kisma Johnson's blog: "Ancient Technology"

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. My confession: I a m a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrati ng this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing yet? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

Why have the Chinese pyramids remained such a secret? The virtually unknown Chinese pyramids are historic monuments that now struggle against the ravages of time and the elements. The elaborate walls of one grand structure were accidentally discovered by U.S. pilot James Gaussman towards the end of the Second World War. His engine failed when returning from a mission to aid the Chinese army en route to his base in Assam, India. Flying over Xi’an at a low altitude, Gaussman was astonished at the site of an enormous pyramid in the distance. The pilot did not waste this precious opportunity, and flew over, taking the photographs that would later accompany a report presented to U.S governmental authorities. In 1947, another U.S. pilot, keen to the legend of Gaussman’s mysterious “Great White” Chinese pyramid, flew close enough to the structure to catch a glimpse for himself. He estimated the ancient wonder to stand nearly 1500 ft high—in comparison to Egypt’s great pyramid of Giza which stands a mere 480 ft. from base to vertex. Yet this miraculous pyramid remained a closely guarded secret, kept hidden from the prying eyes of international investigation by Chinese authorities. In spite of such restrictions, German investigator Hartwig Hausdorf attempted to film and photograph the massive ancient structure. While Hausdorf managed to avoid the Chinese military that carefully patrolled the airspace above the Xi’an desert, he was never able to find the grand pyramid Gaussman photographed. Still, Hausdorf’s 1994 book, “The White Pyramid,” detailing his findings of the other structures found in the area, and ushered in a great interest for these ancient treasures. Uncovering the Secret In 2000, China recognized that there were some 400 pyramids in the Shanxi region, to the north of Xi’an. Smaller than the legendary “Great White” pyramid, these ancient remains have been classified by some as burial mounds. While some of these structures do in fact serve as tombs, others suggest the earliest Chinese pyramids served a more mysterious purpose. Hausdorf even asserts that these structures have an extra-terrestrial origin. Just how old are they? While many can be dated to various dynasties, others are believed to be older. Analyzing an aerial photograph of one set of pyramids east of Xi’an, ancient civilization researcher and author Graham Hancock determined that their layout coincided with the constellation of Gemini. However, computer analysis found that it is what Gemini would have looked like on the spring equinox in 10,500 BC. The majority of the later pyramids belonging to the Eastern Xia Dynasty (1032-1227) are in a state of extreme disrepair—many display deep cracks, and are in danger of crumbling completely. “The whole set of burial sites of nobles run the risk of disappearing”, confessed the subdirector of the administration office of the tombs, Dai Wenzhen in an article by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. According to Dai, the majority of the Xia dynasty tombs, located in the Ningxia region, would pose similar problems, and some could even be catalogued as “ruins.” According to Xinhua, $1.25 million was put up for restoration of the tombs, but it was only enough to keep further erosion at bay. While the 207 tombs and nine mausoleums in Ningxia have barely endured the ravages of time, the virtually unknown pyramids in Shanxi are more stable and impressive. By some estimates, the majority of these 400 structures in Shanxi were constructed during the dynasty of tyrannical emperor Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), to shelter the remains of his imperial court; he intended them to be near his tomb at their final slumber. The Mystery of the Qin Shihuang Pyramid Emperor Qin Shihuang is known for his obsessive search for the secret to immortality. His fever for attaining glory lead him to create one of the most intriguing and covetous marvels on the planet: the imposing “Terracotta Army”—a nearly mile long stretch of soldiers and horses representing his grand guard. The attention to detail is so exquisite that no two figures are the same; prompting some to believe that each figure was cast to represent an actual person from that time. The relics of this despotic monarch have captured the world’s attention since they were first uncovered in 1978. Yet, the treasures hidden within his mortuary pyramid remain conjecture. According to ancient Chinese documents—the same texts that helped archeologists reveal the terracotta soldiers—Emperor Qin tried to outfit his subterranean pyramid with an exact replica of the Chinese territory. The texts explain that the interior giant vault of the chamber is embroidered with copper and marked with jewel encrusted accents, simulating the stars of the firmament. It also boasts of an artificial replica of the rivers of China, flowing with mercury. Scientific expeditions, in fact, confirm that the earth covering the surface of the pyramid had considerable concentrations of this liquid metal. Currently the pyramid of the Qin emperor is nearly 250 ft. high, but it is estimated that when constructed 2,200 years ago it reached about 380 ft. The width of the base from east to west is about 1130 ft., and its south to north length is almost 1150 ft. Emperor Qin took great care in making access to his final dwelling difficult—covering the pyramid with soil and vegetation, and blocking all possible access to the main chamber—and no investigation has yet uncovered the infinite archeological treasures that could be hidden within this enormous edifice. While some smaller pyramids are now attached to museums open to the public, much of China’s pyramid areas are forbidden. There is still very little we know about these marvels—the mysterious legacy of an ancient culture.

