The Lost Continent

I have already adverted to that most singular conception of the duty of the married which opposes the customs of Atlas to those of any other race on Earth. But the considerations which established it have yet to be discussed. I will not insist on that gross and cynical point of view which might perceive in English marriage today a practical vindication of the Atlantean position. On the contrary, in Atlas marriage formed the loftiest of ideals. It resembles the "Hermetic marriage" of certain alchemists. The bond between the parties was only stronger for the absence of the lower link. The idea underlying this was in the main a particular case of the general proposition that whatever was natural should be transcended. As will be seen in the final chapter, the very stigma of success in their Great Work was the transcending of the sexual process. The bond of marriage was not, however, entirely of this negative character. It had its positive side, and here closely resembled the so-called Christian doctrine of Christ and the church. Husband and wife were to be father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister, teacher and pupil, and above all, friends. And this relation was to subsist on all planes. The hieroglyph of love was a cross; that of marriage, parallel straight lines, and as the cross was to be transcended in the circle, so were these lines to converge not on Earth, but in Venus. In the meanwhile each partner led his own free life; and it often occurred that a woman, having borne two children to a man and married him, would bear two children to another man, and so on perhaps for two centuries, thus acquiring a cohort of husbands. Such an arrangement must clearly have led to grave confusion had any question of property and inheritance been involved, but notions so unfortunate were unknown. Where all had every heart's desire, of what value were they? It is true that some division of labour (though little) was involved in the social scheme, but it occurred to no one to regard the supervision of serviles as less honourable than the offering of great sacrifices. In a perfect organism one part is as necessary and decent as any other part, and no sane observer can reason otherwise. For a perfect organism has a single definite aim, and the only dishonourable feather on an arrow would be one that was out of place. Human nature being what it is, one may nevertheless agree that this measureless content with the existing order, except in so far as the purpose of the establishment of that order was unfulfilled, was rendered possible by the extreme lightness of the toil demanded of any individual. But it is impossible for slaves to understand free men. It is always a wonder to Englishmen that a man should devote himself to unremitting toil for an idea. He is called a crank, basely slandered, the lowest motives being without any reason assigned to his actions, mocked, persecuted, perhaps crucified. This is partly forgivable, as in England philanthropy is almost invariably the mask of vice and fraud.

The ceremony of marriage[1] was simple, dignified, yet poignant. The lovers in the presence of their whole house, publicly embraced for the last time. Their two children pressed them apart. Elevating their hands in a crossed clasp they gave way, and the children passed through, preceding a most holy image which was borne by a priest and priestess between them. Then they parted, and each was severally congratulated and embraced by any of the others who chose, and the priest and priestess then, exalting the image and setting it in a suitable shrine, closed the ceremony by the command "To work" and adding force to the same by their example.

The education of the children was another important matter in which their ideas were wholly opposed to our own. It ceased altogether at the age of puberty, which sometimes as early as six, never later than fourteen. Were it so delayed, the delinquent was crowned in mockery with a square black cap, sometimes tasselated, and sent among the serviles to instruct them in religion and similar branches of learning, and never permitted to return to Atlas. The ignorance and superstition of the plains was thus kept at a proper height.

The method of education was indeed singular. Certain Atlanteans who made it their study would place various articles in the hands of the infants, and observe what use they made of them. In the course of a few months the experts had accurately mapped the psychology of the child, and it was led in accordance therewith. The marriage customs of Atlas allowed no too rapid growth in numbers, and it was therefore easy to give each child attention. The method of opposition was again employed in education, the child's natural wish being constantly stimulated by a parallel training in the contrary subject. Children were also shewn a series of ordered facts, and an explanation given. But not the least pains was taken to ascertain whether the child had retained those instructions; they were left as impressions on the mind. The brain was not injured by the strain of being constantly forced to bring up its stores from the subconscious. It was found in practice that every child learnt everything that it was shown, and that this learning was always ready for use, while the consciousness was never wearied or overcrowded. It was also found that those whose memories were what we call good were precisely those who failed to develop in other ways more useful to society.

