Advanced Ancient Civilizations?
This is an endlessly fascinating subject to me, ever since I stood in a basement-like room of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City in the Ancient Egyptian section - more than twenty-five years ago - and felt the energy coming from what I could only imagine was some kind of ancient machine. I could hear a sound (no one else seemed to be able to hear it) coming from something somewhere on a shelf behind the glass wall, and I could feel myself buzzing all over, and going into a trance. I sensed that it was some kind of ancient spiritual technology that was still "working." I never actually found out what that was on the shelves at the Met, but have been fascinated with the subject of ancient unknown technologies and all the "anomalies" on museum shelves around the globe ever since.
What this points to is ancient cultures, about which we know little or nothing, which were more advanced than our own. The fact that there may have been ancient cultures more advanced than ours means that we must be part of some kind of cycle of development, rather than advancement being a straight line upwards as we have always assumed. Read the article below to learn more about this concept.
Enjoy!
Lois
The following comes from: http://www.realitysandwich.com/history_and_celestial_time
History and Celestial Time
Discoveries like the ancient Greek Antikythera computer (1500 years
before the invention of precision geared devices) the Baghdad batteries
(2000 years before Volta "invented" the battery) or dental and brain
surgery artifacts found in ancient Pakistan (8000 years out of
historical sequence) appear "anomalous" within our current paradigm of
history. However, they are not unexpected according to the ancient
cyclical view.
Giorgio de Santillana, the former professor of the history of science
at MIT, tells us that most ancient cultures believed consciousness and
history were not linear but cyclical, meaning they would rise and fall
over long periods of times. In his landmark work, Hamlet's Mill,
Giorgio and co-author Hertha von Dechend showed that the myth and
folklore of over 30 ancient cultures around the world spoke of a vast
cycle of time with alternating Dark and Golden Ages that move with the
precession of the equinox. Plato called this the Great Year.
Although the idea of a great cycle timed by the slow precession of the
equinox was common to multiple cultures before the Christian era most
of us were taught this is just a fairytale; there was no Golden Age.
However, an increasing body of new astronomical and archaeological
evidence suggests the cycle may have a basis in fact. More importantly,
understanding the cycle might provide insight into where society is
headed at this time and why consciousness may be expanding at an
exponential rate. Understanding the cause of precession is key to
understanding the cycle.
The standard theory of precession says it is principally the Moon's
gravity acting upon the oblate Earth that must be the cause of the
Earth's changing orientation to inertial space, a.k.a. the "precession
of the equinox." However, ancient sources say the observation of an
equinox slowly moving or "precessing" through the twelve constellations
of the zodiac is simply due to the motion of the solar system through
space (changing our viewpoint from Earth). Here at the Binary Research
Institute, we have modeled a moving solar system and found it does
indeed better produce the precession observable and resolves a number
of solar system anomalies such as the uneven distribution of angular
momentum within the solar system and the variable rate of precession.
Beyond the technical considerations, a moving solar system might
provide a logical reason why we have a Great Year with alternating Dark
and Golden Ages. That is, if the solar system carrying the Earth
actually moves in a huge orbit, subjecting the Earth to the
electromagnetic (EM) spectrum of another star or EM source along the
way, we could expect this would affect our magnetosphere, ionosphere
and indirectly all life in a pattern commensurate with that orbit. Just
as the Earth's smaller diurnal and annual motions produce the cycles of
day and night and the seasons (both due to the Earth's changing
position in relation to the EM spectrum of the Sun), so might the
larger celestial motion be expected to produce a cycle that affects
life and consciousness on a grand scale.
The hypothesis for how consciousness would be affected in such a
celestial cycle builds on the work of Dr. Valerie Hunt, a former
professor of physiology at UCLA. In a number of studies she has found
that changes in the ambient EM field (that surrounds us all the time)
can dramatically affect human cognition and performance. In short,
consciousness is affected by immersion in EM fields. Consequently, the
concept behind the Great Year or cyclical model of history, consistent
with myth and folklore, is based on the Sun's motion through space,
subjecting the Earth to waxing and waning stellar fields (all stars are
huge generators of EM spectrum), resulting in the legendary rise and
fall of the ages over great epochs of time.
In Lost Star of Myth and Time, we looked at some of the
ancient myths about rising and falling ages tied to the precession
cycle, explored current precession anomalies, outlined a dynamic solar
system model that better explains the precession observable, and
suggested a hypothesis for how a change in proximity to
stellar-generated electro-magnetic fields might be the mechanism that
induces cyclical changes on Earth. Here we would like to use this model
as a guide to better understand where we have been in terms of
consciousness and ancient civilizations in the past, and more
importantly, where we are going in the future. As Graham Hancock
stated, this "new -- or very old -- approach to the greatest problems
of human history" could be "the "key to the mystery of the ages."