Did Atlantis exist, or was it merely a fantasy conjured up by Plato, and kept alive through wishful thinking over the centuries? If it did exist, where can we find it’s remains? We can ask other questions. For instance, just what WAS Atlantis? How did it disappear? In this essay I will be examining just a few such theories, and seeing where realistic ideas end and fantasy begins. PILLARS OF HERCULES One popular assertion from Plato is that Atlantis was ‘beyond the Pillars of Hercules’. These are almost unanimously thought to be the outcrops either side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The mythology of the Straits of Glbraltar is neat and explanatory. Geographically speaking, they represent a narrow stretch of water separating the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. And mystically, they separate the known world from the unknown. To the north and south of the Straits are two large promontories - the Rock of Gibraltar in Europe and the Abyla on the African coast. These are the pillars separating the narrow strait. But according to legend the two promontories were much closer. Indeed, they were a closed gate. Until, that is, the mighty Hercules stood by the rocks and pushed them apart, thus allowing the waters to flood in. ATLANTIS AND COLONISATION The ancient Greeks were great colonisers, founding many Mediterranean cities which exist to this day. And bearing this adventurousness in mind, we can see the myth of Hercules separating the straits as a desire of the ancient Greeks to learn more, shedding light on what is dark; a noble pursuit that was later to find additional expression in their great philosophers, of which Plato was one of the greatest exponents. In this sense, Atlantis can, therefore, be seen in a place where our knowledge is ‘dark’, rather than physically beyond. And it is, perhaps, in the same magnificent spirit that Atlantis rose to popular consciousness in the 19th century, during a similar time of great expansion and colonisation. This was the time of the great European empire building, and the time when America first expressed its wish to be a superpower, going on to eclipse Europe. We can here see why some people would be eager to realise the existence of a great lost civilisation, divorced from all the other races on Earth. And to this we must also add the publication, in 1859, of Charles Darwins ‘Origin of Species’. With God in decline, a new theory of human origins was abroad - that we had evolved through natural selection, and western society was its higherst expression. Such an idea infused Victorian society in the 19th century. With the Industrial Revolution well advanced and the European empires coming very much into being, the Victorians saw themselves as the apex of the evolutionary story. And with such sentiments, it is not difficult to see the inspiration for the literal profusion of ideas concerning Atlantis. The American and the western European was retracing the greatness that existed in the deep, dark past? IGNATIUS DONNELLY Due to this popular awareness, when Ignatius Donnelly published his ‘Atlantis: The Antediluvian World’ in 1882, it created immense interest. Donnelly, an American Congressman, created many of the controversies and views concerning Atlantis that survive to this day. Principle among these was his idea that at one time Atlantis existed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, until its destruction in a cataclysm. Positing an earthquake as the most likely reason for its destruction, to Donnelly, Atlantis had acted as a form of bridge between cultures either side of the Atlantic, the island itself being the primary source of those cultures. Donnelly found evidence for this idea wherever he looked. For instance, throughout the Atlantic there are small islands which are, infact, the tips of undersea mountains. To Donnelly these are all that is left of the mountains that used to be above sea level, forming part of the Atlantis homeland. Similarly, evidence of his idea of Atlantis as the primary source of culture could be seen throughout the ancient world, in the similarities of cultures, architecture, writing skills and other achievements from the Incas to the ancient Egyptians. He also posited the idea that the sudden appearance of these cultures could only be explained by the sudden disappearance of their mother culture. PSEUDO-SCHOLARS Ignatius Donnelly was one of the first modern pseudo-scholars. Mocked and derided by most serious researchers, they are often believeable and always popular. In Donnelly’s case, his persuasive writing went on to prompt British Prime Minister Gladstone to attempt to get Parliament to fund a ship to trace the sunken coastline of Atlantis. Today, we know that much of Donnelly’s evidence was untrue. But this should not be used as an excuse to ignore pseudoscholarship in its entirely. For instance, the list of great pseudo-scholars of the past include Charles Darwin (a lifelong amateur), Gregor Mendel (the discoverer of genetics and a monk), and the great Sir Isaac Newton himself; his real search was not so much scientific, but to find the ‘great spirit of the universe’. Of course, not all pseudoscholars are as successful as this trio. Indeed, many of them do write absolute hogwash. You may even decide that I fit this last category. But at worst, such writers at least fuel the experts to define more completely, and at best, they can begin entirely new sciences. LEWIS SPENCE Donnelly began an Atlantian tradition of speculation, deep theory and occasional lunacy, which continues to this day. One principal writer in this vein was Scottish newspaper editor and editor of ‘The Atlantis Quarterly’, Lewis Spence. After writing studies of the mythologies of Egypt, Babylon and the early Americas, in the 1920s he turned his attention to Atlantis, which he decided had covered most of the Atlantic Ocean in the Miocene period, ending ten million years ago. At this point it disintegrated into smaller islands and, from 25,000 to 10,000 years ago, disappeared completely. Studying the Atlantic coast of Europe, Spence decided that the early humans such as Cro-Magnon Man had actually migrated from the western side of Atlantis, near the Americas. Only in this way can we see Cro-Magnon Man as the real invader he was, going on to wipe out Europe’s indigenous Neanderthal Man. Taking his evidence from a wide variety of sources, including archeology, anthropology, geology and mythology, much of this is totally discredited, but this did not stop the speculation, sometimes coming from scientists themselves. THE AZORES, STUPID One such scientist was Austrian physicist Otto Muck. Opting for the Azores as the location of the destroyed Atlantis, he argued that in 8500BC the sunken continent was lost when a large asteroid struck the Charleston coast of North America. Some most unusual evidence of something strange about the Azores did, infact, surface in 1898, when a telegraph company used grappling equipment to mend a broken Transatlantic cable 500 miles north of the Azores. French geologist Pierce Termier was sent samples from rocks brought up from the sea bed. Identifying them as basaltic lava, they did however show evidence of volcanic activity ABOVE sea level in the recent geological past. No real evidence has been found to link an asteroid collision to the destruction of a large Atlantic island, but this has not stopped some amazing disaster scenarios to irritate scientists. DISASTER SCENARIOS Typical was Austrian engineer Hans Hoerbiger. Fascinated, by astronomy and mythology, he put mythologies of a malevolent Moon down to the fact that Earth had been struck by the Moon in the past. However, this was not our present Moon. This, Hoerbiger, was convinced, was just a ball of ice. But in the past, Earth had had a second Moon, a captured comet, which caused a great flood and other disasters when it exploded. Many Atlantis theorists have associated this much discredited disaster scenario with the destruction of Atlantis. And the same can be said for the ideas of psychoanalyst, Emmanuel Velikovsky. Fascinated by Sigmund Freud’s idea that Moses was also the Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaton (a pharaoh who briefly introduced into Egypt the idea of a single God), Velikovsky became intrigued by early mythologies. In particular, the disasters such as the Flood arrested his attention. In 1680 a comet had approached Earth, and the scientist W Whiston had put forward the idea that on a previous encounter this comet had caused the Biblical Flood. Velikovsky tended to agree with this idea, and went on to formulate a cosmology in which a comet had several times approached Earth, causing all Biblical disasters, and accounting for the destruction of Atlantis, before finally settling down to become the planet Venus. IN CONCLUSION Of course, none of these ideas can now be backed up by real science. For instance, the Moon is not made of ice, Venus is a definite planet. But in the world of Atlantian speculation, anything goes. But my central point here would be, and why not? For instance, academia must always be challenged, otherwise all we will ever have for knowledge is consensus, and consensus can cripple knowledge. Similarly, archaeology has made many advances in their techniques due to their need to disprove certain pseudoscholars. So if for no other reason than this, pseudoscholarship, and Atlantology in particular, has a valid role. But most importantly, Atlantis makes us expand our minds - gives us the idea that knowledge is not complete. It keeps alive the thirst to inquire - an inquiry that led to the ideas and ideals of the modern world in the first place. Whether theory or fantasy, Atlantis remains one of the central symbols of the thinking mind. BY Anthony North, February 2008

