Atlantic University: A degree of nonsense
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By Todd Fritz
Article ID: 1241
ABSTRACT
This article looks at the claims and programs of study provided by Atlantic University, and it considers some of the implications from that study. A brief history of the college’s founder, Edgar Cayce, is given. It also considers the validity and meaning of the word “university”.
BIO
Todd Fritz
thefritzs@cox.net
www.thinkingiscritical.com
Todd Fritz is a member of Science and Reason in Hampton Roads. He has a master’s degree in counselor education and has been a school counselor for fifteen years. Along with his partner, Andrew Payne, he also does programs on critical thinking for school groups and corporations.
ARTICLE
There is an institution granting master’s degrees in something that has yet been proven to exist.
Who decides what makes a university? How does a student know if his courses are teaching him facts, theory or nonsense?
I assume that if a college exists, it must follow some set of standards. I make my living as a school counselor and have been looking at colleges for years. The old saying that “there is a school for everyone” seems to be true. I might amend that to say “there is a school for everything, whether it is real or not”.
At Atlantic University, I found entirely new educational concepts. According to the “frequently asked questions” page, Atlantic University defines its status like this:
“We don’t have a large campus with dormitories, huge lecture halls, and a football team. Nor do we have a collection of many schools and degree programs, such as what’s found at a traditional university. However, the word ‘university’ is still an apt description of our institution because of the very root meaning of this 700-year-old word. The origins of ‘university’ come from ‘the whole, the aggregate’ just like the word ‘universe’. And although our student body and faculty are small – only about 250 and 16 respectively – we emphasize the whole person and the way in which truly meaningful and practical knowledge comes only from a holistic perspective.”
[Editor's note: All quotes were taken directly from the Atlantic University website and were accurate as of February 2008.]
How’s that for verbal gymnastics? Because the root of the word may have originally meant “the whole”, Atlantic University is a real university. By that logic, anything can be considered a “real university” because anything that exists can be considered whole.
Let’s take a closer look at Atlantic University. It would be impossible to discuss Atlantic University without a brief introduction to its founder, Edgar Cayce. Cayce was said to be able to heal people all over the world by going into a sort of “sleeping trance”. Among the things Cayce claimed were the ability to read auras, read a book by placing it under his pillow when he slept (a sort of educational osmosis), the ability to talk to angels, cure cancer and a host of other paranormal things like clairvoyance. He also made many predictions that did not come true. A few of my favorites are the following:
- A part of Atlantis will rise out of the ocean. Maybe he meant the hotel.
- In 1958, The US would discover a death ray that caused the destruction of Atlantis.
- He predicted that California would slide into the ocean.
- My favorite false Cayce prediction is that China would convert to Christianity by 1968!
One has to question the educational value of a school whose founder can be this wrong on so many things.
Cayce is best known for his alleged abilities to diagnose and cure patients psychically, and to discover details about a person’s past lives. Yes, he claimed the ability to heal people of all sorts of afflictions without ever seeing them in person. Sort of like a long distance faith healer.
Let’s look at the college and course offerings for a moment.
Located in Virginia Beach, VA, Atlantic University is an accredited graduate school. They focus on Transpersonal Studies. And what exactly is “transpersonal studies”? Here’s what I found on the university website:
“Transpersonal studies is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding human nature and the world around us. It attempts to synthesize many complementary disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, religious studies, art, anthropology, history, and healing.
The word transpersonal comes from Western psychology, with Carl Jung and Abraham Maslow among the first to propose its use. Both these pioneers were interested in a synthesis of common themes from religious traditions (both East and West), the “perennial philosophy,” with its wisdom teachings that are centuries old, and the insights of modern depth psychology.
Transpersonal studies seeks to blend critical and contemplative thinking. The transpersonal researcher maintains a fundamental appreciation for the value of human experience itself as meaningful research data. Ultimately, transpersonal studies is the investigation of ourselves and our world from the orientation of several assumptions. Among the key tenets of the transpersonal perspective are:
1. There exists a fundamental oneness to all of life and the universe itself. Interconnectedness is a key to understanding the nature of reality.
2. Our essential nature is spiritual.
3. Consciousness is multidimensional. The ordinary consciousness that we experience most of the time is simply the outward tip of consciousness.
4. Contacting a deeper source of wisdom and guidance within is both possible and helpful to growth.
5. Our lives and actions are meaningful. Discovering this meaning is therapeutic and accords with the observation that a person can cope with anything if it is meaningful.
6. Learning is a matter of connecting to preexistent, internal resources. Whereas traditional education has viewed the student mind as a “blank slate,” the transpersonal approach calls upon the educator to help the student find the wisdom that already resides within.”
Read that a few times. It might take a while to sink in. Bullet points 1-4 don’t really say anything at all. What does any of that mean? Point four says, “Contacting a deeper source of wisdom and guidance within is both possible and helpful to growth.” “A deeper source of wisdom” than what? “Helpful” for what type of growth?