The most peculiar of all their methods was the search for genius. It was the business of the experts to pay the most serious and reverent attention to all that a child did, and whenever they failed to understand the workings of its mind, to place it under the charge of a special guardian, who did his utmost to comprehend sufficiently to be able to encourage it to become yet more unintelligible.

Many of the men had ossified extensions of the frontal process which amounted to horns, and the formation was occasionally found in the higher types of women. Curiously carven head-dresses of gold were worn by both sexes, and those of priestly rank adorned these with living serpents, and the high priests yet further with feathers or with wings, such being not the spoils of dead birds, but the blossoms of the live gold of the crowns. Some tradition of this custom is found in the pictures of the 'Gods' of Egypt, these gods being merely the Atlanteans whose mission civilized the country. The names of some of the earlier gods confirm this. Nu (Hebrew Noah) is Atlantean for arch, Zu (Egyptian Shu) for many ideas connecting with wind, Asi means cunnus quasi serpens,[3] obviously the name of an actual High Priestess. Ra is pure Atlantean for Sun, and 'Mse (Egyptian Chomse) for moon. The idea in 'Mse is that of a strong woman ('M) closing the mouth of a Serpent (S) or dragon, and from this we have the XIth card of the Bohemian Tarot, and the legend in the Apocalypse. In the mystic Greek used by the Gnostics we find similar traces, Σοφια being from S Ph, giving the idea of 'serpent breath' i.e. wisdom. IAO is Φαλλος, Κτεις, Πρωχτος. The word Λογος means the Boy (γ) naturally engendered of the Virgin (λ) and the Serpent (σ). Θεος (root O, first written 0) means the Sun in his strength and also the Lingam-Yoni conjoined. Χριστος is 'The love of passion of the Rising Sun (ρ) and the Serpent' (σ). The ι and τ indicate certain details which are foreign to the present discussion. Νευμα (Atlantean "NM") is the 'Arch of the Woman,' Μαρια, the Woman of the Sun.[4] The words Μειθρας and Αβραχας are again derived from Atlas. "The woman entered, Lingam being conjoined with Yoni, bears the Sun from her serpent womb" and "From the womb's mouth the Sun (cometh seeking) a womb for his desire, even the womb of a serpent," the course of the year being signified in this manner, as usual with the ancients. This plan of an idea corresponding to each letter was carried out very strictly: thus TLA, black, means the stigma or mark of the virgin's womb, IA (Hail! Greeting!) "Face to Face," from the other peculiarity described above. These few examples will suffice to indicate the singular character of the language,[5] and the way in which its essential dogmatic symbols have been incorporated by the heirs of Atlas in the inmost sanctuaries of races which they deemed worthy of such assistance.

I must not pass over in silence the question of sacrifice to the gods, to which a passing reference has already been made. Such sacrifices were not very frequent; the victims were the 'failures,' those who were useless to the social economy.[6] As they represented capital expenditure, the object was to recover this, at least, since no interest could be expected. The victim was therefore handed over to a High Priest or Priestess, who extracted the life by an instrument devised for and excellently adapted to the purpose, so that it died of exhaustion. The life thus regained was given to 'the gods' in a manner too complex to be described in this brief account.

The early age at which puberty occurred was due to design. The normal period of gestation had also been shortened to four months. This was all part of the scheme to economize time. Old age had been almost done away with by the great readiness of the Atlanteans to "go and see" at the first sign of failing power. No doubt, further improvements would have been made but for the loss of interest in the matter, all generation being regarded as "the old experiment," not likely to repay the trouble of further research. In the 200 or 300 years of a man's full vigour, only 8 years on the average was the wastage of childhood, and even this was not all waste, since some time at least must be necessary for the experts to discover and direct the tendencies of the mind. The body ought therefore to be regarded as an engine, the theoretical limit of whose efficiency had been reached.

So much I mention of the customs of the Atlanteans with regard to marriage, education and religious sacrifices.