One of the most enigmatic places on Earth is Easter Island. Situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 1,400 miles from its nearest neighbour, it produced a now extinct civilisation which should not have been able to socially evolve, who built mysterious stone statues that stared out to sea. Why their hundreds of statues were built, no one knows. But so fascinating are they that most people fail to realise that this is not the greatest mystery of the island. ANCIENT SCRIPTS Rather, the Easter Islanders seemed to have the most peculiar writing. Known as Rongo Rongo, it has been found on numerous wooden carvings; and despite decades of research by our cleverest cryptologists, no one has yet decyphered what the writing means. Many thousands of miles away, on the banks of the lower Indus River in Pakistan, stand the ruins of the city of Mohenjo Daro. Built during the enigmatic Harappan civilisation, the entire culture seems to have died out in the early 2nd millennium BC. Hence, little is known of the people, or how they lived. One thing the people of the city did leave behind was an enigmatic script that, to this day, no one has been able to decypher. Many of the characters are of strange dancing men holding various objects in different positions in their hands. Looking at the script, you get the sense of the genesis of Hindu gods; their vibrancy as they dance, holding various objects in their many hands. But there is someting even more interesting about this script. SCRIPTS FROM THE GODS If you compare many of the characters to Rongo Rongo, they are very similar. Indeed, this similarity is so obvious, yet so totally impossible, that few academics dare to admit the similarity. Pseudoscholars by the dozen would look at this similarity, note the thousands of miles that separate these totally isolated ancient communities, not to mention the time difference, and decide it is evidence of contact through a lost civilisation such as Atlantis. I do no such thing. Rather, I ask the question: do these ancient scripts - the only ones left to us from a very ancient time - offer the possibility of a joining of the human psyche at a species level, the two scripts being evidence of an early psychic togetherness? GLOSSOLALIA One of the least researched mysteries of the human mind is Glossolalia. From the Greek ‘glossa’, meaning ‘tongue’, and ‘lalia’, meaning ‘a talk’, we know the phenomenon better as ’speaking in tongues.’ First mentioned when the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus’s disciples soon after his death, the ability to speak in tongues is associated with Pentecost. At the centre of the Pentecostal denomination, speaking in tongues is a sign of reaching ultimate Oneness with God. Once a person has spoken in tongues, it is a recurrent phenomenon, involved in direct communication with God. Up to Medieval times, it was thought of as directly associated with the Holy Spirit. But when heretical groups such as the Waldensians began to practice it, the Church authorities decided it was a phenomenon only associated with the initial descent of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Hence, from then on until the Pentecostals, it was seen as a sign of demonic possession. FRAGMENTS OF A LOST TONGUE Glossolalia is distinct from a similar phenomenon, Xenoglossy, which is the speaking of a language the person didn’t know he possessed. Whether spoken harshly, as in supposed demonic possession, or softly, as directed by the Holy Spirit, Glossolalia in interesting in that many of the sounds are similar, regardless what language or culture the person comes from. The utterances cannot be identified as a known language, and linguistic analysis of taped ’speakers’ seem to suggest that the tongue consists of various language-types. In this sense, Glossalalia seems to be evidence of a shared pre-language. We can see, in Glossolalia and speaking in tongues, the real possibility of a species connection, in the deep past, between script and language. However, so few examples of either exist today for us to ever prove such a psychic link between our methods of communication. A COLLECTIVE PSYCHE? More interesting for study is body language, where it has been shown that humans throughout the planet do have a shared language. New language forms in texting or on the internet are equally interesting concerning the ease with which they by-pass specific languages, as if we can identify and perfect an international communication form. Such fragments of understanding can only lead us in a direction rather than offer theoretical possibilities of global roots to communication. But they do strongly hint that, rather than our psyche being based upon our individuality - for example, our minds being specific to the person - we are actually more connected than we think at the deeper level of the mind, as if we are the product of ‘outside’ influences, rather than personal mentation. If outside influences were ever to be proved to affect the personal human mind, then the first place to look would be to see if there were known influences upon us which seem to supercede personal thought. If such an influence could be found, and can be shown to belong to the species of man rather than man the individual, then outside influences would have to be taken more seriously. INSTINCT There is, infact, a known influence that is not only seen at the species level, but throughout life on Earth. This influence is instinct, a most definite evolutionary survival mechanism that seems to be at the base of life interaction in nature. Our inexplicable feelings of fear, our ability to remove our hand from a hot surface without thought, are evidence of its existence, and its role in keeping us safe. And instinct has been a major problem for philosophers and psychologists throughout the history of mind theory. It was the Medieval theologian St Thomas Aquinas who first suggested that instinct was regulated by nature. However, as human reason began to exert its influence upon religious belief, instinct began to prove impossible to rationalise. Indeed, arch-materialist philosopher John Locke had no recourse but to God to explain instinctual behaviour. God had not quite gone out of fashion in the late 17th century when Locke used God as a repository for annoying bits that wouldn’t fit the materialist model. But 18th century moral philosopher Francis Hutcheson could not use God to hide such intellectual failings. Hence, to him, instinct was evidence of action prior to thought and consequence. However, this was stating the obvious, without offering explanation. Erasmus Darwin attempted a more rational explanation of instinct by advising that animals developed habitual behaviour because of the stability of their environment. This is getting closer - instinct and habit do tend to occur without thought - we rarely make a conscious decision to pick our nose. But 19th century psychologist William James didn’t help much with his idea that human nature is a combination of blind instinct and rational thought. That great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud decided that understanding instinct was pointless. Better just to accept it exists. Indeed, man could be fundamentally driven by two instinctual drives - his sexual and his ego instinct. However, animal behaviourist Konrad Lorenz seemed to find a new depository for instinct by sealing the argument in fixed patterns of behaviour due to our genetic inheritance. FORGET INDIVIDUALITY Of course, none of the above ideas encapsulate a genuine understanding of instinct. And perhaps the reason for this is that all the above named looked for an understanding within an individualistic umbrella. With the exception of Aquinas, any study of instinct had to first accept that man was an individual, unable to be driven by outside forces. And herein lies the problem. Instinct is so obviously an outside force than an assumption of no outside forces clearly invalidates any possibility of explanation. DEMYTHOLOGISING MYTH There is evidence of outside, species forces at work in mythology. All early cultures had myths, and they can best be seen as stories that validate a particular culture, offering identity in creation and custom, and meaning in terms of a moral code. The first known analyser of myth was the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who coined the term, ‘myth’, itself. He considered them fictional accounts of the past based on true events, but massively distorted. He hoped that as man became more responsible, myths would disappear. Early 20th century anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski went deeper. To him a myth in a primitive society was not just a tale, but a reality lived from the past to the present time. A myth was living with the believers every day, providing a link with the past, and guidance for the future. In this way, a myth is a guide, leading to custom. However, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss saw myths differently. Rather than attempts to explain social arrangements, they were the use of linguistics to provide signs in society to legitimise institutions. Myths exist to account for conceptual categories of the mind. To a certain extent, this is mumbo-jumbo - an attempt by high intellectuals to place complications on simple concepts. Roland Barthes went on to further denigrate myth by reducing them to systems of communication with no more validity than the storytelling capability of cinema or television. THE POWER OF MYTHOLOGY What such myth analysis fails to comprehend is the power of myth. