IV
THE
LEMURIAN ERA
THE following contains a fragment from
the Âkâshic Records which refers to a very remote
prehistoric epoch in the development of mankind. This epoch
precedes that which has been delineated in the previous chapters. The
subject is the third human Root-Race, which in Theosophical books is
said to have dwelt on the Lemurian continent. This continent lay
— according to these books — in the south of Asia, but
extended roughly from Ceylon to Madagascar. Also the modern southern
Asia and parts of Africa belonged to it. Although in the reading of
the Âkâshic Records all possible precaution has been
observed, it must nevertheless be emphasized that in no case
must a dogmatic character be claimed for these communications. Merely
to read of things and happenings so far removed from the present is
by no means easy, but a translation of what has been seen and
deciphered into the language of our time entails almost
insuperable obstacles. Dates will be given later. They will be better
grasped when we have given an account of the whole Lemurian era, and
also of that which embraces the fifth Root-Race up to the present
time. The things which are here communicated are surprising even to
the occultist when he reads them for the first time — although
the word “surprise” does not quite suit the case. This,
however, is why he is allowed to communicate them only
after a most careful examination.
* * *
The fourth (Atlantean) Root-Race was preceded
by the so-called Lemurian. In the
course of its development the earth and mankind underwent
transformations of the greatest significance. Nevertheless, something
will first be said about the character of this Root-Race subsequently
to these transformations, a delineation of which will follow. This
Root-Race as a whole had not yet developed memory. Men were able, it
is true, to form conceptions of things and events; but these
conceptions did not remain in the memory, and in consequence men did
not possess language in its true sense. What they could produce in
this connection were rather natural sounds which expressed their
sensations of pleasure, joy, pain, and so on, but which did not
designate external things. Their mental conceptions, however,
had quite a different power from those of later men. They influenced
their surroundings by means of this power. Other men, animals,
plants, and even inanimate objects could feel this action and
were worked upon by mere mind-images. Thus the Lemurian could
communicate with his fellow-men without the need of speech. This
intercourse consisted in a kind of “thought-reading.” The
power of his conceptions was derived by the Lemurian immediately from
the things that surrounded him. It flowed on him from the power of
growth in plants, from the vital energy in animals. Thus did he
understand plants and animals in their inner working and life.
Indeed, he thus understood even the physical and chemical forces of
inanimate things. In building anything, he did not need first to
calculate the bearing-capacity of a trunk or the weight of a block of
stone: he could see how much the trunk could bear, how the block
would settle through its weight. The
Lemurian built in this way without any art of engineering, but with
the certainty of a kind of instinct working out as imagination. And
withal he had his body under great control. If necessary he could
steel his arm through a mere effort of will. Consequently he could,
for instance, raise enormous burdens. Just as the Atlantean disposed
of the vital energy, so the Lemurian was master of his will. He was
— let not the expression be misunderstood — a born
magician in all spheres of the lower human activities.
The main object, too, of the Lemurians was to
develop the will and the power of conception. This was the ruling
motive in the education of children. Boys were hardened in the most
energetic manner. They had to learn to face dangers, to overcome
pain, to perform daring deeds. Those who could not bear
tortures or face dangers were not considered useful members of
society, but were allowed to perish in the course of their hardships.
What the Âkâshic Records show in regard to this method of
rearing children surpasses all that present-day man can picture
to himself in his wildest fancy. The endurance of heat up to
scorching point, and the piercing of the body with sharp points, were
quite common occurrences. — The training of girls was
different. It is true that hardening was also their lot, but the
chief aim lay here in the development of a powerful imagination. For
instance, girls were exposed to a storm that they might feel its
terrible beauty with calmness; they had to witness fights between men
fearlessly, feeling only admiration for the display of strength and
prowess. A disposition to dreaming, to revelling in fancy, was
in this way fostered in girls; but this disposition was exceptionally
prized, and in the absence of memory there was no chance of its
degeneration. These dreamy or imaginative conceptions lasted only
while there was an external occasion for them. So far, then, they
were well equipped for external things. They did not lose themselves
in the fathomless. It was the imaginative and visionary in Nature
herself that sank deep into the soul of woman.
Until
the end of their era the Lemurians had no
dwellings in our sense of the word. They lived in natural shelters;
for instance, in caves which they modified according to their needs.
At a later period they built such caves in the earth; and then they
developed great skill in such building. But it must not be thought
that they did not also erect artificial buildings, although these did
not serve as dwellings. They originated in the earlier period from
the need of giving to the things of nature a form moulded by man.
Hills were remoulded so that man might find pleasure and
gratification in their form. For the same reason stones were joined
together, and this was done also with the aim of making them serve
some useful purpose. The places where children were hardened were
surrounded by walls of this kind. But ever grander and more
ingenious, toward the end of this epoch, became the structures
devoted to the worship of “divine Wisdom and divine Art.”
These edifices were in every respect different from what served, at a
later stage, as temples, for they were also places of instruction and
scientific study. Whoever was found fit was permitted to
become initiated into the science of universal laws and the
application of these laws. Whereas the Lemurian was a born
magician, this talent for art and insight was here cultivated.
