Researching the Essenes, Edgar Cayce & Jesus

    Throughout my relationship with Unity and the Bible, I have heard many differing opinions and theories on who the Essenes were and what role they actually played in the events surrounding the New Testament story. There are also questions about the amount of influence they may have had over the Bible writers and the writings themselves. In this piece I will attempt to clarify who these historical figures were and what role they actually had, if any, in the creation of our Bible.

    My introduction to the Essenes came around the age of ten when my parents, who had been students of Edgar Cayce's readings for decades, began to tell about how this community may have influenced Jesus' life and our history. Up to this point, all of my understanding on the topic was strictly from my parents’ perspective of the Cayce work, until I became a teenager and was so fascinated by these stories that I decided to study the Cayce material for myself. This would ultimately lead me to the source of the very same readings and stories my parents had been quoting and sharing with me for all of my young life.

    Before going much further, I should probably make sure we are all familiar with who Edgar Cayce was. Much has been written about the man and the work he did, but that is not the topic of this discussion and so we will refer to the website for Cayce’s foundation which does a concise introduction to him in this way: "Edgar Cayce (pronounced Kay-Cee, 1877-1945) has been called the ‘sleeping prophet,’ the ‘father of holistic medicine,’ and the most documented psychic of the 20th century. For more than 40 years of his adult life, Cayce gave psychic ‘readings’ to thousands of seekers while in an unconscious state, diagnosing illnesses and revealing lives lived in the past and prophecies yet to come.”[1]  This description cannot even begin to explain the depth of his body of work or the amount of legitimacy he brought to his practice, but it should suffice as a starting point and common ground for our purposes.

     Our focus will be specifically on his readings about the life of Jesus and his connection to the ancient spiritual sect known as the Essenes. In May 1941, Cayce conducted reading 254-1, in two parts, in which he discussed the Essene community. In part 1 he describes the Essene community as a group of people who were chosen to bring the "messiah" into this world.[2] This statement itself has two layers; first, all members of the Essene community were raised with the responsibility to spread a new spiritual message, a "messiah" message, to a world that had lost touch with its foundational teachings. The second is that one of the Essene members would be chosen to physically bring the messiah into this world through birth. That birth would also bring a new spiritual message into the world by way of the child’s teachings.

    Cayce’s readings go on to reveal more discoveries about the community’s connection to the Jesus story. He explains that the Essene women were not limited by the male dominated society of the time, but rather seen as equals in the community.[3] Children were introduced and dedicated to the community by their parents before becoming servants of the Essene ideology. Part of this ideology was to understand that Essenes were the chosen people, tasked with the responsibility to create the new movement of humans who were expanded in awareness and spirituality. Among the children introduced in this way were Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph, also raised in the expanded awareness of the Essene teachings.[4]

     Even more interesting is Cayce's understanding that Mary was among twelve young girls who were chosen to be raised as the potential mothers for the coming Messiah. As he puts it, they were "trained as to physical exercise first, trained as to mental exercises as related to chastity, purity, love, patience, endurance. All of these by what would be termed by many in the present as persecutions, but as tests for physical and mental strength; and this under the supervision of those that cared for the nourishments by the protection in the food values. These were the manners and the way they were trained, directed, protected.”[5]

     According to Cayce, Mary was just a young child when she began her training, with eleven other girls, in preparation to possibly be chosen as the future mother of the coming “Messiah". Physically, mentally and spiritually these girls were all trained in readiness for what that responsibility would entail. Ultimately, at age 13, Mary would be singled out and chosen as the one who would mother the “Messiah". Her training continued and she was eventually wed to Joseph, a much older Essene man who would help her in raising the child and surviving in the often barbaric and short-sighted patriarchal world they would face together.

    Cayce continues that Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, was also an Essene and one of the twelve who were initially trained as prospects to mother the Messiah. Even though Elizabeth was not chosen, she did give birth to John the Baptist and raise him as a spiritually evolved child to teach the new message. Cayce’s accounts make one wonder... is it possible that all the major players in the beginnings of the New Testament story were in fact from an ancient community that was predestined to bring Jesus and John into the world and simultaneously change the consciousness and thinking of the human race?

    This would definitely help explain the missing 30 years of Jesus’ life, after which he reappears with amazing wisdom, clarity and enlightened teachings. If Cayce’s version of history is true, surely Jesus would have spent these years being raised and taught by the Essene community, with the goal in mind that he would be the “Messiah” to take their message into the world. The resulting balance of spiritual self confidence and Divine Understanding in him, could have been all that was required for a child to develop into the miracle worker and teacher that was prophesied.  