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud realised this power by identifying in myth the expression of universal, but unconscious, drives. Like instinct, this begins to place myth on a species level. And myth analyst, Joseph Campbell, took this universal understanding to new depths. To him, myth has four functions: to bridge local consciousness to universal realms; to provide images which interpret the local in terms of a universal consciousness; to empower moral order in an environmental awareness; and to provide individual integrity with oneself, one’s environment, and the universe. Regardless of where the myth comes from, these four factors prevail, with creation accounts placing man in his environment and allying all to a universal concept; and in creating custom and taboo through allegory, leading to social order such as marriage, family structure, and morality. PATH OF THE HERO At the centre of all myth, Campbell identified a character called the Hero. This is a single hero who follows a single path. He may have a semi-divine birth. He will have a childhood of confusion, leading to a need to understand himself. This will send him on a series of quests, sometimes involving conflict, with others involving enlightenment. The quest will be transforming, and in transforming himself, he transforms society. All myth has this central character, ranging from Beowulf to Baal, Osiris to Hercules, Gilgamesh to King Arthur. And a similar life-path can be found in major religious figures, from Moses to Buddha, from Mohammad to Jesus. But perhaps the most important element of this myth-making is that the same process lies at the heart of the successful person. He, too, has to rationalise what he is in early life, sending him on a career path that will lead to transformation in his circumstances; and it is an inevitability that in being successful, he will in some way transform his little bit of society. This outs a myth for what it really is. It is the allegorical retelling of the story of human endeavour and aspiration. It is a joining together of humanity with the deep past and the universal similarity of us all. And no one understood this better than psychoanalyst, Carl Jung. ENTER THE ARCHETYPE Jung identified in his patients the existence of psychic images and symbols; images he classified as archetypes. Such archetypes, he realised, manifested in myth, dreams and folklore, and he saw them as universal - mental images passed on through inheritance from our primeval past. Such theorising became the rockbed of his theory of a collective racial unconscious to which we can all connect. Principal among Jung’s archetypes were the Sage, the Hero, the Earth Mother, the Child, the Judge, and the Trickster, all seen as outer, species, influences upon the psyche. They are not formulated personas, but urges that lead the individual through life by connecting with the conscious. The beauty of the archetype is that it exhibits characteristics of the human psyche, while being adaptable to the individual’s cultural beliefs. We have already seen this in the identification, in myth, of the Hero. But it goes much deeper. The Earth Mother can be identified in dieties such as the Greek Demeter and Gaia and can also be seen taking form in the Christian Virgin Mary. The Sage is usually seen at the top of the deity hierarchy, embodied in the Greek Zeus or Roman Jupiter. As for the Trickster, the most vivid image in Western culture is that of the Devil himself. And we can see that, as in the Hero, what Jung’s archetypes express are the various elements of our own minds and urges. IN CONCLUSION We like to think of ourselves as individuals, responsible for our own lives. And whilst this is perfectly correct on a simple level, if we go deeper into our mind and culture, a communality breaks out to show that we are not the individuals we like to claim. Rather, ‘outside’ forces constantly pound and shape us. From enigmatic scripts and primeval tongues, through instinct, to the universality of the mind as expressed in myth, we are One. There is a language of the gods; and it speaks directly to our inner mind. By Anthony North, February 2008

Myths from around the world tell us of a distinct event in pre-history. In the Bible, the event involves Noah, to whom God said he was to build an ark and take aboard it his family and breeding pairs of all animals. Seven days after completion, the rains came and water rose from the ground. For forty days and nights this continued until the world was submerged. Three months later Noah found land and planted the first vine. We are talking, of course, of the Biblical Flood. FLOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Flood is not confined to the Blble. In Babylonian legends we find the words: ‘aboard the ship take thou the seed of all living things’. In ancient Greek legend Deucalion and his wife built and stocked a huge wooden chest and survived a deluge. After the flood he threw over his shoulder some stones and they became people. Deucalion, like Noah, is associated with the vine. Dionysus is the god of wine and vegetation, and in another Greek myth he is depicted sailing in a boat with grapes hanging from the rigging. In ancient Egypt, one variation of the Osiris myth - another god eventually associated with agriculture - has him murdered and set afloat in a wooden chest. Does this connection with agriculture give a hint to what is going on? EVIDENCE OF THE DELUGE The above myths are suggestive of a huge flood in prehistory. However, many scholars have rejected a global flood in favour of a localised event. For instance, all the above cultures came from the same geographical area, or had early contact with this area. This is the ‘fertile crescent’ of the eastern Mediterranean - modern day Iraq - between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which were infamous for flooding. In 1928 archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley found evidence of such local flooding in soil samples at Ur. However, whilst the above can be traced to a possible common source, and as such, could be remembrances of a localised flood, the same cannot be said for the following. WORLDWIDE MYTHS Flood myths have been reported throughout the world. In Australia, the semi-human python Yurlunggur brought about a flood, the eventual result being today’s world. In south east Asia we have myths concerning divine ancestors, the Thens. In a rage they caused a flood which devastated the world. Three great men took a raft and built a house upon it and took women and children to the upper kingdom. Eventually the flood receded and they returned to a world with animals and vegetation. Many flood myths abound in ancient Chinese mythology. Typical ls that of the Yao people of southern China, who have the story of a man who castigates the Thunder God for creating a deluge. In India the first man, Manu, earns favours from a small fish which he had saved from being eaten by a bigger one. The fish grows to a huge size and warns Manu of a coming cosmic deluge. He instructs him to build a ship and fill it with the seeds of all things, and when the deluge comes, the fish tows Manu to safety. India also gives us Yamaha, the bear, who appears when the Earth is plunged into the ocean. He raises up the earth to save it. In Andean mythology Viracocha, the creator god, sends a great flood. The world that survives is a better place and his son Manco Capac and daughter Mama Ocllo go on to teach the arts of civilisation to the survivors. Similar myths exist throughout the Americas, right up to Canada, where the Chippewa Indians have a story of a mouse nibbling the leather bag that contains the sun. Released, the sun melts the snows and the meltwater goes on to flood the world. BOTH GLOBAL AND LOCAL Mythologies concerning a great flood exist throughout the world, suggesting that such an event really happened. Again, some scholars discount this by claiming that they are all remembrances of various localised events. However, perhaps they are both right and wrong. For instance, one theme that constantly crops up in flood myths is the idea that following the flood came vegetation or civilisation. The way that this constant theme appears with flooding suggests some global event of a shared nature to be behind the various myths. Intriguingly, a known event was taking place between 12000 and 8000BC that can answer such myths, and many of the other enigmas concerning a possible lost civilisation. During this period, the last ice age came to an end. Rather than being a spectacularly cataclysmic event, the