Serie C brev nr 8

Magazine Overview

This issue of "BREVCIRKELN," specifically "SERIE C -- BREV NR 8," is dedicated to exploring the enigmatic "MAYA ---- TIDSÅLDRARNAS GÅTA" (The Maya ---- Riddle of the Ages), authored by Anna-Lisa Helle. The content delves into the history, culture, and mysteries surrounding the Maya civilization, drawing parallels with other ancient cultures and exploring theories about their origins and legacy.

The Maya Civilization: Descendants of Higher Cultures

The article begins by placing the Maya in a historical context, noting that they were descendants of the even more advanced Toltec culture, which itself followed an even more sophisticated civilization. The Toltecs were famous for their monumental constructions like the pyramids of Teotihuacan and Cholula, which were significantly larger than Egypt's Cheops pyramid. When the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez approached the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, the sight was so enchanting that the soldiers wondered if it was a dream. The Maya, known for their giant structures, were the successors to this advanced culture.

During the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula was a center of Maya culture, densely populated with numerous cities. These cities were remarkable for their public buildings, grandeur, and artistic decoration. Countless ruins of cities, temples, palaces, and other structures attest to their former beauty. Many of these buildings, which escaped the Spanish's destructive intent, exhibit a planning and execution that is highly impressive and often seems to have served a religious purpose. Sadly, Christian missionaries acted like vandals, destroying statues, toppling temples, and obliterating manuscripts that would have been invaluable for historical research.

The Mystery of the Abandoned Cities

A particularly baffling aspect of the Maya is the mystery of their abandoned cities. When the Spanish, after years of conflict, finally entered the capital city of Chichen Itza, they found it deserted. No one knows why its more than 100,000 inhabitants left their city or where they went. This enigma is compounded by the fact that many other Maya cities met the same fate.

Maya Culture vs. Spanish Conquest

When the Spanish conquered Mexico, they plundered a culture that, in many respects, surpassed their own. However, the people who met them with weapons in hand to defend their land were technologically inferior. They had not invented gunpowder and therefore could not long withstand the Spanish firearms and pistols. It is suggested that the conquest would not have succeeded without a good deal of luck and the aid of deception and betrayal among the Mexican population. It took many years of intense struggle before the Spanish could finally enter the capital.

Architectural Marvels and Artistic Achievements

The magnificent ruins of Chichen Itza include several temples with friezes, statues, columns, and reliefs, all centered around a large pyramid called El Castillo. The pyramid in Yaxmal, south of Merida, is also famous, with its three terraces topped by a stately temple richly adorned with sculptures. The decorations are executed in a pure, strict style that makes a very strong impression. Equally famous are the Maya's mosaic works. They also mastered the art of casting gold using the "à cire perdue" method.

Machu Picchu and the Peruvian Andes

The captivating Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, perched high on a mountain between two peaks and surrounded by the Peruvian Andes, must have been a spectacular sight. It is understood that this "city among the clouds" is one of the world's most fascinating enigmas. Countless researchers have pondered who built it, why it was built, and when. While the exact timing is unknown, carbon dating has revealed that people inhabited Peru as early as 9,000 years ago, with some new investigations suggesting habitation as far back as 30,000 years ago.

Machu Picchu is often called the "lost city" because it was not discovered until the beginning of the 20th century by Hiram Bingham, an explorer and professor of Latin American history at Yale University. Bingham, through his research in old texts, found indications of a remarkable city northwest of Cuzco that the cunning Spaniards had failed to find. Upon discovering the city, he found its temples, fountains, tombs, cultivation terraces, and endless stairs hidden in the dense jungle, guarding secrets that might never be revealed. While its construction date is unknown, Bingham believed it to be the oldest city of the Inca Empire. His findings were published in several books.

Experts in architecture are astonished by the massive structures, noting that no two building stones are alike. Each stone was shaped for its specific place, with intricate corners and angles precisely fitted. As various researchers of Maya culture have often pointed out, the construction is so skillfully done that a knife blade cannot be inserted into the joints. It is marveled how such a dry and almost riverless land could develop such a flourishing civilization. The water supply for Machu Picchu was ingeniously managed through a system of fountains placed along a line that essentially cut the city from top to bottom, providing convenient access to water for everyone. Water was channeled from springs higher up the mountain via stone aqueducts, and then led through tunnels and holes bored through thick stone walls to fontanes. These fontanes were constructed so that water spurted out of a hole in the stone wall into a basin carved from the rock. From there, it was led through a covered channel to the next fontane. Modern experts consider these irrigation systems to be highly efficient and capable of functioning even today with advanced machinery. This system is compared to Plato's description of water management through aqueducts in Atlantis, showing a striking resemblance to the Maya's solution for water supply.

