Edger Cayce, a
Christian mystic, was born in 1877 and died in 1945. He was born in
Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. Edgers' family included Leslie Cayce
(his father), Carrie Elizabeth (his mother), Thomas Jefferson Cayce (his
grandfather on his dad's side), Annie and Sara (his sisters). His childhood was
primarily spent around and in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, then spent some time in Bowling
Green, Kentucky, before marrying Gertrude Evans and moving to Bowling Green
(which I will cover more about after this point in the next section). Before
Edger started school, at the age of 4, he witnessed his grandfather pass away
in a horse accident (Edgar Cayce's A.R.E.). Cayce struggled and was behind in
school; "twelve years old he was still in the third reader" (Sugrue,
1945, p 18). Cayce's father blamed himself, so he started to give Cayce
spelling lessons. After he tried this and it was failing, Edger fell Asleep on
his book, and when his father woke him up, he knew it all. From that point on,
this is how Edger gained the information for his lessons, and he never forgot
those lessons (Sugrue, 1945, p 19). However, Cayce never finished high school;
he stopped after one year.
While
Edger was still young, he was devoted to God and the bible. A quote I found in
his biography "There is a River" by Thomas Sugrue, about Edger
and his devotion to the bible, "I resolved to read it once for every year
of my life." Edger believes that this is why he was visited by a woman
telling him that his prayers would be answered, and the next day, he had the
ability to obtain information from sleep on his schoolbooks.
To get some general information about Edgers' early
career (first and some short-term jobs), I looked at the timeline of his life
on The Edger Cayce's A.R.E. foundation. By the age of 17, he had his first job
at Hopper Brothers bookstore, and he lost this job about a year after he
got engaged to his wife, Gertrude Evans, three years later. After this job, his
career includes a short time at two bookstores, J. P. Morton & Co. in
Lexington, Kentucky, and a bookstore in Bowling Green. He also spent time
working with his father, selling insurance.
George Ivanovitch
Gurdjieff, a non-Christian mystic, was born in Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri,
Armenia). However, the year he was born has been debated for a long time, even
during his life, but George died in 1949. The most common years said are 1866,
1872, and 1877 (Cusack, 2011). The year that I have been using is 1872. This
year is stated in 'Gurdjieff's Early Years' on The Gurdjieff Legacy
Foundation website as the most logical. Whenever he was born, he did not live
in Alexandropol for long; his family moved to Kars shortly after. Although he is
my non-Christian mystic, he was raised Christian but studied many different
religions and cultures throughout his life. This led to the creation of his own
teachings called The Fourth Way. I will talk more about this in the culture and
context section.
George's family
consisted of his Armenian mother, who had the name of Evdokia, and a Greek
father, who had the name of Yiannis Georgiades. He Grew up in a very diverse
culture-filled city, so George knew about ten languages (Shvangiradze, 2023).
When Georges' family first moved to Kars, he "becomes a chorister at the
Kars Military Cathedral school" (Cusack, 2011). Here, he was taught by two
different teachers, the first of which was Dean Borsh. Later, After Dean Borsh's
death, George's second teacher was Bogachevsky (The Gurdjieff Legacy Foundation).
Both of his teachers hold a strong place in Gurdjieff's Heart and mind. Dean Borsh
was like George's second father, and Bogachevsky taught him that there are two
moralities: objective and subjective. All that Gurdjieff has been taught leads
him to question his life's purpose at a young age (The Gurdjieff Legacy
Foundation). Around 1911, Georges left his home to search for his purpose in
life, and he documented this in his book Meeting with Remarkable Men, which I
have been unable to find. Nothing else is known about George's childhood.
It can be observed
that both Edger and George respected and appreciated the knowledge they were
gaining at a young age. Something they both had in common was that, at some
point, they both left the town they hometown/city. One of the main differences between
their childhoods was that Edger Grew up going to church and reading the bible,
but George Grew up around A mixture of religions and cultures.
Cusack, C. M. (2011). An Enlightened Life in Text and Image: GI Gurdjieff‟ s Meetings With Remarkable Men (1963) and Peter Brook‟ s Meetings With Remarkable Men (1979). Literature & Aesthetics, 21(1).
Life, Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. (2023, December 18). Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. https://edgarcayce.org/edgar-cayce/life
Shvangiradze, T. (2023, June 26). George Gurdjieff: Mostly the man, but mainly the myth. TheCollector. https://www.thecollector.com/george-gurdjieff-man-myth/
Sugrue, T. (1945). There is a river: The story of Edgar Cayce. TarcherPerigee.
The Gurdjieff Legacy Foundation — The Teaching for Our Time. (n.d.). Gurdjieff’s Early Years. https://gurdjiefflegacy.org/70links/early_years.htm
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