retreat of the glaciers would have been a process taking many centuries, if not millenia. The result of the melting ice sheets would be that global sea levels would eventually rise possibly one hundred metres. Whilst this event would be slow - hardly noticed in some areas - it would have occasional localised repercussions of devastating proportions. As water tables rose globally, valleys would be flooded, waters seeming to come up from the ground. At times, rivers would suffer massive and devastating floods. Low lying islands would suddenly disappear below the sea, possibly leaving small outcrops such as at Easter Island. Perhaps the most spectacular repercussion presently aired by some theorists is the idea of the Black Sea at one time being dry land. As the Mediterranean rose, a huge deluge would have submerged the area with waters bursting through the Bosphorus. OF CATACLYSM AND RENEWAL A slow ending of the last ice age would not cause a global cataclysm capable of wiping out the existing hunter/gatherers, but it would involve regional disasters capable of creating the myths. And significantly, it was following the last ice age that peoples throughout the world began to leave behind their hunter/gatherer ways and turn to agriculture, and, eventually, civilisation. So maybe the flood stories that come to us from antiquity are not ‘myths’ at all, but remembrances of real events. In other words, coloured with the language of mythology as they are, we could be talking of the first known histories. By Anthony North, January 2008

ANCIENT TUNNELS UNDER THE SEA? "Oh, that's just too much!" sniggered my neighbour's brother, when he told him about some of our expeditions. "I have to meet this nut." So Brian brought him over. "Are you telling me," said Brian's brother, "that the ancient ones could really excavate such tunnels?" "I have been into two of this tunnel systems myself." He looked at me. "Really?" "You'd better believe it," I responded. "My wife is a witness. She went in with me." "But under the sea, as well?" "But what's the difference?" I asked. "If you are away, deep underground, why not?" Brian's brother looked thoughtful. "Do you have anything I can read while I'm here on holiday?" "Sure, come over to the office." I'm glad to say that Brian's brother was an honest man. At least, he had an open mind. And that's when the truth can sink in. Yes, there are, if we are to credit a number of reports, such tunnels. Not only that - but maps also, that track some of these long forgotten tunnels not only beneath the earth, but under the sea. You may discover one running from Spain to Morocco. Even some locals will admit that. But you will probably agree those which penetrate under the larger Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would be more intriguing. (See Dead Men’s Secrets, ch.19, items 22,37,47,50, 64,68,69 and p.205) Of all responses to my book Dead Men’s Secrets, the chapter on ancient tunnels has attracted the most interest. Naturally enough, the mention of large systems of tunnels has elicited skepticism from some dear people. You hear them ask, understandably enough, How could the ancient races have had such technology? Why haven’t we heard more about these tunnels? And if it's true, then why haven't we, with all our advanced technology, been able to accomplish something similar? And so on. In fact, a few dear folk have even accused me of making it up. Okay, I'll come clean. For quite some time I found myself agreeing with the tunnel skeptic that such ambitious construction projects were beyond our capabilities. LAZER CUT TUNNELS? From their appearance, it seemed that some of these tunnels could not have been drilled except by some kind of thermal drill or electron rays, which melted the rock but left no debris. Beyond our present capabilities? I now have to turn this into a question… because it seems very likely that we are catching up fast – and we may have even caught up – to this particular accomplishment of our ancestors. Here is the truth: the technology for constructing tunnels hundreds, even thousands, of feet below the ocean floor does now exist. The experience, the expertise, the machinery and the trained personnel are available. And - for secret government projects - even the money is no drawback. You should bear in mind that the petroleum industry routinely bores into the deep rock beneath the floor of the ocean. ENORMOUS SPEED OF TUNNEL CREATION There is evidence available that existing tunnel boring machines are capable of advancing even through fractured rock at an average rate of five miles per year. Given better conditions, it is well within the state of the art to make advances through rock of ten or more miles per year. With only one machine and crew, a tunnel system 100 miles long could definitely be constructed within a period of 10 to 20 years. Employing five machines, 500 or more miles could certainly be excavated within the same time period. This capability is real. For example, in the early 1980s a tunnel boring machine was used by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company to bore a 24 foot 1 inch diameter, 22,000 foot long tunnel. This was for construction of the Kerckhoff 2 Underground Hydroelectric Power plant, about 30 miles north-east of Fresno, California. Typical rates of progress were from 60 to 100 feet per day. If one assumes 365 days of work per year, this would achieve about 5½ miles of tunnel per year. (Edward R. Kennedy, P.E., “The Kerckhoff 2 Underground Hydroelectric Power Plant Project, A State-of-the-Art Application of a Tunnel Boring Machine”, US National Committee on Tunneling Technology, Tunneling Technology Newsletter, number 38, June 1982) At a meeting with government leaders of South Korea, the then Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori proposed a 108 mile tunnel under the sea to link the two countries. "THE PROBLEM IS MONEY" Mr Mori stated: “The construction is technically possible, but the problem is money.” (India Times) Richard Sauder, writing in Nexus, says, “The money to carry out a secret project of this sort certainly exists in the Pentagon’s ‘black budget’. The requisite infrastructure of secrecy to carry out such a project has been in place in the military-industrial complex for decades now. And there is even a paper trail that shows US Navy interest in building manned bases deep below the ocean floor.” (Nexus, “The Evidence for Secret Underwater Bases”, August-September 2001, p.28) All over the world there are mine tunnels that extend offshore under the sea. (Shan-tung Lu, “Undersea Coal Mining”, paper presented to the Department of Mining, College of Mineral Industries; George E. Sleight, Transactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers, vol. 112, pp.521-541; J.T. Robertson, Canadian Mining Journal, December 1964, pp.70-71) A United states Navy document from 1966 forthrightly discusses major military installations constructed beneath the sea bed. It states that “Large undersea installations with a shirt- sleeve environment have existed under the continental shelves for many decade." The technology now exists, using off-the-shelf petroleum, mining, submarine, and nuclear equipment, to establish permanent manned installations within the sea floor that do not have any air umbilical or other connection with the land or water surface, yet maintain a normal one-atmosphere environment within…. “…a Rock-Site installation consists of a room or series of rooms, excavated within the bedrock beneath the sea floor, using the in situ bedrock as the construction material.” ENORMOUS ROOMS UNDER THE SEA It should be noted that these “rooms” under the sea are probably enormous. An underground power plant in the Himalayan Mountains of Bhutan is hundreds of feet long and over 100 feet high! Lloyd A. Duscha, former Deputy Director of Engineering and Construction for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, DC, said in a public speech: “There are other projects of similar scope, which I cannot identify, but which included multiple chambers up to 50 feet wide and 100 feet high using the same excavation procedures…” If you didn’t know, tunnelling under oceans, seas, bays and estuaries has been done for a very, very long time, all over the world, stretching way back at least into the 19th century, if not before. 2,000 FEET UNDER THE SEA BED Undersea tunnels can stretch for miles and reach depths of 2,000 feet or more beneath the ocean floor. Of course, today’s technology is far more powerful and sophisticated than it was 50, 100 or 150 years ago. One can only speculate as to how long, how deep and how elaborate contemporary, clandestine, submarine tunnels might be. And perhaps there exists an even more sophisticated tunneling technology than what we are being told about. After 30 years researching high technology, Norio Haykawa reports: “In 1950, we had some amazing tunneling machines, using nuclear devices that could go 10 miles an hour melting the hard, tougher rocks and creating tunnels.” He refers to military tunnels allegedly linking facilities in Nevada with others in California. (“The Prophecy Club”, Secrets of Dreamland – video on top secret government research centers) Tunnels extending for long distances under land and sea? Let’s get real. It happened in the past and it is happening again!!!