Maya and Egyptian Parallels

The Maya are often called the "Egypt of America" due to the striking similarities between their cultures, suggesting a common origin. The connection is of great interest, and it is practically impossible to study Maya history without encountering parallels with ancient Egyptian culture, which itself dates back to prehistoric times. The oldest surviving Egyptian artifacts attest to such a high level of craftsmanship that a long period of development must have preceded it. The meticulous care the ancient Egyptians took in preparing tombs and providing for the deceased with grave goods, artworks, inscriptions, and paintings, has been described by a historian as the "most outstanding cultural history picture book."

Karl Weinländer, in "Der Biblische Moses," provides a good overview of their highly developed culture. He notes that their architectural works, still partially visible today, inspire awe in our most skilled builders. Their knowledge of natural forces and their application was far advanced, surpassing our own in many aspects. Their pigment industry cannot produce colors as durable and beautiful as those made by ancient chemists. The colors found in tombs within pyramids, dating back 6,000 years, still look new. Our doctors and chemists do not possess the art of healing and preservation that the Egyptian priests did. These priests also had knowledge of natural forces and laws that are now forgotten. For example, the hydraulic law, by which Egyptian engineers constructed many aqueducts, is unknown to our physicists. The Egyptians' knowledge of astronomy was also extensive.

Ancient Knowledge and Technologies

The extent of their knowledge and capabilities is evident from the fact that 6,000 years ago, they mastered the art of writing and reading, understood electricity, and knew methods for preparing various oils, including glycerin oil, soap, paper, glass, perfume, and even gunpowder. They also knew how to produce a type of Greek fire, composed of petroleum, sulfur, and saltpeter.

Carl Grimberg, in his "World History," states that we can now trace one of the oldest roots of the Maya civilization back to the fourth millennium BC, continuing until the ancient Egyptian culture declined. This represents a coherent cultural development over four millennia, unmatched anywhere on Earth. Thanks to numerous tomb and temple finds, the light of history has increasingly illuminated Egypt's ancient past. More clearly than ever, Egypt is seen as the primary factor in the creation of a burgeoning world culture.

Maya Astronomy and Calendars

Detached Maya scientists and prominent astronomers also studied the movements of the sun, moon, and planets in the sky, as well as the positions of the stars. Raymond Cartier, in his overview of recent research on lost cultures, writes that Maya science was far superior to that of the Greeks and Romans in many areas. They possessed profound mathematical and astronomical knowledge and achieved near perfection in chronology and calendar calculations. They built dome observatories that were significantly better than those in Paris in the 17th century. For example, they built the "spiral staircase," which rose above three terraces in their capital, Chichen Itza. They were familiar with the sacred year of 260 days, the solar year of 365, and the Venus year of 584 days. Our current solar year is determined to be 365.2422 days. The Maya calculated it as 365.2420 days, a difference of only a decimal point from the figure we have arrived at through modern calculations. It is possible that the Egyptians also arrived at a similarly accurate result, but to accept this, one must believe in the controversial theory of similarities in pyramid measurements with certain astronomical calculations, whereas we possess the ancient Maya calendar.

Writing Systems and the Atlantis Connection

The Maya civilization's higher level compared to the Aztecs and Incas was largely due to their invention of writing, which was unknown to the other peoples. Unfortunately, only one fragment remains of their thousands of books, which by chance escaped the fanatical destruction by Spanish priests. Most of this remarkable people's history was lost when the destructive conquerors, in a fit of madness, burned their literary treasures and razed the stone inscriptions bearing hieroglyphs. The Maya's wonderful hieroglyphs, drawn on parchment and agave paper, were also carved into stone and painted on the walls of their temples.

The shadow of Atlantis is glimpsed here again. Of all the hundreds of scripts developed by various races worldwide, all but two are based on pictograms. These two exceptions are the Phoenician alphabet and the one used by the Maya. Both are based on phonetic principles, meaning they represent sounds through written characters. These alphabets are so similar that no one can doubt their common origin. Although these hieroglyphic systems embody ideas common to both alphabets, no archaeologist has yet found evidence of their common origin through excavations. Nevertheless, it must have taken thousands of years of thought and experimentation by a highly civilized people to develop this unique system of phonetic signs.

