's your journey. Read it

If you can only afford one book on Edgar Cayce, then this is the one to purchase. I have read every book in the library on the sleeping prophet. This book was publishing orignally in the 1940's and is written by a person who actually knew Edgar Cayce.

This book provides a history of Mr. Cayce from birth to death and provides the essentials for understanding who, what, when, and where of the sleeping prophet. Once you have that basic history of the man, then you can more easily concentrate other areas that he addressed such as healing, Atlantis, Egyptians, prophecy, etc.

Much of this book is ordinary - documenting in chronological order both the mundane and fascinating events in the life of a most enigmatic man.

If you're considering reading this book it's probably because you've already read something else about Edgar Cayce or a part of the body of philosophy that has grown out of his "readings". This book will provide the story of his life: How he came upon his "gift", how he struggled with it, how he used it, and ultimately how he never quite understood it and was never able to establish anything lasting from it.

Not very much attention is given to the huge body of metaphysical thought that came from his readings, however there is a 15-page summary of the resulting "theology" at the end of the book that outlines the implications of it all.

Where the book fails is that it never really wrestles with whehter or not the resulting theology is "true". It demonstrates how EC throughout his life questioned whether the gift might be co-opted and used for an evil purpose, but other than saying "people are being helped so it must be good" the author didn't ask the tough questions and apparently neither did the Cayce family.

And, although affirming Jesus Christ and Christianity there is very little effort put into reconciling the Cayce philosophy with the New TEstament. They iron out a few wrinkles but ignore obvious objections. The philosophy could almost boil down to "Hinduism is mostly right and Jesus showed us the right way to live". Nevertheless, the Cayce take on Christianity avoids some of the obvious pitfalls of the fundamental Christian take on the Bible.

If this review sounds confusing it's because, as this book unintentionally makes clear, Edgar Cayce's life and legacy are confusing. He had an odd gift that no one quite figured out. It dominated his life and that of his family and since his death has been reduced to a bizarre footnote, ignored by Christians and embraced by misguided New Agers who Cayce would have had some very fundamental disagreements with. And yet, his experience appears well documented and real enough to cause most of us to acknowledge that we are missing out on something very fundamental in our understanding, or lack thereof of what the truth and meaning are for our existence here on this tiny planet on the outskirts of an unimaginably huge universe.

Definitely worth a read, but realize that if think about it at all you'll come away with more questions than you had originally.

I have read 7 of Edgar Cayce's books, this is my 8th. I told myself that I wouldn't read anymore Egar Cayce books until I've read his life story. I'm still reading Edgar Cayce books after reading, "There is a River..." and now I appreciate his books much more now that I know who the individual is. This book is very in depth, but there are some questions that I have that remain unanswered about his life. Perhaps I'll get more info from the book, "Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet". What I love about Mr. Cayce is that through the whole book, no matter how much fame he got, or how many people looked up to him, he always stayed humble and close to the Bible, which says a lot compared to some psychics that become arrogant just because they have stronger psychic ability than most people. He used his ability not to get rich, but to help people even though he was poor himself. God bless is soul!

I find the book"There Is a River" very informative, inspirational, and life altering. After reading this book, my life took on a new perspective. I am not alone. I had so many questions the doctors could not answer. I am so very happy that a friend of mine let me borrow her copy to read. After reading the first chapter, I returned her book, went to the bookstore and purchased my own copy. I don't know where I would be right now had I not read his book. My life suddenly became clear and my mission on earth materialized to me for the first time in my life. All fear left me and was replaced with hope, love, amazement, astonishment, faith and charity. My life remain changed forever. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has had the question: who am I? what am I doing here? why should I do good to others? ailments that the doctors cannot find no treatment for, unusual things that happens to one that cannot be explained for lack of words, spiritual things, dreams or visions, etc. I went on to purchase everything I could on Edgar Cayce.

How many times have you heard the overused term "life-changing," usually used to describe decidedly non-life-changing things?

Well, this book is an exception. This biography is the first step to understanding Edgar Cayce: who he was, and the ageless wisdom he left for us. Cayce was "tapped in" to the universal river of knowledge. The lessons here will always remain valid, for they come from God.