"Just look what we've found!" shrieked Robert. Isn't this mind-blowing?" "On the seabed?" "Yes!... but they don't want to know it." "Why not?" "Because the implications are... shall I say... DANGEROUS!" HAVEN'T YOU HEARD??? Didn't you know? Hasn't anybody told you? It's about our planet's true age! Dangerous information." Oh, come on...what's threatening about that???? Well, if you really want to know... it mattered very much to two guys not far from here. Just last Tuesday they got into a real ding dong about this. Jack was insisting that a great disaster had occurred right across America... and, in fact, all over the world. And the scars it left behind do certainly look very old... except, said Jack, they're not. "You idiot!" protested Rusty. "All these things - beaches, coral, and what else, formed slowly over millions of years." "Can you prove that?" grinned Jack. "It's a cinch," beamed Rusty. "Magnetic reversals prove it. So many of them have occurred. And each one of them so slowly." WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? "Magnetic reversals?" sniffed Jack. What on earth are you talking about?" "Well," said Rusty, "if you didn't know, a magnetic reversal is a 'flip', in which the North pole is transformed into a South pole and the South pole becomes a North pole." "You say that's happened many times?" quizzed Jack."Okay, where's your evidence?" "The evidence is frozen into the rocks," responded Rusty, "especially those under the sea." Jack squinted at Rusty. "Oh yeah?" "Sure. And each reversal could take millions of years. So there!" "INFORMATION FROZEN" If you're finding this hard to track, then let me explain what Rusty was trying to say. Here's the theory. When lava cools down, it freezes into itself information about the direction and strength of the earth’s magnetic field at the time. The earth’s rocks have frozen into them the record of “MANY REVERSALS” of the earth’s field – in which the earth’s polarity has changed from north to south and back again. It is generally believed that such reversals could not take place in less than hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. As Rusty was describing this, Jack's niece Barbara, who is a science major, came onto the deck. Politeness is not her strong point, but her science is pretty good. She glared at Rusty. "Did you wash down in the last shower?" she taunted him. "Don't you know there are on earth countless local magnetic fields? Don't you know these LOCAL magnetic fields can strongly influence and affect measurements in any given locality?" There was silence. Sensing she had the floor, Barb pressed her knowledge. "That's not all, you old horse. It can happen fast." Barbara looked straight at Rusty. And she went on to explain that two scientists, Robert S. Coe and Michael Prevot, found a thin lava layer... and when they closely examined it... Guess what? It had 90 degrees of reversal recorded continuously in it. BUT... surprise... surprise... AMAZINGLY FAST REVERSAL Calculations showed that the layer had to cool down within a matter of 15 days or less. (It was probably more like only 3 to 7 days.) Their discovery was sensational. In fact, their paper is filled with statements like “astonishingly fast change in the earth’s magnetic field” and “truly strains the imagination”. (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, April, 1989) Since then Coe has found similar data which indicates an even faster change than the one first reported. It was in a different rock stratum. Coe commented that others in his field “don’t want to believe it.” (Ex Nihilo, vol.15, no.3, June-August, 1993, pp.21,22) But he and Prevot had checked their results in several different ways and covered all angles. So the response of other scientists in the same field was one of cautious acceptance. There was a cautious review in Nature which accepted their work, but rather reluctantly. SEABED "REVERSALS"? NO WAY! However, there is something else you should know. We are being told that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge shows evidence of long term reversals. But you want the truth, right? So here it comes. This "long term reversals" claim is clearly a mistake. The truth is that on the bottom of the ocean along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, areas of stronger and weaker magnetism were found – not reversals. As an instrument was dragged across the area, the signals showed a wave pattern of stronger – weaker – stronger – weaker, and so on. The conclusion was: “It is clear that the simple model of uniformly magnetized crustal blocks of alternating polarity does not represent reality.” (J.H. Hall and P.T. Robinson, “Deep Crustal Drilling in the North Atlantic Ocean”, Science, vol. 204, May 11, 1979, p. 578) Did you get that? The popular slow magnetic reversals theory is absolutely wrong. NO MAGNETIC REVERSALS Magnetic reversals in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge? Absolutely not! Nice neat lines of alternating polarity? No! May I say this again? There are no magnetic reversals on the ocean floor. There are only areas of weaker magnetism. That's all. SO HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? Are you ready for this? The solid evidence - whether we like it or not - brings us face to face with a mighty cataclysm in the past. Not only that, at least 600 ancient legends speak of it. In fact, did you know that the record of this cataclysm is the most widespread racial memory of mankind? Our ancestors happened to call this event the Great Flood. In fact, when you tie together all the varied strands of geological evidence, you can pretty well reconstruct what happened. So here is the chain of events: 1. As a passing outside force (postulated as an ice comet) approached earth, the increase in gravitational pull caused it to shatter in space. Most of its fragments were sucked in around the poles. Hitting a spinning object like the earth, this suddenly-dumped load threw the earth off axis, causing it to wobble. 2. The same force that tipped the earth over, generated high speed ultra-vibrations within the earth. With huge amounts of water and heat enceased under the crust, the pressure build-up became enormous. And the earth's crust exploded. 3. As cracks opened up, the land both sides slid away a little and the basalt rose in the middle. 4. The rising caused a series of parallel cracks. 5. Water entering the cracks cooled and solidified the basalt layer into a stronger magnetic field. You see, basalt, if it is hot, does not store a stronger magnetic signature, whereas if it is cooled off it stores a stronger magnetic signature. So now, when our scientists come to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, all they are measuring is where the cracks are – with alternating stronger and weaker magnetism. That's right. There’s no magnetic reversal. In fact, there is no place where a north-seeking compass will point north, then south, by the rocks down there. No place. Not anywhere. Why has the scientific elite gone wrong on this? Simply because they have not been taking into account such a global catastrophe as the Great Flood and what it would do to the earth’s lower crust. That's the simple truth. That's why this phenomenon remains a puzzle to them. You understand, these "magnetic" phenomena did NOT take ages to form. This single event was just a few thousand years ago.

