At first I thought, “indeed, yet another book on Atlantis” – and there have been many. I was in for a surprise. This work takes a different look at the myth, the reality and what it means for us today in the 21st century.
     Author J.S. Gordon is following his passion for researching ancient cultures. A surveyor by profession, he is an esotericist by calling and brings together the many strands of history, mythology and culture for a compact yet detailed guidebook on the emergence of mankind from the earliest times.
     Using the Plato ‘myth’ of Atlantis as his starting point in Greek classical writing and philosophy, Gordon ventures backward and forward in time seeking out those clues that provide a basis for the ‘real’ Atlantis.
     No stone is left unturned as the reader is taken from Plato and Herodotus to Blavatsky; from Darwin to Berlitz as well as Cremo and Thompson, and all in between. It is an exhilarating mental ride for daring minds.
     The style of the book is informative, with debate on various theories of human and planetary evolution. The material is dense and packed with facts, quotes, arguments and note references.
     A bibliography, appendices, notes and index support the reader at the back of the book. I found the book hard to get into initially, but once I was fully ‘in’ it was fascinating reading.
     Mr Gordon has arranged his material into five broad areas. The first is Plato and his Story. In this section the cultural background of Plato’s time is examined in detail. The Greek Mysteries are explained in relation to the practices of the day, which were decaying in Plato’s time. Egyptian ancient mysteries and esoteric practices are also explained.
     Mr Gordon interprets the Plato story using his knowledge of ancient cultures and mystery schools. He generally opposes current scientific orthodoxy. Plato’s story can be seen as multi-layered, being replete with elements of history, metaphysics, allegory and symbolism. It is shown that Plato’s complete Atlantis story can be seen as a metaphor for the solar system and beyond.
     Part Two is Planet Earth. This covers the emergence of intelligent life and how our planet and cosmic neighbourhood may have been formed. All views are considered, with a word to the wise about making assumptions about the many theories.
     Mr Gordon uses the phrase “the ancients” quite often to indicate he is quoting or theorising from very old texts. There are many sources used here. A heady mixture of Veda, classics, Kabbalah, Bible and Theosophy will fire the neurons of every enquiring mind. His use of Plato and his Greek classical cohort as well as Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled make an interesting juxtaposition for the reader.
     In the later paragraphs he considers Darwinism, the nature of ongoing cataclysms and the theories of continental drift. This section bears upon the possible centres of the Lemurian and Atlantean civilisations.
     In Part Three – Humanity, the author moves from the possible sources of life to the actual emergence of humanity as a race of sentient beings. Much explanation is given on Lemuria and Atlantis as the cradles of human intellectual and spiritual development.
     The explanation of the development and reasons for the gradual decline of the third and fourth root races is the clearest I have read. For those unfamiliar with the concept of root races, this item is found in Wikipedia:
     “According to Blavatsky’s writings, there are seven root races assembled for our Earth, each root race is divided into seven sub races. The first root race was according to her ‘ethereal’; the second root race lived in Hyperborea. The third root race lived according to her in Lemuria and the fourth root race in Atlantis.
     “Blavatsky asserted humanity was presently in the fifth root race, the so-called Aryans, approximately one million years old. It overlapped the fourth root race, and the first beginnings of the fifth root race were approximately in the middle of the fourth root race. Generally speaking, all the people who live in the time of the period of the fifth root race are part of the fifth root race.”
     Today most of us are in the fifth root race – and I am making an assumption here – the so-called ‘Indigo Children’ are the forerunners of the emerging sixth root race.
     Part Five is titled Culture and examines what can be discerned of the religion, magic, technology, arts and crafts of the Lemurians and Atlanteans.
     Author Gordon finds plenty of evidence in cultures around the world for the remnants of Lemurian and Atlantean existence. The idea that they may have existed millions of years ago clashes directly with modern science and theories such as Darwin’s. But as new technology provides better dating for archaeology, the puzzles for modern science increase.
     Mr Gordon looks at the commonly held idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Atlantean magic/technology and draws strong parallels to today’s science technology and industry.
     He certainly stresses that ongoing change on the planet and in the solar system is constant, so cataclysms will not always be man-made, but part of the natural cycle. He does, however, acknowledge that major cataclysms seem to happen as humanity is about to make a great leap in development. An interesting question: does the development of humanity cause the cataclysm, or the cataclysm initiate a new phase in the development of humanity?
     Also in this section is discussion of the origin of the ‘Sea Peoples’ of the Mediterranean. This includes origins of the Phoenicians, Etruscans, Egyptians, Berbers and Carthaginians, to name but a few of the possible remnants of Atlantis.
     Mr Gordon ends his work by looking to the future and the implications of all that has gone before.
     This work is a wide-ranging metaphysical handbook on the emergence of humanity as a sentient species.
     These are my thoughts from reading this book. By evidence from ‘the ancients’ and other religious sources, it seems there is a plan for humanity and its development is ongoing. The cataclysms in nature and caused by humanity itself are part of the plan. Within our individual beings are holograms of development from the very earliest times to what will be in the future – yes, it sounds complex, and it is. The author reiterates that humanity is exactly where it needs to be – right now.