     At first glance this may seem like a fantastical interpretation of the story, which already contains plenty of mystical elements. Although, if we analyze other sources for the core beliefs, structure and events surrounding the Essene community, we might begin to see similarities to what would become the life and teachings of John the Baptist and, then, Jesus. After all, even in these modern times, we would clearly acknowledge that a child learns most of his/her traits and understanding from the beliefs of the parents and surrounding community. Why then would it be any different 2000 years ago?

     Before we move on, we should remember that Cayce's statements are from psychic readings and not based on traditional archeological digs or historical documentation. So we must question if any other sources support his story.  

    Most of what we have come to know about the Essene historical “facts” originate from the excavation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These were discovered in the caves of Qumran near The West Bank in 1949, eight years after Cayce’s earliest readings on the topic. Frontline, the long-running documentary series on PBS, is one of many investigative programs that has reported on the translations of the scrolls. In the program entitled “From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians”, Michael White, Professor of Classics and Director of the Religious Studies Program University of Texas at Austin, asserts that the Essenes were a community that had abandoned Jerusalem because of their disagreement with the temple and the misguided direction in which Judaism was heading.[6] So they fled to the caves of Qumran to start a community based on a new ideology that was rooted in older teachings. According to White, "here's a group that went out in the desert to prepare the way of the Lord, following the commands, as they saw it, of the prophet Isaiah.”[7] This was possibly in an effort to get back to the foundation of what they believed to be Truth and to move away from the corrupted religion that modern Judaism had become. So here we start to see the similarities to Cayce’s description of the self-exiled Essenes as a group that would “prepare the way of the Lord.”

    White goes on to show that the Essenes were around for a hundred years before the birth of Jesus and they felt they were the chosen ones to bring in a new age of "light" against the "worldly" mindset of Jerusalem and its current corruption and darkness. These Essene beliefs are similar to teachings that Jesus delivered in places such as John 8:12. “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” and in John 8:23, “he said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.’”

    Historical Essene writings also talk about a day when their Lord would come again to earth and would establish a new kingdom for Jerusalem. Perhaps this is the same new kingdom Jesus referred to in Luke 17:20-23 “Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you."

    Even more fascinating is how White interprets the scrolls as speaking of two Messiahs, one to "lead the war" against the coming darkness and one to "restore the temple to Jerusalem."[8]  Could this be referring to John and Jesus, supporting Cayce's idea that both men’s mothers were of the Essene chosen twelve and products of their beliefs and teachings?  White indirectly addresses the idea that the “two Messiahs” could be referring to John and Jesus, then suggests that although some claim this to be true, there is no factual evidence to support the connection.

    After reviewing the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls we begin to discover more about the Essene community and find some similarities to Cayce’s work. We also now have a better understanding of the Essene belief system and how there might be a connection to the words and teachings of Jesus himself. But now we begin to find major conflicts with Cayce's statements about the community. One of the scrolls discovered is called the Manual of Discipline and describes the rules and governance of the Essenes. This doctrine is in contrast to earlier Cayce statements because it says they did not, in fact, embrace woman as equals. In the Frontline episode, Shaye I.D. Cohen, Samuel Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University, interprets the Manual as saying, "there are no women, and as a result, there are few children. It is a group almost exclusively consisting of adult males, who are to spend their life following the rules of the group and acting out the theological principles and beliefs of the group."[9] If this were the case, then we would have to assume there was no choosing of twelve young girls, no equality for women in the community and subsequently no miraculous birth of John or Jesus from this community.

    Author Werner Keller in his book, The Bible As History, takes a look from a broader perspective and acknowledges some similarities between the Essene community and early Christian beliefs. “In short, from the twelve apostles and the whole ‘community organization’ to the value concepts and beliefs as well as to the consciousness of guilt, the idea of redemption and the expectation of eternity, all these Christian fundamentals were already known to the Essenes.”[10] His acknowledgment of similarities between the Essenes and Christianity ends there because he states that the beliefs of the Essenes were far more strict and segregating. Not only were women not allowed to be included in their ceremonial meals, but they also did not accept or include “the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf and the mute,” which directly contradicts Jesus’ teachings. Keller goes so far as to say that some of Jesus’ statements were in direct protest of the Essene beliefs of the time. One such example is Jesus' parable in Luke 14:21 in which the slave is told to “go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” Keller would have us believe that Jesus was not a product of the Essene community and actually rejected their beliefs and teachings. He also addresses the early assumption that John the Baptist and Jesus could have been influenced by Essene teachings, but says that “this view, which caused a stir at the time, has on closer investigation proved to be unfounded.”[11] Unfortunately, he does not cite how or where these theories were disproven or why they are unfounded.