Historical Perspective
Current theories of history generally ignore myth and folklore and do
not consider any macro external influences on consciousness. For the
most part, modern history theory teaches us that consciousness or
history moves in a linear pattern from primitive to modern with few
exceptions. Some of its tenets include:
--Mankind evolved out of Africa,
--People were hunter-gatherers until about 5000 years ago,
--Tribes first banded together for protection from other warring parties,
--Written communication must precede any large engineered structures or populous civilizations.
The problem with this widely accepted paradigm is that it is not
consistent with the evolving interpretation of recently discovered
ancient cultures and anomalous artifacts. In the last hundred years,
major discoveries have been made in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, the
Asian plains, South America, and in many other regions that break the
rules of history theory and push back the time of advanced human
development. Specifically, they show ancient man was far more
proficient and civilized nearly 5000 years ago than he was during the
more recent Dark Ages of just a thousand years ago. In Caral, an
ancient complex on the west coast of Peru, we find six pyramids that
are carbon dated to be 4700 years old, a date contemporaneous with
Egyptian pyramids and rivaling the time of the first major structures
found in the so called "Cradle of Civilization" in Mesopotamia.
However, Caral is an ocean away from the "cradle," and we find no
evidence of any writing or weaponry, two of the so-called necessities
of civilization. At the same time we do find beautiful musical
instruments, astronomically aligned structures and evidence of commerce
with distant lands. Clearly, such sites defy the standard historical
paradigm. But what is stranger still is that so many of these
civilizations seemed to decline en mass.
In ancient Mesopotamia, Pakistan, Jiroft, Iran and adjacent lands we
see knowledge of astronomy, geometry, advanced building techniques,
sophisticated plumbing and water systems, incredible art, dyes and
fabrics, surgery, medicine and many other refinements of a civilized
culture that seemed to arise from nowhere yet were completely lost over
the next few thousand years. By the time of the worldwide Dark Ages,
every one of these civilizations had turned to dust or nomadic ways of
life. Near the depths of the downturn there were ruins and little else
to be found. And in some areas where larger populations still remained,
such as throughout parts of Europe, poverty and disease were often
rampant and the ability to read, write or duplicate any of the earlier
engineering or scientific feats had essentially disappeared. What
happened?
While records of this period are still very spotty, the archeological
evidence indicates consciousness, reflected as human ingenuity and
capability, was greatly diminished. We just seemed to have lost the
ability to do the things we used to do. Ironically, this is just what
many ancient cultures predicted. The world's foremost Assyrianologist,
Stefan Maul, shed light on this phenomenon in his Stanford Presidential
Lecture when he told us that the Akkadians knew they lived in a
declining era; they revered the past and tried to hang on to it but at
the same time lamented and predicted the Dark Ages that would follow.
His etymological studies of cuneiform tablets show the ancient words
for "past" have now become our words for "future," whereas their words
for the "future" have now become our words for the "past.." It is
almost as if mankind orients his motion through time depending on
whether he is in an ascending or descending age.
We find this principle of waxing and waning periods of time depicted in
numerous bas-reliefs found in ancient Mithraic temples. The famed
Tauroctany or bull slaying scene, is often surrounded by two boys,
Cautes and Cautopetes. One holds a torch up on one side of the zodiac,
indicating it is a time of light, the other holds a torch down on the
other side of the zodiac, indicating it is a time of darkness. As the
accompanying chart will show, these time periods correspond with the
Vedic description of when the Earth goes through periods of rising and
falling consciousness.
Jarred Diamond, the well-known historian anthropologist and author of Guns, Germs and Steel
makes a good case that it is primarily local geographic and
environmental advantages on the planet Earth that determine which group
of humans succeeds or fails versus another. Those that have the steel,
guns and bad germs win. While this helps explain many regional
differences of the last few thousand years, it does not address the
macro trends that seemed to have affected all cultures (including China
and the Americas) as they slipped into the last worldwide Dark Age. The
cyclical or Great Year model overlays and augments Jarred Diamond's
observations giving a reason for the widespread downturn. It suggests
that it is not just the geography and environment of man on Earth that
determines his relative success but it is also the geography and
environment of the Earth in space that affects mankind on a vast scale.
Just as small celestial motions affect life over the short term, so do
large celestial motions affect us over the long term.