Only those could be admitted who, through every process of hardening,
had become invincible in the highest degree. That which transpired in
these institutions remained the most profound secret to all but the
few. Here the knowledge and mastery of natural forces was learnt by
immediate perception, but this cognisance was a kind of
transformation of the natural forces into the power of will in
man. Thereby he could himself achieve what Nature achieves. What
mankind accomplished later by means of reflection or combination was
then a kind of instinctive activity. Of course, in this connection,
the word “instinct” must not be used in the sense in
which it is usually applied to the animal world, for the achievements
of the Lemurians rank immeasurably higher than all that the animal
world can produce instinctively. They far surpassed all that mankind,
through memory, intellect, and imagination, has since acquired
in arts and sciences. To make this more clearly understood one might
call these teaching-places “High-schools of the powers of will
and of the clairvoyant power of forming conceptions.” From them
proceeded such men as became in every respect rulers of the
others. It is difficult to-day to give in words a correct
conception of all these conditions, for everything on earth has
since undergone a change. Nature herself and all human life were
different then; and consequently human labour and the relation of man
to man were quite otherwise than what is customary now.
The atmosphere was as yet much denser than
later during the Atlantean era; and water was much more fluid. Also
that which now forms our firm earth-crust was not yet hardened to the
same extent as later. The vegetable and animal worlds were advanced
only to the stage of amphibious animals, of birds and the lower
mammals, and of growths analogous to our palms and similar trees. But
all forms were different from those of the present. What is now found
small in size was then developed to gigantic proportions. Our
small ferns were then trees which formed mighty forests. The higher
mammals of to-day were not in existence at that time. On the other
hand, a great portion of mankind was at so low a stage of development
that it must be described as altogether animal. In fact, the
foregoing description of men applies only to a small number.
The remainder lived on the animal level. Indeed, these animal-men were,
in their external form, and in their mode of living, altogether
different from that small number. They hardly differed from the lower
mammals, whom in a way they also resembled in form.
A few words must also be added as to the
significance of the places of worship previously mentioned. It was
not exactly religion that was fostered there. It
was “divine Wisdom and Art.” Man felt what was given
him there to be a direct gift from the spiritual world-powers, and
when he shared in this gift he looked upon himself as a
“servant” of these universal powers. He felt himself
“consecrated” in opposition to all that was unholy. If
one would speak of religion at this stage of mankind, one might call
it “religion of the will.” Religious feeling and
consecration lay in this, that a man guarded the powers
conferred on him as a “secret” deep and divine, and that
he led such a life as sanctified his power. Very great were the awe
and reverence with which persons possessed of such powers were
regarded by others; nor was this enjoined by laws or in any other
way, but was the result of the direct power exercised by such men.
One who was not initiated found himself quite naturally under the
magical influence of the Initiates, and as a matter of course the
latter considered themselves consecrated persons. For in their
temples they were in a true sense partakers in the working of natural
forces. They gazed into the creative laboratory of Nature. What they
experienced was intercourse with the Beings who work at the building
of the world itself. This may be called an intercourse with the gods,
and what developed later as “Initiation” or
“Mysteries” sprang from this original mode of intercourse
between men and the gods. In later times this intercourse was bound
to undergo a transformation, because the human conception, the human
spirit, assumed other forms.
Special importance attaches to one point connected with the progress of
the Lemurian development, in consequence of the mode of life which was
pursued by the women. They developed, by this way of living, special human
powers. The unity of their imaginative power with Nature became the
basis of a higher development of the imaginative life. Through their
senses they drew into themselves the forces of Nature, and allowed
these to react on their souls. Thus were the germs of memory formed.
And with memory there entered into the world the capacity to form the
first and very simplest of moral conceptions. The culture of the will
in the masculine element brought, at the outset, no development
of the mind. Man followed instinctively either natural impulses or
influences emanating from the Initiates. Womankind gave birth to the
first conceptions of “good and evil.” Here they
began on the one hand to love that which made a special impression on
their imaginative life, and on the other hand to hate its opposite.
While the rule exercised by the masculine element was directed more
to the external effect of the powers of will, to the management of
natural powers, in the feminine element there arose at the same time
an impulse through the feelings, through the inner personal human
powers. He only can comprehend the development of mankind
correctly who realizes that the first steps forward in the sphere of
imagination were made by women. The development of habits dependent
on the meditative, imaginative life, on the cultivation of memory
which formed the nucleus of a life of order, of a sort of moral life,
came from this side. Whereas man perceived and employed natural
forces, woman became the first interpreter of these.
It was a new and special mode of life that here arose — that of
Thought. This mode had something far more personal than that of men.
Now we must understand that this feminine mode was itself really a
kind of clairvoyance, even though it differed from the magic of the
will on the part of man. Woman was, in her soul, responsive to
another kind of spiritual power, — to such as appealed more to
the element of feeling, and less to the spiritual element to which
man was subjected. There emanated thus from men an influence which
was more naturally divine, from women one that was more psychically
divine.
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