Why has no trace been found of their gradual attempts to perfect this outstanding invention, when petroglyphs in prehistoric caves, likely from an earlier stage of world history, can be found? There can only be one possible explanation: that this people was the people of Atlantis, and all traces of their successive development to a high stage of culture were wiped out with them during the catastrophic natural disaster that destroyed their continent. Many prominent scientists now also consider it probable that Atlantis gradually sank into the sea due to repeated natural catastrophes, leaving only small remnants sticking out of the water in a few places. Nor do they consider it unlikely that large parts of this land still existed above water not so many thousand years ago, forming a chain of islands, as Plato described Atlantis.

Maya Philosophy and Ethics

The Maya's life philosophy can be summarized as striving to create a calm and harmonious state of mind that would lead to the beauty in all things, which was later highly valued in Greek culture, more than material progress. The Greeks would likely not have felt out of place in a gathering of Maya priests and rulers when discussing their general life philosophy and way of life. However, they might have been bewildered by the Maya's intense interest in the problem of time, an area no other culture has explored with such intensity, perhaps with the exception of the Egyptians.

Our modern "discoveries" would not have impressed the Greek natural scientists and philosophers, who knew most things. Leucippus and Democritus, for example, clearly understood that everything consists of atoms, which are indivisible, indestructible, in constant motion, and floating in a vacuum. The mathematician Eratosthenes accurately determined the Earth's circumference with remarkable precision using primitive instruments, and the astronomer Hipparchus estimated the length of the solar year to be correct within 6 minutes. He also calculated the distance to the moon with only a five percent margin of error.

Maya laws were wise and strict. Murder, robbery, and adultery were punished severely, usually with loss of life or slavery. Class distinctions were strongly pronounced, and marriage was held in high regard. Their concept of God was at a high level. Hunab Ku, the creator and father of all, was not to be depicted but was to exist solely in the heart of the believer. Human sacrifice, common among the Aztecs, did not occur among the Maya. It is natural, as they must have realized at their level of development, that the creator "does not demand anything, neither burnt offerings nor human sacrifices nor other slaughter."

Education and Discipline

The developing generation was fostered for self-control through perfect discipline. The German ethnographer Karl Sapper recounts the strictness with which children were raised, explaining that it is the consistency in training that prevents discipline from slackening as the child grows, and it continues throughout life. For major religious holidays and before important decisions in the people's lives, periods of fasting and abstinence were observed. It was believed that the group would suffer misfortune if the rules were not followed, thus strengthening the individual's loyalty to the group and encouraging them to fully fulfill their duties.

The Concept of Time and Cycles

According to the Maya conception, "time does not only move backward but also forward, but our preserved calculations only extend four millennia into the future. It is clear that the future was of less interest to them than the past, which, judging by everything, was because they believed that history repeats itself as soon as the divine influences come into balance as before, and therefore it was most important to learn about the constellations of the past." The traditions passed down among the Maya regarding the number of creations and destructions vary. The Aztecs believed that the world had gone through four cosmic ages, and the present is the fifth age. Each preceding period, according to their tradition, ended violently with, for example, jaguars, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and floods. The present, the fifth period, was predicted to end in "earthly destruction." Maya and Aztecs agreed that the world would perish when an overwhelming combination of negative influences marked the end of an era.

It is not known with certainty what time span the Maya attributed to the different periods, but since their priests calculated hundreds of millions of years into the past, it is likely that they were so divinely inspired that they gained knowledge of what time is and therefore envisioned a world without beginning. The belief that we are living in the fourth period is expressed in two sources. However, it is likely that the Maya, like the Aztecs, considered the current period to be the fifth. The differing views might be due to the fact that among the Maya, there must have been an esoteric understanding alongside a popular belief.

Theosophical Parallels and Root Races

It is of interest here to draw a comparison with the Theosophical teachings on root races. According to this doctrine, the first continent, called the "Holy Land of the Hyperboreans," was located at the North Pole, and the first race developed there. This was the birthplace of the first human and the dwelling place for the great chosen and wise, who were destined to become the future inhabitants of the new age.

On the second continent lived the second race of giants. This land stretched from the North Pole south and west, encompassing what is now Northern Asia, Greenland, Sweden, and Spitsbergen. In their mythology, the Greeks allude to this continent as the land of the gods, Apollo's favorite dwelling, and tell that its inhabitants were his beloved priests and servants.

Winter was unknown on this continent. There are many allegories that hint at the climatic changes of those distant times, caused by the change in the Earth's axial tilt. The myth of Phaeton is one of them. There was a time, long ago, when the North Pole had a nearly tropical climate and was often referred to as the land where "magnolias bloomed." According to this myth, Phaeton brought warmth to the frozen stars of the far North, awakening the dragons frozen by the cold, and met his death when Zeus's thunderbolt struck him down into the Eridanus River. The myth states that Phaeton's sisters shed hot tears of sorrow at his death, which fell into the Eridanus and turned into amber. Amber, incidentally, is found most commonly in the Baltic Sea.

