A Detour Through Ancient Egypt

Currently, history classes teach us that the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx were built around the same time, somewhere between 2000-2500 BCE, making these structures between 4,000 and 5,000 thousand years old today. But comments by Egyptologist R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz in the mid-50s, in which he noted what looked like water damage to the Sphinx enclosure, caught the attention of author and amateur Egyptologist John Anthony West, who decided to continue investigating the erosion. After many years of study, J.A. West concluded that most of the damage was indeed due to heavy and prolonged rains. Based on known geological changes in the region, these findings would indicate the Sphinx was built much earlier – 2,000 to 5,000 years earlier! If true, this revision in the Sphinx’s timeline, along with similar evidence emerging from other monolithic sites, could end up rewriting a large part of our story about how modern human civilization evolved. J.A. West’s research also led him – and a growing number of others – to reject the common explanation of the Great Pyramid as a tomb, citing both the fact that no mummies were ever found in the pyramid and the stark structural and decorative differences between the Great Pyramid and other known tombs.

In his work over the years, Graham Hancock has often cited J.A. West’s findings at the Sphinx as one of the many pieces of  evidence now supporting Graham’s broader theory about the occurrence of a catastrophic global event, likely a comet strike, that occurred approximately 12,000 years ago, triggering the end of the last ice age. Graham believes that as the massive glaciers covering the continents melted, the resulting floods and severe climate change destroyed the antediluvian civilization whose survivors later brought advanced technology to Egypt and other sites around the world. And yes, I have just alluded to the lost civilization of Atlantis. (Welcome to The Fringe!!)  Yet the evidence presented in numerous films and books, a few of which are included in these next few posts, makes a compelling case that we should, at the very least, be discussing an alternative timeline for the evolution of human civilization. (An argument also made by Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock in their book Keeper of Genesis: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind and again in Hancock’s recent bestseller, Magicians of the Gods.)

I’ll admit that while in the midst of my (figurative) trip through the exotic locales and stories of ancient Egypt, a part of me recognized the oddity of entertaining ideas about lost civilizations and 26,000 year time cycles. Then I would remember that, for 50+ years and until just a few months ago, I had been living with a wildly inaccurate understanding of my own true nature. Yet here was an ancient civilization which, as stated by Hancock and others, appeared to have developed sophisticated philosophies about the nature of reality and human consciousness. This knowledge, kept secret and passed down through the Egyptian mystery schools, was said to provide the initiate with the experience of ‘death before dying’, which liberated the student from his fear of death and so brought a richer and more peaceful life. But much of this knowledge was also hidden in plain sight, in the deeper layers beneath the stories, symbols and structures of ancient Egypt, layers which would only be revealed to those who had been initiated – and to a few dedicated scholars.

But here’s the thing with choosing an especially esoteric wisdom tradition as the foundation for exploring your own consciousness – there aren’t a lot of experts at hand to help you get to the key content. For example, I might hear Eckhart Tolle or Rupert Spira quote passages from the Bible, the Tao Te Ching or even the Quran but I can’t recall anyone leaning on a phrase from the Saggara pyramid texts during a teaching about the egoic self – know what I mean? Not that I thought this was a problem, at least not at first. My approach was more, “just give me the Egyptian texts and I’ll figure it out myself!”.  My thinking here – if you can call it that – was that by studying the ancient wisdom (more or less) directly, I would be accessing a version of a universal truth that wasn’t wrapped in as much opinion, dogma and tradition as is found with more mainstream traditions and religions. So I dived right into the deep end (typical) and bought the definitive book on the topic of ancient Egyptian wisdom, The Temple of Man, Rene Adolphe Schwaller de Lubicz’s 1000+ page tome on the Amun-Mut-Knonsu temple at Luxor. It was after reading the 29-page Introduction – which generated two pages of notes and four bookmarks – that I fully grasped the size of my new undertaking; if my path to explore altered states of consciousness was to be based on the wisdom of ancient Egypt, I’d first have to learn a great deal about the context for this wisdom – the symbols, language, science and metaphysical concepts. And it suddenly seemed like a basic understanding of my own consciousness was very far away indeed.

Between coming face-to-face with this massive learning curve and the realization that diving into a specific tradition was not a good place for me to start, I soon decided to set aside the specific topic of ancient Egypt in favor of returning to the larger topic of exploring the nature of consciousness. And yet I continue to tune in occasionally to the ongoing debate Hancock, West, Schoch and others are fueling about human civilization’s evolution. Recent discoveries at Gobekli Tepe, including a stone tablet that describes large comet fragments hitting the planet about 11,000 years ago(!), are lending yet more support to Hancock’s theories, which he discusses in this short interview.

As I reviewed these films for this post, there’s no doubt that the allure and mystery of ancient Egyptian wisdom still beckons – especially in light of these new findings – and I look forward to re-immersing in the books of Schwaller de Lubicz on some special day in the future. (I just hope there’s a support group.)

 

Mystery of the Sphinx (1993)

In this Emmy-award winning documentary, we are introduced to the work of John Anthony West, author and amateur Egyptologist who, in following up on Schwaller de Lubicz’s earlier observations of possible water damage to the Sphinx, uncovered the evidence that has raised serious doubts about the accepted 4,500-year age of the Sphinx. Using information from erosion patterns, Egyptian texts, seismic records, forensic science, and modern engineers, West and geologist Dr. Robert Schoch make a very meticulous and coherent case that the Sphinx is between 7,000 (Schoch) and 10,000 (West) years old and, given this information, may have been built by an earlier civilization.

