Atlantis: What The Dreamers Say And What The Facts Say

06/29/01

Helena Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), the founder of Theosophy, claims to have identified the island or continent of Atlantis and that it will be found in the near future. In her book, The Secret Doctrine, she builds this huge scheme by which humans evolved through ages. The age preceding the Atlanteans was, according to Blavatsky, the Lemurian age. Then in the Atlantean age, the legendary Atlantis appeared. The transition between the ages is marked by cleansing:

The unfit ones—the failures—were disposed of by being swept off the earth… The Sub-races are subject to the same cleansing process.¹

Blavatsky claims that the elapsed time of these ages is far beyond our comprehension, and each one gives rise to its own evolutionary epoch and advance of the human species. She spends a lot of time discussing the physical stature of the Atlanteans and their mental capacity. She speaks of the statuary of Atlantis and makes a connection to the images found on Easter Island. And when archaeological dates of the statuary disagree with her assessment, she discounts the archaeological process as arbitrary:

This is one of those arbitrary decisions of modern science which does not carry much weight.²

Blavatsky describes Atlantis as this:

The Atlantic portion of Lemuria was the geological basis of what is generally known as Atlantis. [The] continent was formed by the coalescence of many islands and peninsula which were upheaved in the ordinary course of time and became ultimately the true home of the great Race known as the Atlanteans.³

Atlantis, she claims, is the Mid-Atlantic ridge. But science shows that the Mid-Atlantic ridge is building up, not receding, and has been so as far back as modern science can determine. Further, the Mid-Atlantic ridge is just that, a ridge. Plato’s dialogue of Atlantis described a plain. The Mid-Atlantic ridge has no such plain.

One of the peculiarities of Blavatsky is that she will subscribe to and quote scientists and philosophers that serve her objective, and discount all those that do not. She does not make a case based on fact, but builds a case and looks for facts to support her opinions and conclusions. She is blatantly described as a charlatan by her contemporaries and was even bluntly turned down by members of occult societies as being undisciplined and radical.

Nonetheless, her account of the origin and nature of Atlantis differ so greatly from that of Plato that one would be hard-pressed to make a logical connection outside of the name.

Blavatsky’s Atlantis is formed as part of evolution and the Atlantean races (she cites seven races in the Atlantean epoch) all mark stages of human evolution.

For more information on Helena Blavatsky and theosophy, see chapter 11 in my book, The Millennium Agenda.