The third continent was Lemuria. This continent encompassed not only a large area in the Pacific and Indian Oceans but also stretched westwards past Madagascar to Southern Africa, with only a fragment under formation in the Atlantic Ocean up to Norway. However, this continent broke apart during a certain period, forming new, separate continents, which was caused by a decrease in the Earth's rotational speed.

According to the esoteric doctrine, there are complete records of the development of the Lemurian race, preserved in secret archives but unknown to the general public. It was during the later part of the third race that "gods descended and ignited the spark of understanding in humanity," or, as we might express it, humanity became self-aware or received an individual soul.

The Easter Island Colossi and Lost Civilizations

In India, there are five large statues, specifically in Jellalabad Valley. The largest, 173 feet high, represents the first human race; another, 120 feet high, represents the second race; and one, 60 feet high, represents the third race. However, when Lemuria sank, the race had shrunk in body size to about twenty or twenty-five feet. On Easter Island, considered one of the remnants of Lemuria, there are statues of this later type. On this small Polynesian island, there are no fewer than 593 giant stone statues. Based on the research conducted on these enigmatic colossal statues, it is believed that there were three cultural levels, the oldest being the most complete. Like in Egypt, the massive blocks of tuff, basalt, and lava are joined with exceptional skill. Modern research asks in vain how the transport of these massive blocks was accomplished. And where would the enormous labor force required for this task have come from? In the 19th century, only about 200 people lived on the island, and it is unlikely that more than 34,000 people ever lived on this barren island, where no animals exist.

Here too, Christian missionaries ensured that every trace of the lost culture was wiped out. At the foot of the statues lay small tablets of driftwood with carved hieroglyphs that were burned or sent to the Vatican. "Why?" the authors of "The Fantastic Reality" rightly ask. Were they afraid of the truth? Did it concern testimony of ancient knowledge, memories of entirely different beings than humans once inhabiting our planet?

The Atlantean Connection and Future Races

To return to the secret teachings: the Atlantean part of Lemuria was the geological foundation for what is generally called Atlantis, but it should be considered a development of the Atlantean extension of Lemuria. The new race on Atlantis, the fourth continent, evolved from a chosen group of people belonging to the Nord-Lemurian third race. This continent was formed by the merging of land and peninsulas that gradually rose from the ocean over time.

Geologically, Atlantis has left traces in many parts of Europe, Asia, and both American continents. Thorough scientific investigations and studies of the ocean floor have shown that a large mountain range stretched across the Atlantic continent, and these mountains, as the "ancient texts" state, "sank their roots into the sea and raised their peaks towards the sky." The Allegheny Mountains and the Alps were once part of a single, vast mountain range.

In the pyramids of Egypt, there is crucial evidence that Atlantis existed and of the immense influence this continent had on our era's science, particularly astronomy. The pyramids contain astronomical calculations dealing with time periods that date far beyond what the Egyptians could have known. When the race degenerated and a large part of the population perished as the land was flooded, the texts say that a few people who remained pure-hearted and filled with divine love were saved and escaped in giant airships. Thus, this small remnant of Atlantis formed part of the new race, the Aryan race, which was born in the North. Only after Atlantis sank did these tribes emigrate further south.

There were supposed to have been five great continents and root races. When will the seventh root race emerge? No one can answer this question, but according to the esoteric conception, we are now on the upward arc and are slowly working our way up from our current grossly materialistic epoch until a new race is born, a race far advanced in spiritual development.

Conclusion and Hope for the Future

Regardless of these prophecies and despite all wishful thinking about humanity's future, one can be optimistic, knowing that evolution moves forward and that a species only dies to give rise to another, more evolved one. This means that Providence is making another attempt...

One would therefore like to believe and hope that when the new continent emerges with its new root race, it will be a race of highly developed, "godlike" humans who will make the Earth the paradise it was meant to be, the kingdom of God that the Masters dreamed of and that the Maya, by all accounts, managed to realize in their beautiful, enigmatic world during a happy moment in human history.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue are the mysteries of ancient civilizations, particularly the Maya, their advanced knowledge, and their potential connections to other lost civilizations like Atlantis. The editorial stance appears to be one of fascination with these ancient enigmas and a willingness to explore speculative theories, while also acknowledging the destruction of historical records and the ongoing quest for knowledge. The issue emphasizes the advanced nature of ancient cultures compared to modern understanding in certain areas and suggests a cyclical view of history and civilization.