The lost island of Atlantis continues to fascinate mankind. It harks back to a Golden Age when things were different. But of course, it couldn’t last. Not if it involved man. So man caused the gods to destroy his paradise. It is a typical story – in one way it echoes our lives, in that when we’ve got it good, we tend to upset things, as if we’re a self-destructive species. However, Atlantis is not the only supposed lost land from the past. LYONESSE Many western cultures have myths of lost lands, where once lived our great ancestors. Typical is Lyonesse, a fabled land once said to exist between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles, off the British coast. On this land stood the city of Lions and some 140 churches. Folk tales, and later poets such as Tennyson, kept the fable alive by associating it with King Arthur. Thought to be the place of his birth, his death has also been associated with the lost land. Logically, it seems the fable arose from its association with the Breton town St-Pol-de-Leon, know to the Roman’s as Leo’s Castle. ATLAND Another such fable concerns Atland. First coming to popular attention in 1848, when antiquarian Cornelius Over de Linden first produced his Pera Linda Book, Atland is said to be an ancient land off the Dutch Frisian coast. With a sub-tropical climate and well advanced, happy population, a catastrophe struck in 2l93BC, destroying the land. Survivors went on to travel the world, founding Egyptian, Greek and Indian civilisations. The Oera Linda Book was written on cotton paper and de Linden claimed it came from 1256, copied from an even older work. Published in 1876, many people consider it a fraud. LEMURIA Some lost lands are more modern, and said to be rationally theorised to have existed. For instance, there is a problem with a primitive group of primates called lemurs. They are found only on Madagascar, off the African coast. But they have close relatives in the bushbabies of Africa and the lorises of India. Prior to the understanding of continental drift, zoologists realised this was mysterious. How could such closely related species appear an ocean apart? The problem was first tackled in the 19th century by English zoologist Philip Sclater, who argued for a lost continent, which he called Lemuria. In the 1870s, the idea was taken up by the likes of Huxley and Wallace, leading scientists of their day. Ernst Haeckel even went so far as to suggest Lemuria could be the origin of humankind. Mystics soon got into the act regarding this new ‘Garden of Eden’. Among them was Madame Blavatsky. Contacting her psychic ethereal beings, they told her that there had existed on Lemuria the Third Root Race of humanity. At this stage of their evolution they were brutish apes, Lemuria finally being destroyed in a cataclysm before humanity advanced and moved on to Atlantis. However, even though continental drift may explain the distribution of the lemurs, some still believe in the existence of this lost continent. MU A further lost land is Mu, which, according to former Bengal Lancer, Col James Churchward, existed in the Pacific Ocean. Claiming to have found evidence in 1870 from clay tablets found in India, man first appeared here 200,000 years ago, advancing to a civilisation of ten tribes with some sixty million people. Also gaining knowledge from trance visits to previous lives, Churchward never produced any real evidence, but argued that the truth was found in legends throughout the world. Like Atlantis, Mu disappeared about 12,000 years ago following volcanic eruptions and tidal waves. MYTHS OF THE PAST As we can see, most of these lost lands are quite fanciful, but share a similar psychology to other forms of lost worlds. Typical is the monotheist Garden of Eden. Said to be a paradise long, long ago, its civilization was restricted to a single couple, who were thrown out, not through cataclysm, but copulation. But other such lands have more social structure. Take the Norse Asgard, the realm populated by the Northern gods. It is said to exist in the centre of the universe, reached by the rainbow bridge. It contains many regions and mansions, the most famous being Valhalla. This is the home of the souls of slain warriors, taken there by the Valkyries, where they drink and feast for eternity. We can see many similarities, in terms of metaphor, between such heavenly lands and lost civilisations. They both seem other worldly, and are surrounded by similar fantastic mythology. It seems that when a society is at peace with itself, the metaphor continues to exist, but when the society falls into less moral times, their fantasy land is destroyed, thus becoming a moral tale of regret. And perhaps we can understand what is going on by looking to the eastern Shambhala. SHAMBHALA Shambhala was immortalised in the western mind by the hit film, Lost Horizon, based in the fantastic and mystical lost world of Shangri-la. A mythical land in many eastern traditions, it is most famously associated with the mysticism of Tibet. Shambhala is itself sanskrit for ‘the Source of Happiness’, as interpreted by Tibetan monks. In mythology it is a land hidden by a huge ring of snow-capped mountains. The kingdom itself is said to be shaped as an eight-petalled lotus blossom. The capital of Shambhala is said to be Kalapa, itself surrounded by a second ring of mountains. The inhabitants of Shambhala are said to be extremely healthy, wealthy and wise, having lived for hundreds of years in beautiful, gold-topped pagodas. REFLECTION OF ATLANTIS Thought to be a repository for esoteric knowledge pre-dating all civilisations, residents are almost spiritual in nature, with many later traditions seeing them as spiritual masters. For instance, Madame Blavatsky, who wrote so much about Atlantis, thought it was the home of her spiritual masters, the Mahatmas, immediately merging the legend of Shambhala with Atlantis. Similarly, it cannot be found today because it vanished from the face of the Earth millennia ago when its residents gained enlightenment. THEORIES OF PARADISE The west first heard of Shambhala in 1627 after Catholic missionaries travelled to Tibet and heard stories about it. Some Buddhists associate it with the mythical land of Olmulungring, an invisible kingdom dating back to the 17th century BC, when its king travelled to Tibet to bring enlightenment. Some scholars think Shambhala is simply a remembrance of earlier civilisations of Central Asia which were known to exist, and had contact with Tibet. Many other scholars and traditions place Shambhala in a variety of locations. Taoist mythology calls it Tebu, a secluded land between Tibet and Szechwan. Blavatsky thought it existed somewhere in the Gobi Desert. Whilst historian Geoffrey Ashe suggested it might be in the remote Altar mountains between Russia and Mongolia. However, other traditions give a more esoteric location, explaining the mythology concerning its disappearance. A MYSTICAL CENTRE? Consider the ancient traditions of Shambhala being a repository where spiritual knowledge is guarded. In this respect, Shambhala become a source of teaching, filtering esoteric knowledge to the world. Could this hint that Shambhala isn’t a real place at all, but rather a state of consciousness achievable through trance? Such an idea is suggested by the idea that only adepts steeped in esoteric traditions can reach it. Indeed, one of Shambhala’s guarded secrets is the Kalacakra, or ‘Wheel of Time’, the source of the highest Tibetan Buddhist esoteric wisdom. Said to signify a system for gaining enlightenment, Buddha is said to have assumed the form of Kalacakra prior to death in order to pass on his wisdom to a group of adepts. The scholar of