Understanding that consciousness may indeed rise and fall with the
motions of the heavens gives meaning to ancient myth and folklore and
puts anomalous artifacts, such as the Antikythera device, into an
historical context that makes sense. It speaks to why so many ancient
cultures might have been fascinated with the stars and it provides us
with a workable paradigm in which to understand history. It could also
help us identify the forces that propelled the Renaissance and that may
be accelerating consciousness in the current era. Myth and folklore,
the scientific language of yore, provide a colorful look at
consciousness throughout the different ages.
Character of the Ages
The Greek historian Hesiod tells us of the wonderful nature of the last
Golden Age when "peace and plenty" abounded. Hopi myths tell us of
cities on the bottom of the sea. Typically ancient peoples broke the
great cycle into an ascending and descending phase, each with four
periods. For example, the Vedic or Hindu culture tells us that when the
Autumnal Equinox moves from Virgo to Ares we go through the ascending
Kali, Dwapara, Treta, and Satya Yugas (the golden era) before slowly
declining in reverse order as the equinox completes its journey. The
Greeks and other early Mediterranean civilizations used like periods
and labeled them the Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Golden Ages. More
distant cultures such as the Maya or Hopi used still other names such
as "worlds" or "Suns," and labeled them "fourth or fifth," to identify
the recent epochs.
A relatively modern proponent of the cyclical system was the Sanskrit Sage, Swami Sri Yukteswar, author of The Holy Science.
He taught that the position of our solar system relative to another
star now indicates we are in recent transition from the lowest material
age, the Kali Yuga, into the electrical or atomic age, the Dwapara
Yuga. In this period, it is said, we begin to see the world as more
transparent as we move from an awareness of self as a physical body in
a strictly physical universe, to an awareness that we are something
more, living in a universe filled with subtle forces and energies. The
technological discoveries of the laws of gravity, electricity and
magnetism just in the last few hundred years give this idea credence --
and the trend is accelerating. In the last century it has even been
discovered that physical matter is not really solid at all. We have
found it is made of molecules and these in turn are made of atoms,
which are themselves constituted of 99.9% empty space. The little bit
of matter that does exist in the heart of the proton and neutron, is
now thought to be principally vibrating energy, at least according to
the latest String Theory. Indeed, reality is looking more and more
ethereal just as the hoary Vedas predict.
Ages beyond the present are difficult to grasp because a lesser
consciousness cannot behold a greater consciousness any more than a cup
of water cannot hold the ocean. So we tend to extrapolate the past
material view of things when envisioning the future, i.e., more gadgets
and technology. But the Oriental teachings about cycles indicate this
is just a passing phase. They say the real trend is towards a god-like
state where the physical is but a manifestation of something from the
netherworld. And so it seems when we read Greek mythology or pages of
Vedic scripture.
The Silver Age or Treta Yuga, the third age (from the bottom) is the
Greek "age of the demigods," or to the yogis of India, the age of
divine magnetism and the mind. While this is a difficult concept to
grasp, consider the story of Babel.
Supposedly before Babel (pre 3100 BC in the last descending Treta Yuga)
humanity spoke with one tongue and communed freely with nature. The Old
Testament tells us mankind began to build "towers" and then languages
were "confused" and people could no longer understand one another
(Genisis 11:1-9). In the standard theory of history this story makes no
sense, but in the cyclical model it has great meaning. It would have
occurred around the time of the first tower buildings in ancient
Mesopotamia, probably between 3000 BC and 3500 BC. This is precisely
around the time (3100 BC) when according to Sri Yukteswar the world
declined from the descending Treta Yuga into the descending Dwapara
Yuga, a time when clairvoyance and telepathy were lost (see chart,
below). We learn from Paramahansa Yogananda, another proponent of the
yuga cycle and the famed author of Autobiography of a Yogi,
that this time will come again in the year 4100 AD when we pass from
the ascending Dwapara into the ascending Treta Yuga. He tells us at
this time there will once again be a "common knowledge of telepathy and
clairvoyance." Perhaps then we will better understand the meaning of
the ancient myths.
The Treta Yuga is said to be the age of levitation, telepathy, a time
of shamans and wizards of old, when tremendous physic and mental
abilities were common, truly an "age of the demigods." We have all
heard stories about mythical powers of saints and sages who have these
gifts. The majority of people don't take these reports seriously or
realize that we too might have this same latent ability in a higher
state of consciousness. Yet, this is exactly what the ancients told us.
In fact, Christ was quoting the far more ancient scriptures of the Old
Testament when in the depths of the last Dark Age he said, "Is it not
written that ye are gods," and he himself embodied this consciousness
when he said, "These things that I do ye shall do also."
