extraordinary%20encounters

32 Atlantis
That is not all the dialogues have to say,
however. Most of the discussion, much of it
intricately detailed, describes a civilization
that was nearly perfect before pride corrupted
it. Atlantis is supposed to be the place of
model governance. In its prime it operated by
the principles set forth in The Republic.
No other ancient document contains an independent
treatment of Atlantis. All references
to the lost continent cite Plato as the
source. Some accept Plato’s account as historical,
while others see it as an allegory never
meant to be taken literally. Plato’s own student
Aristotle took the latter view.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
as European explorers found their way
to the Americas, several writers, most prominently
Sir Francis Bacon (1551–1626), revived
the myth of Atlantis and theorized that
its remains could be found in the New World.
That would be only the beginning of a new
round of speculation. “At one time or another,”
a modern chronicler of the legend observes,
“Atlantis has been located in the Arctic,
Nigeria, the Caucasus, the Crimea, North
Africa, the Sahara, Malta, Spain, central
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the North
Sea, the Bahamas, and various other locations
in North and South America” (Ellis, 1998).
Among the most influential books ever
written on the subject, Atlantis: The Antedilu -
vian World (1882) was the creation of a former
Minnesota congressman named Ignatius
Donnelly (1831–1901). Donnelly surveyed
what he presented as evidence from such disciplines
as archaeology, geology, biology, linguistics,
history, and folklore to argue vigorously
for the proposition that Atlantis not
only existed but was the place where human
beings became civilized. Atlantis sent its people
all over the world and seeded the earth.
The great gods and goddesses of the ancient
world were based on the leaders and heroes of
Atlantis; worldwide legends of a mighty deluge
owe their origins to dim memories of the
catastrophe that overwhelmed Atlantis. The
historical civilization influenced most directly
by Atlantis was ancient Egypt.
These re velations sparked international
i n t e rest, and Do n n e l l y’s book went thro u g h
many printings. For a time even some re putable
scientists we re willing to consider the
possibility that the legend was true, after all.
Indeed, Donnelly was elected to the American
Association for the Ad vancement of Science.
Be f o re long, howe ve r, as critics exposed
the book’s errors, exaggerations, and assort e d
scholarly shortcomings, belief in At l a n t i s
m oved to the occult fringes, to be championed
by the likes of Theosophy founder Helena
Pe t rovna Bl a vatsky and other philosophers
of the esoteric. Be f o re the end of the
nineteenth century, a growing body of occult
l i t e r a t u re attested that Atlantis was advanced,
not just by the standards of their
time, but by modern times as well; it possessed
a super science that, among other
m a rvelous accomplishments, had inve n t e d
airplanes and television.
The Scottish folklorist and occultist Lewis
Spence, who took a relatively more conservative
approach, wrote five books on Atlantis
between 1924 and 1943, citing Donnelly and
his methodology as his principal inspiration.
Bowing to the consensus view of historians
and archaeologists, who held that human beings
were living in caves nine thousand years
before Plato’s time, Spence held that Atlantis
had existed nine hundred years before Plato.
Meanwhile, allegations, rumors, and outright
hoaxes of archaeological “discoveries” of Atlantean
artifacts filled the popular press and
kept the “mystery” alive.
The much-circulated channelings of Ed g a r
C a yce (1877–1945), called the “s l e e p i n g
p ro p h e t” because of the state of consciousness
in which he vo c a l i zed his psychic re a d i n g s ,
often concerned Atlantis. Many who came to
him for psychic guidance learned that they had
been Atlanteans in previous lives. In Cayc e’s
c o m p re h e n s i ve re-envisioning of the lost continent,
Atlantis was essentially where Plato had
placed it: between the Gulf of Mexico and the
Mediterranean. Unlike Pl a t o’s, Cayc e’s At l a n t i s
was as advanced as mid-twe n t i e t h - c e n t u ry
America, and in a number of ways more ad-