Tibetan mythology, Edwin Bernbaum, takes this line of thought, seeing Shambhala not as a physical thing, but symbolic of the depths of the mind. In this sense the mythical land is a mind model produced by a form of superconsciousness achieved only in trance. THE SYMBOL Throughout the world the ancients left a symbol of such a level of consciousness in the mandala, which is a symbolic series of rings or spirals representing the stripping away of levels of consciousness as enlightenment is revealed. The Kalacakra is itself a form of mandala consisting of two concentric circles lavishly decorated with Buddhist imagery. However, if you were to draw a plan of Shambhala, you would draw two rings, to represent the rings of mountains surrounding Shambhala and its capital city. Add the lavishness of Shambhala, and you have actually drawn the Kalacakra, hinting that Shambhala is an elaborate mandala. In a previous post I came to a similar conclusion concerning Atlantis. And although not so obviously clear in the other lands we have visited, such symbolism can still be imagined. It seems that, throughout the world, lost civilisations have been dreamed about. A DEEPER LONGING Why is this the case? What is it about man, his mind and his societies that prompt an apparent mystical need for other symbolic lands to reflect our deeper desires and consciousness? One obvious answer is that the societies we produce are not complete without our foibles, our insecurities and our conflicts. In this sense, ‘lost lands’ become an idealized view of a time when man was more at peace with fellow man. But I think we can go even deeper than this. The history of man has been his increasingly technological mind-state, freeing himself from the confines of nature. This has involved a move away from the deeper spiritual models of man’s earlier existence, as one, and in harmony with, nature. Hence, in moving away from the spiritual, and becoming more and more a material being, we seem to have slowly lost part of what it is to be human. We have lost that primeval bonding that confirmed our earlier existence. And this leaves a longing for that bonding, for that natural spirituality which still resides deep within us. And this can leave so many of us sad – and sets in place a mind-set that looks back to a more spiritual ‘Golden Age’ that we still wish could be with us. By Anthony North, December 2007

Italian archaeologists believe they have found the cave where, according to legend, a wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome. An underground cavity decorated with seashells, mosaics and pumice stones was discovered near the ruins of the palace of Emperor Augustus on the Palatine hill. Experts say they are "reasonably certain" it is the long-lost place of worship sacred to ancient Romans and known as Lupercale, from the Latin word for wolf. "This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome, one of the most well-known in the world, the legendary cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, saving them from death," said Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli, presenting the discovery. The cave was found several metres underground in a previously unexplored area during restoration work on the palace of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Archaeologists investigating Renaissance descriptions of the sanctuary used a camera probe and the images suggest the vault, which has a white eagle at the centre, is well-preserved. "You can imagine our amazement, we almost screamed," said Professor Giorgio Croci, the head of the archaeological team working on the restoration of the Palatine hill overlooking the Roman forum, told a news conference. According to the myth, Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the god Mars, were abandoned by the banks of the river Tiber where a wolf found them and fed them with her milk. The brothers are said to have founded Rome at the site on April 21, 753 BC and ended up fighting over who should be in charge. Romulus killed Remus and became the first king of Rome. Archaeologists said the location of the cave reinforced their belief that it was the Lupercale. "It is clear that Augustus... wanted his residence to be built in a place which was sacred for the city of Rome," said Croci. The emperor had restored the sanctuary and probably connected it to his own palace. Finding out more about the cave without damaging it or the foundations of the surrounding ruins will not be easy. More than two-thirds of the cavity, which is some 8 metres (26 feet) high, is filled with debris and earth after part of it collapsed, and it is not clear where the entrance is. "We have to investigate with extreme caution... This is a precious thing which is certainly more than 2,000 years old," said Croci. Andrea Carandini, an archaeologist specialising in ancient Rome, said he was stunned by the find and called it "one of the most significant discoveries ever made". Long accused of neglecting its ancient treasures, the Italian government is spending 12 million euros ($A19.9 million) to restore the Palatine ruins.

An ancient flood some say could be the origin of the story of Noah's Ark may have helped the spread of agriculture in Europe 8,300 years ago by scattering the continent's earliest farmers, researchers said on Sunday. Using radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence, a British team showed the collapse of the North American ice sheet, which raised global sea levels by as much as 1.4 meters, displaced tens of thousands of people in southeastern Europe who carried farming skills to their new homes. The researchers said in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews their study provides direct evidence linking the flood that breached a ridge keeping the Mediterranean apart from the Black Sea to the rise of farming in Europe. "The flooding of the Black Sea was not well dated but we got it down to about 50 years," said Chris Turney, a geologist at the University of Exeter, who led the study. "As soon as the flooding is done, farming goes crazy across Europe." The researchers created reconstructions of the Mediterranean and Black Sea shoreline before and after the rise in sea levels. They estimated the flood covered some 73,000 square kilometers over a 34-year period, causing mass displacement of people. Previous archaeological evidence has shown communities in the region were already farming when the flood hit. The Exeter team suggests the mass migration caused a sudden expansion of farming and pottery production across the continent. "We looked at all the earliest data on farming in Europe and we found a little bit of farming in Greece and the Balkans just before the flood," Turney said in a telephone interview. "When the flood happened, farming seemed to stop but it was re-established a generation later across Europe." The researchers believe these people took their skills to new areas previously populated by hunters and gatherers where there had been no evidence of farming, Turney said. The study also underscores the potential impact rising sea levels may have in the future, the researchers said. An expected one meter rise by the end of the century due to climate change would displace some 145 million people, Turney added. It also paints a picture of the kind of mass disruption that has prompted some scientists to link the ancient flood to the origins of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, Turney said. "When the Black Sea flooded at end of last ice age some people have suggested it was the origins of the Noah's Ark myth," he said. "If you lived in that basin it would have seemed like the whole world had flooded."