Chart by Laurie Pratt, published in East West Magazine in 1932. The zenith of the Golden Age last took place in 11,502BC. The pit of the last Dark Age was in 498AD.
The final stage in the cycle of time is the Golden Age or Satya Yuga.
It is considered the highest time on Earth. If the Treta or Silver Age
is inconceivable to us today, then the Golden Age must sound like a
myth or a dream. The Greeks called it the "age of the gods" and the
myth and folklore of the Vedas and ancient Egypt hint that this was a
time when gods literally walked the Earth and most of mankind lived in
perfect harmony with nature and the heavens. While there now remains
very little physical evidence of this long ago period, we do find that
virtually every ancient megalithic construction prior to the year 1500
BC seems to be oriented towards some astronomical or cardinal point.
Going back further there are signs that multiple structures may have
been aligned to mirror constellations or the larger heavens. The Golden
Age is said to be a time when we could perceive and communicate with
astral or causal realms and directly know God without the intermediacy
of any religion. Again, this sounds like little more than a fairy tale
given our current state of consciousness, but it is a theme common to
ancient peoples who spoke and wrote of the long lost higher ages.
Predictive Value
Admittedly, the higher ages sound incredible but we hope to show
evidence at the next CPAK and through future papers, books and film
that the cycle has a basis in fact, driven by the solar system's motion
through space. Just as the seasons of the year, caused by the Earth's
orbit around the Sun, can be forecast in time (through calendars and
various astronomical means) so can the seasons of the Great Year be
calculated by the slow precession of the equinox.
The cyclical model is not only precisely measurable (by monitoring the
annual change in the precession rate, now about 50.29 arc seconds per
year), but I believe it has predictive value. I am presently working on
a new book showing changes we can expect over the next few decades to
few thousand years as we progress through the Great Year. It is based
on cross interpretations of myth and folklore, extrapolation of trends
and interviews with futurists. During the current transition from the
Kali age (of gross material consciousness) to the early Dwapara era (of
an awareness of energy and finer forces) we are manifesting our
heightened awareness and increasing ingenuity through an endless array
of technology that allows us to annihilate the barriers of time and
space. We can now fly just about anywhere on the globe within the time
it takes the planet to make one spin on its axis. Likewise, we can
instantly communicate with someone on the other side of the Earth and
send them a picture or video of almost any event, in real time. All
these things were not only impossible but also unthinkable just a
hundred years ago.
Underlying this trend there is actually a greater concern for nature.
We will see, more and more, a return to living in tune with Mother
Earth and it will be facilitated by greater understanding and thinner
technology. As technology becomes something hidden in the background,
we can expect some amazing changes. For example, while we currently
still need antennas to transmit communications (and soon power) or
silicon to compute or store information, even these may be outmoded in
the future. Physicist John Dering (a CPAK regular) has speculated that
given the trend of computer power, sometime in the not too distant
future we will develop interface devices that allow us to pick up the
wave forms captured by trees or the antennae of bugs, and we may be
able to tap into and decipher all the information (waveforms) that have
ever passed by a rock or any inanimate object in the landscape. Could
it be that our ancient ancestors better understood the subtle qualities
of stone? Another CPAK author, John Burke, has already shown that
ancient cultures had a tremendous knowledge of electromagnetism as
evidenced by the outer stones at Avebury where he has demonstrated all
of the standing stones magnetic poles are identically aligned. He has
also shown that some Indian Shamans in the American West can find areas
of high electrostatic charge or geophysical discontinuities just by
feel. They use these areas for healing purposes. Contemplating these
ideas gives new meaning to the stories of our ancient ancestors.
Understanding their wisdom may be key to understanding our future.
This article addresses one of the general topics of conversation at
the upcoming "Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge" to be
held on October 10, 2009 at the University of California, Irvine. For
more info click here.
Walter Cruttenden is the Director of the Binary
Research Institute, an archaeoastronomy think tank located in Newport
Beach, California. His focus is on the astronomy, mythology and
artifacts of ancient cultures, with an emphasis on history theory and
cycles of consciousness. He is the author of Lost Star of Myth and Time (from St. Lynn's Press). Lost Star is
a studied look at ancient cultures throughout the world and their
belief in a vast cycle of time with alternating Dark and Golden Ages.
Previously Cruttenden wrote and produced the award winning documentary, The Great Year, narrated by James Earl Jones. The Great Year looks at the myth and folklore of ancient cultures and seeks to find the message that these cultures left for modern man.
Antikythera image by WalkingGeek, courtesy of Creative Commons license.
