06/29/01
Max Heindel( - 1919), the founder of the Rosicrucian Fellowship (not associated with the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis [AMORC]), has a similar, but nonetheless unique spin on the legend of Atlantis. Heindel lived at the turn of the 20th century and was familiar with Blavatsky. It is apparent that much of his philosophy and writings were influenced by Blavatsky.
Like Blavatsky, Heindel’s story of Atlantis is part of the saga of evolution. Heindel, however, identifies six ages, of which Atlantis is the fourth. According to Heindel, we are in the fifth, or Aryan age.
Heindel does not give much detail (as does Blavatsky) about the geographic origin of Atlantis, but rather describes the atmosphere and inhabitants. He claims that Atlantis was in the cross winds of the polar fronts from the north and the tropical fronts from the south, causing a unique atmospheric condition:
From the southern part of the planet came the hot fiery breath of the volcanoes which were still abundantly active. From the north swept down the icy blasts of the Polar region. The continent of Atlantis was the meeting place of those two currents, consequently its atmosphere was always filled with a thick murky fog. The water was not so dense as now, but contained a greater proportion of air. Much water was held in suspension in the heavy, foggy Atlantean atmosphere.1
The comment about the water being less dense seems odd at this point, but hold that thought—it will make sense in a few minutes as you read on.
What Heindel is saying here, and in ensuing text, is that the fog was so thick that the Atlanteans used mental telepathy to perceive their surroundings. It was only later that they developed keen eyesight as it was not necessary with the dense fog and the superior faculty of mental telepathy.
He also claims that the original Semites were the fifth of seven Atlantean races. The Semites migrated to the Gobi desert and thus survived the demise of Atlantis.
A theme that Heindel has in common with Blavatsky is that of racial cleansing:
Mention has been made of the stragglers of various Periods who in later Periods were enabled to take a step upward in evolution. There were some, however, who did not take this step. They did not evolve, and were therefore left further and further behind, until they became a drag and a hindrance to the progressive ones. It became necessary to get them out of the way, that the evolution of the others might not be retarded.2
Heindel, like Blavatsky, refers to these stragglers as "failures." At the end of the Atlantean age and beginning of the Aryan age, the fog over Atlantis began to condense and the mass of water from all this dense fog amounted to enough water to flood the continent of Atlantis, thus eliminating the "failures" of the Atlantean races.
It is interesting that while Heindel’s acount of Atlantis (and indeed, all humanity) is based on evolution, he only addresses human evolution. That is, unlike Darwinism, Heindel claims that humans evolved wholly independent of any other animal species, nonetheless passing through mineral and plant phases. He claims that there are earlier stages of human evolution still living on the Sun, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus, some of which he calls Archangels (from the Sun), the Lords of the Mind (from Saturn) and Lords of Form.
For more information about Max Heindel, see chapter 14 in my book, The Millennium Agenda.
For more information on evolution, see chapters 4 and 5 in my book.