THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509070011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Regarding Marc Sher's ``Insulted by pledge-break program'' (letter, Aug. 31) criticizing A.R.E. sponsorship of the WHRO program featuring Deepak Chopra:
For more than a half-century, the information in the Cayce material has been explored by educators, historians, theologians and scientists. Cayce has been called the ``father of holistic medicine.'' Decades ago, he was emphasizing the importance of diet, attitudes, emotions and exercise and the patient's role in the treatment of illness. Due to the influence of his information, the American Holistic Medical Association was formed in the 1970s, 30 years after his death. Because of the similarities between Dr. Chopra's work (a graduate of Harvard Medical School) and the Cayce material, we sponsored the program.
Regardless of the field of study, Cayce has continually proved himself decades ahead of his time. In the field of psychology, he has been compared to Carl Jung. In the realm of education, he is on a similar standing with Rudolf Steiner. Dr. Richard Drummond (Dubuque Theological Seminary), one of the world's most renowned theological scholars, has called the Cayce information on spirituality ``the finest devotional material of the 20th century.''
In history, the Cayce readings gave insights into Judaism that were verified a decade after his death. In world affairs, Cayce foresaw the collapse of communism nearly 50 years before it happened. Even last year, in Dr. Sher's own field of physics, a professor and a fellow of the American Physical Society theorized a connection between the elementary-particle theory and the way Edgar Cayce received his information. Repeatedly, science and history have validated theoretical concepts and ideas explored in Cayce's psychic information. The wealth of his insights has resulted in more than 300 books, investigating different aspects of Cayce's life and work.
When the A.R.E. was founded by Edgar Cayce in 1931, one of the undergirding principles was to provide an area of comparative study in every imaginable field. Even today we invite individuals from all backgrounds to be on our educational programs, compare their research to Cayce's information, and provide objective evaluation of the material. All of our information is open to the public. In addition, we house one of the largest libraries in the country in the fields of comparative religious studies, psychology, parapsychology and education. We even carry books which are critical of this work, because Cayce believed in exploring every viewpoint.
Oftentimes people's intolerance is due to mistaken assumptions or partial information rather than an objective exploration of the facts. In fact, that is what science is all about - an attempt to systematically explore the mysteries of the unknown. Unfortunately, when well-meaning individuals instead attempt to rationalize away the Cayce information because it doesn't fit into their current paradigm, or simply set it aside because of disbelief, the scientific approach goes right out the window.
KEVIN J. TODESCHI, director
Public information
Association for Research
and Enlightenment Inc.
Virginia Beach, Aug. 31, 1995 by CNB