After reading this book, read Edgar Cayce's Story of Jesus, Edgar Cayce on Reincarnation, Edgar Cayce on Atlantis, and the others. To continue your studies (and expand your perceptions even further), read Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity Of The Soul. I feel that these books, along with the Holy Bible, are the best books you can read.

I had heard of Edgar Cayce before, mainly because I shelved so many books by or about him in my years as a bookseller. It was only recently, though, as I was browsing through one of the Stranger than... books by the late Frank Edwards that I came across a brief biography of Edgar Cayce and learned more about his mysterious diagnoses given while unconscious. I remembered that I had this book, one of the Time-Life Collector's Library of the Unknown reprints, on my shelf and so I dug in.

For the most part, the prose was easy to read and written in a straightforward, familiar style, so that I felt like I was seeing the events of Cayce's life as they happened. The book begins like a normal biography, discussing early romances, jobs, family incidents, etc., with very little to indicate how strange Mr. Cayce's life would become. Around 1/3 of the way through the book, we discover, along with young Edgar, that he can memorize written materials just by sleeping on them. He also discovers that he has miraculous powers to diagnose illnesses and prescribe cures for people he has never met, all while unconscious. (In his waking life, Mr. Cayce was very modestly educated, and was as surprised as anyone at the ideas and language that came from his unconscious form.) The way that this section of the book reads, you would imagine that Cayce's cures were always successful and that skeptics were fools.

The book begins to drag after the second half, though, for a variety of reasons. First, Cayce could never actually put his powers to any real end. Every attempt to establish a multidisciplinary hospital to implement and research his unconscious revelations, as was his dream, came to an unsuccessful conclusion. This is fairly anticlimactic and does not make for a very "heroic" story. Second, one of his benefactors, a man quite interested in matters occult, began to ask Cayce more arcane questions, and so the revelations began to drift into, to me, less interesting areas-the typical new age stuff about Atlantis, reincarnation, soul mates, etc. Finally, it became more apparent to me, based on the later, more thoroughly documented cases, that Cayce's "miraculous" cures might not have been as amazing as they seemed in the earlier chapters; the earlier cures seemed more amazing simply because the way in which they were recorded and related was more "oh gosh" and less stringent. (In other words, as he gets older and more jaded, even his cures seem less special and miraculous. Maybe this was the writer's intention.)

The conclusion of the book was, for me, the worst part. It is divided into two appendix-like sections. In the first section, the author tries to systematically describe Cayce's philosophy. Boring. Too much like the Ascended Master stuff that I find hard to swallow. Maybe it is true. Maybe not. Whenever I read this stuff, I just get the feeling that I am listening to some pedantic, New England minister lecturing on matters that were expressed much more interestingly 2,000 years ago by Hindus and Buddhists. The second section in the conclusion recounts six case studies from the Cayce files, and these are interesting only for those who want to see how difficult to understand Cayce's medical diagnoses could be, due to the odd structure of his language and the outdated medical terminology.

It was a quick read, except for those two concluding sections, so if you are at all interested, I highly recommend reading it. As for what it means, though, I really have no clue. And I don't plan on re-reading it to find out, though the pretty Time-Life book will remain on my shelf as decoration.

Conservative Christians who wonder about such seemingly unbiblical concepts as karma and reincarnation would do well to read this book. It could change their lives, much as Edgar Cayce (a conservative, biblically oriented Christian) found his own life changed once he had been introduced to Truth.

This is an excellent, personal account of the experiences of the famous psychic Edgar cayce. The reader gets a glimpse into how Cayce discovered his abilities, and the challenges he encountered in fulfilling his life's work. The author actually spent time with Cayce and his family, and provides a very credible account of events in Cayce's life. It is interesting to read that Cayce himself did not fully understand the process he underwent in trance, nor did he always have a clear comprehension of the messages brought through. However, he helped many, many people with his accurate readings on how to cure medical ailments, and gave accurate predictions of events that had not yet come to pass. A thought-provoking book for anyone interested in psychic phenomena and the life experiences of this powerful prophet. It is also a good tool for those who do psychic work professionally.