As for number 5 – our lives and actions are meaningful – it’s a simple observation. It’s a statement of fact with no evidence and void of any real meaning. I’m sure serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson view their lives as being just as meaningful as any Nobel laureate. Does thinking that your life has meaning really make it better in any quantifiable way?
Here’s what I think Atlantic University is trying to say. They are trying to make the world a better place. The way they say to do that is to look inward. It is there, they believe. All the answers are hiding.
According to them, you are studying states of consciousness that are outside the bounds of normal perception, yet they are within you, and you can use these tools to improve your life. By this logic, none of us need to learn anything. All you will ever need to know is inside you just waiting to be “unlocked”. I can’t help but wonder why one has to go to school for this. If this ability actually exists and has been around since Cayce first opened the school, why hasn’t word gotten out? Why would anyone ever need teachers? I’m sure that the university has an answer, but I could not find one. And they did not return either of my two calls.
Does this sound more like education about a new and exciting potential field of psychology? Or more like new age therapy?
Let’s look at a few of Atlantic University’s courses. Here is a sample of classes available:
TS502 Principles of Parapsychology
TS505 The Transpersonal View of Edgar Cayce
TS505rr The Transpersonal Perspective of Edgar Cayce
TS503 Origin and Destiny of Human Consciousness
Principles of Parapsychology?! And why do we need to know so much about Edgar Cayce? If this university can teach others to have the skills that Cayce claimed, shouldn’t there be more than one person to study? The fact that they only study Cayce is, to me, an admission that the university’s studies have not worked for any student!
Most master’s degree programs involve some sort of thesis. The following explanation of the thesis due for Atlantic University should give you an idea of the required student effort. Another of my favorite examples from the website is their explanation of the “thesis”:
“There will be an oral presentation in conjunction with the course TS600 – Culminating Project. This presentation is usually made at a convocation of students, faculty, and guests, held in Virginia Beach approximately every six months and typically involves between five and eight students making presentations during the daylong event. The oral presentation is required of all students. It is not an adversarial thesis-defense, but instead an opportunity to share with members of the academic community the results of one’s culminating project. The presentation is generally about twenty minutes, followed by about twenty-five minutes of dialogue and conversation with the faculty. The mood and atmosphere of the convocation is one of celebrating the students’ work and impending graduation.”
They do not ask their students to defend anything, show any data or submit to any sort of review process. There is not even a literature review. This strikes me as being about as rigorous a process as telling your classmates what you did on summer vacation and how you grew from it. I am sure that people really enjoy this feel-good activity. It seems like a nice exercise and pleasant conversation. But how can this be taken seriously in any academic circle? Simply put, it cannot and should not be taken seriously. Along with private ridicule, it must be challenged publicly. It is time to put some pressure on the school and the agency that granted accreditation to Atlantic University.
Where is the evidence that the claims of Atlantic University and Edgar Cayce can actually occur? It has been proven time and time again that ESP and remote viewing are not real. Unlike the sciences they wish to emulate, they do not predict future events with any accuracy greater than chance, and have not stood up to any rigorous scientific testing.
In a nutshell, what is Atlantic University? Atlantic University is a master’s degree-granting school. These degrees are in topics that have never been proven to exist. The university believes its founder, Edgar Cayce, could communicate mystically with the universe by placing himself in a “sleeping trance”, and diagnose and cure people of any disease without leaving his couch. The course selections are all about Edgar Cayce and expressing one’s personal beliefs.
I have to question some of Cayce’s own readings about himself and wonder how his followers could believe what they hear.
The following paragraph is taken from a biography on the Edgar Cayce institute’s website:
“In the spring of 1944, Edgar began to grow weak. His own readings advised him to rest, but he felt a tremendous obligation to those who were asking for his help. Finally, he collapsed from sheer exhaustion, and just as he gave his first reading for himself, he gave his last reading for himself in September of 1944. The reading told him he had to rest. When Gertrude asked “How long?” the response was “until he is well or dead.” Shortly afterwards, he had a stroke and became partially paralyzed. By the end of the year his friends feared the worst. Although Edgar told them he would be healed after the first of the year, they understood what he meant and he died on January 3, 1945. At the time, no one really understood how ill Gertrude was, yet within three months, on Easter Sunday, she died as well.”
If “healed” means “dead”, I’m quite positive that Cayce “healed” every person he came in contact with. After all, they are all dead. As for the answer to “how long he had”, the response given was “until he is well or dead”. Doesn’t that answer apply to everyone on the planet? Responses like this cannot be taken seriously and must be challenged.
If Atlantic University can receive an accreditation, something is wrong with the system. When a school like Atlantic University is accredited and can bestow master’s degrees, we all lose.
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