    In Don’t Know Much About The Bible, the Kenneth Davis takes a similar stance on the topic. He also recognizes the early attempts by scholars and historians to connect the teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus to that of the Essenes, but concludes: “While Jesus may have been influenced by the Essenes, or was reacting to their teachings, he was not one of them. The Essenes excluded women, the handicapped, and the diseased, all of whom Jesus openly welcomed in his ministry.”[12]

    With what we have gathered thus far we now see contradictory views to Edgar Cayce's  readings of the Essenes and their possible place in Jesus' life. On the other hand, the more we look into this, the more we start to recognize who the Essenes might actually have been and how much they really contributed to The New Testament story. Davis recognizes that, whether good or bad, Jesus may have been influenced by their teachings. Keller also suggests that, at times, Jesus may have been speaking directly to some of the Essene beliefs and customs. Stephen L. Harris goes a bit further looking at Essene influence in his book, The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction, when he talks about the connection of writings in the Gospel of John to those in The Dead Sea Scrolls. He states that, “study of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran reveals many parallels between Essene ideas and those prevailing in the Johannine community. Essene writers and the author for John use a remarkably similar vocabulary to express the same kind of ethical dualism… almost identical use of distinctive terms but also comparable worldview.”[13] This might explain why the earlier quotes from Jesus seemed to match the Essene teachings so well, because they were taken from the Gospel of John. Maybe this confusion about Jesus’ connection to the Essenes is the result of John’s own connection to the community, which influenced the way he wrote about Jesus.

    Another view on the possible connection between the Essene community and both Jesus and John the Baptist comes from the New Testament Scholar, Nicholas Thomas Wright.  He sheds new light on the differences between early Christian and Essene beliefs, but also suggests that Jesus and John were probably not from the Essene community.[14] Although, he points out that the Essenes were able to accurately calculate the Messiah’s time of arrival, which happened to be at roughly the same time John the Baptist started preaching. That being the case, they could have initially attached themselves to John because the timing was right and he appeared to be a possible Messiah. By doing so, they also could have been talking with him and guiding him with their ideology and influencing his teachings. This probably would have lasted only until Jesus came along, as they quickly realized that Jesus was far more likely to be the Messiah they were waiting for. At this point, they would have shifted their attention to Jesus; again, attaching themselves to him and influencing his teachings in the same way.

    In terms of the Dead Sea Scrolls, most sources agree that they were written by the Essenes themselves and are most likely an accurate account of their history and way of life. Keller also points out that they were presumably “responsible for many of the copies of the books of the Old Testament which have been rescued from the adjacent hills, since a proper scriptorium was found among the ruins of the settlement.”[15] Beyond their influence on the writings of the New Testament, the Essenes are also responsible for preserving much of the Old Testament.

    As we have seen, it may be difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about this community with the amount of varied opinions and sources available. Some of these sources refer to women as living in the community but not allowed to partake in certain ceremonies, while others say the community was comprised only of celibate men. Some scholars draw a link between the Essene beliefs and the teachings of Jesus and John the Baptist, while others say the Essene beliefs were nothing like their teachings and far more strict and exclusive. Most everyone agrees that the Essenes predicted a Messiah at precisely the time Jesus and John the Baptist started teaching and that the Essenes used verbiage that was very similar to that of Jesus. But whether that proves any connection is greatly debated.

    We also find it widely accepted that the writer of the Gospel of John was likely connected to the Essene community. This may have caused him to recognize Jesus’ message as similar to his own and to emphasize the similarities in his writings; inadvertently creating what would appear to be a connection between Jesus and the Essenes.  

    In any case, we can clearly see that, although this community had withdrawn from society, they still managed to have a major influence on history and the Bible. But something about the Essenes begs to be more deeply understood. This might mean that we need to move beyond what can be proven in the physical world and begin to look at them with a more expanded awareness. Almost all of the information we have on the Essenes comes from the sect that lived in the caves at Qumran, but it is well known that different sects lived all over the area. Taking this into consideration, we could naturally assume that each sect would differ in some way from the others. Just as the beliefs and practices of a modern Christian church in Texas differ from those in California, it would be safe to assume that the Qumran Essenes also differed in ways from the other Essenes of that time. Many scholars conclude that Jesus and John the Baptist were not from the Qumran Essene community, but could they have been a part of one of the other sects? This might answer why the two men seem to connect with aspects of the terminology and beliefs of the Qumran Community, but not with all of their strict practices and ideals. Maybe Cayce’s readings were based on an Essene community that was not located at the caves of Qumran, and who were more open to women, children, the sick, the lame and more aligned with the same compassionate message that Jesus shared with us.

    There is one more thing to take into account when considering how historians have painted the picture of this culture. In modern times we are beginning to realize that the Bible is not a literal historical document that strictly retells past events. More and more we recognize it is a book full of parables and stories for interpretation and deeper understanding. If we take this same realization and apply it to the writings of the Essenes, we may open up a whole new level of understanding about who they were and what they believed. Just like the Bible, their writings might also be meant to be interpreted and understood through metaphysics, revealing things that were once unseen or misunderstood. Tools for finding these deeper meanings can be found in modern New Thought Christian movements like Unity and the writings of its co-founder Charles Fillmore. For example, what if the community was not made up of strictly men but rather they strictly held to living the values associated with the metaphysical understanding of the word “man”. Fillmore said that man is “An idea in Divine Mind; the epitome of being. The Apex of God’s creation, created in His image and likeness.”[16] That wording sounds almost identical to how the Essenes saw themselves and how they lived their lives. Why, then, would they not have used the same metaphysical terminology in their writings as those found in the Bible, the book that they so carefully studied and protected?

    If we are open to the possibility that historical texts, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, benefit from deeper understanding, then we can see the potential problem with historians interpreting our past with limited awareness. Simply put, those that live in a world that needs physical facts and tangible discoveries to draw conclusions could be completely missing a larger discovery that requires the greater understanding of intangible spiritual Truth.

    From the historian’s viewpoint we are told that the Essenes were influential in some ways, but had little to no connection to the major characters and events in the New Testament story. When we are willing to look beyond the surface details, it becomes much more apparent that something is missing from their conclusion. Even without using further metaphysical interpretation or deeper understanding, I believe simple common sense will help us reveal what is missing.

    If we look at the miraculous lives of Jesus and John the Baptist, we should ask ourselves, which possible backstory makes the most sense? What series of events could have realistically created these two spiritual masters? Is it the literal Bible story with a messenger angel, a God on high meddling with the affairs of humans, two miraculous births and two men magically given ancient wisdom? Possibly something like the historians’ perspective in which the men, born to average parents, lived unnoteworthy lives for 30 years, and were eventually found and influenced by the Essenes? Or something closer to Cayce’s version in which their understanding was taught to them by spiritually evolved parents, supported by a community of the same mindset, who believed in them and taught them nothing but the highest form of spiritual Truth and Understanding, not to be shared with the world until the boys were ready?
    In the beginning of this article, Cayce’s idea of the Essenes and the New Testament story seemed the most fantastical, but when we look beyond the physical evidence, I believe it is the most practical. There is no mystical angel bringing news from Heaven, no virgin birth, no special son of God and no healing power given to one man over any other. There are also no gaping holes in physical evidence that leave us trying to explain where Jesus and John’s understanding came from and why they lived the lives they did. We simply find a group of parents, in a spiritually evolved community, with a plan to raise children with the deepest understanding of spiritual Truth. They created an environment that allowed the children to grow and develop spiritually, without the negative influence of the world, resulting in a child that embraced healing, working miracles and teaching as a natural part of life.   - Rev. Shad Groverland

Sources: [1] (Who Was Edgar Cayce? Twentieth Century Psychic and Medical Clairvoyant)

[2] (Cayce, Cayce on the Essenes)

[3] (Cayce, Cayce on Mary, the Mother of Jesus & Essene Preparation)

[4] (Cayce, Cayce on Mary, the Mother of Jesus & Essene Preparation)

[5] (Cayce, Cayce on Mary, the Mother of Jesus & Essene Preparation)

[6] (Mellowes)

[7] (Mellowes)

[8] (Mellowes)

[9] (Mellowes)

[10] (Keller 426)

[11] (Keller 422)

[12] (Davis 394)

[13] (Harris 218)

[14] (Ankerberg)

[15] (Keller 422)

[16] (Fillmore 126)

Works Cited:

Ankerberg, John. "Who Were The Essenes and Were Jesus and John the Baptist Essenes." youtube.com. 3 November 2009. Web. 25 April 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwWmNT2a7H0>.

Cayce, Edgar. "Cayce on Mary, the Mother of Jesus & Essene Preparation." May 1941. edgarcayce.org. Web. 25 April 2014.

—. "Cayce on the Essenes." May 1941. edgarcayce.org. Web. 25 April 2014.

Davis, Kenneth C. Don't Know Much About the Bible. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.b

Fillmore, Charles. The Revealing Word. Unity Village: Unity School of Christianity, 1959.

Frontline - From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians. By Marilyn Mellowes. Dir. William Cran. PBS. 1998. Television.

Harris, Stephen L. The New Testament: A Student's Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Keller, Werner. The Bible As History. New York: Bantam Books, 1982.

"Who Was Edgar Cayce? Twentieth Century Psychic and Medical Clairvoyant." n.d. edgarcayce.org. Web. 25 April 2014.