If the film is a bit dated (and narrated by Charlton Heston! who gets to read from the Bible in his very best Moses voice), it’s still well done and very well researched. Also to its credit, the film gives a fair amount of time to the critics of these new theories. But what was most compelling for me was how effectively the evidence stacks up. I’ve often heard it said that exceptional ideas require exceptional evidence and I’d say West et al have cleared the bar.

 

The Pyramid Code (2009)

I have to imagine that this 5-part series is the result of the flurry created by J.A. West’s film of sixteen years earlier. Dr. Carmen Boulter’s work is the basis for this extensive review of ancient Egyptian culture, beginning with a look at the variety of pyramids in six areas along the Nile. The length of the series allows close examination of the kinds of details rarely seen in other films (though a bit of time does get lost in some over-dramatization) so even if the questions raised throughout the films aren’t of interest, anyone wanting to learn about this remarkable culture will find this an informative series.

But the questions raised during the films are the point and they’re clearly meant to build on the earlier work of West, Bauval and others in re-assessing the age of the pyramids, the age of the ancient Egyptian culture, the state of their technology and the possible existence of an even earlier advanced civilization. The latter part of the series takes a quick look into the Egyptian practices concerning altered states of consciousness, including their apparent focus on the importance of the hormonal glands and related energy fields. Graham Hancock makes an appearance, reviewing specific carvings that record Egyptian’s use of psychotropic plants – the blue lotus and mandrake root – to access altered states of awareness during the rituals practiced by initiates (interesting to note how the Egyptians restricted access to this knowledge). The series concludes by suggesting that the Mayan and Hindu calendars, with their cyclical time structures, provide clues about an  earlier Golden Age that may have produced the advanced civilization that seeded ancient Egypt and other sites with the advanced knowledge needed to build monolithic structures, like the Sphinx, so many thousands of years ago.

A note – if the Vedic time cycle is new to you as well, this series includes a nice introduction to this 26,000-year cycle.

 

John Anthony West – Symbolist Egypt – The Meaning Behind the Magic

J. A. West’s other significant contribution to the understanding of Egypt is his support for the work of R., A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Egyptologist and author of The Temple of Man, first published in 1957 and widely regarded as an authoritative source on the origination and meaning of Egyptian symbols. Because Schwaller wrote in French, his work wasn’t widely available to western audiences until the book’s translation in 1998. West, after learning French in order to read Schwaller’s work, helped educate western audiences about this work – as well as his own contributions – through his lectures and books on the topic. In this lecture, J. A. West introduces some of the basic concepts one must be aware of to correctly interpret the symbols of ancient Egypt. The sound quality and picture quality here isn’t great but it’s an interesting review of some of the familiar hieroglyph figures – the jackal, the beetle, and ibis. I suggest fast forwarding to the 17 min. mark to avoid West’s meandering intro comments.

 

Magicians of the Gods – snapshots of a work in progress

In this lecture, Graham Hancock presents some of the interesting details behind his research for Magicians of the Gods, his recent book in which he lays out the new evidence supporting his theories of an antediluvian civilization that seeded the continents with ancient wisdom just after the last ice age. It’s a good primer on the content of the book but also, given Graham’s engaging style, an interesting set of stories on ancient Egypt and the latest archeological discoveries coming from sites in Gobekli Tepe (Turkey), Baalbek (Lebanon) and other monolithic digs.

 

Graham Hancock – Ancient Civilizations (2012)

In his typically informative but entertaining manner, Graham presents the evidence for the existence of an ancient advanced civilization, starting with the flood stories that populate many wisdom traditions. Graham continues with reviews of ancient maps, Egyptian texts, geological evidence, and monolithic structures, including the Great Pyramid. And this last part might be the best part: Graham has been able to spend considerable time inside the Great Pyramid and he shares some engrossing details about each chamber, shaft and structure. Graham’s deep expertise and passion for the topic combine to make this one of his better lectures on this topic.

 

Robert Bauval – Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

In this recent lecture, Robert Bauval attempts to summarize decades of his observations, stories and wonder about the monolithic structures of ancient Egypt. His engineering background is on full display as he marvels at the incredible precision and sheer size of the Giza pyramids and other buildings; we’re again treated to a number of the small stories and observations that can only come from people who’ve spent many days and weeks in these places. Bauval briefly reviews his previous work connecting the position of the pyramids to star formations before moving on to describe the rituals ancient Egyptians used for exploring states of consciousness. Bauval cites these rituals as the source of the insights needed to build with stones of such enormous sizes, stones we’d have problems even moving today, never mind building with them. Bauval concludes with reviewing the significance of the Nabta Playa site – and it all becomes a bit hurried from there. Bauval clearly enjoys the topic a bit too much to stay on schedule but it’s still an interesting primer if you’re unfamiliar with his work. And another tip – his lengthy intro ends at about the 12 min. mark.

 

Is The House of History Built on Foundations of Sand? Graham Hancock – TEDx (2016)

In this 18-minute lecture, Hancock summarizes the growing body of evidence (as of mid-2016) supporting his view that a comet strike of around 12,000 years ago created an environmental catastrophe that lead to the disappearance of an earlier advanced civilization. As usual, Graham uses his time to make his fact-filled case clearly and persuasively before concluding with a review of the compelling new discoveries coming from Gobekli Tepe, a monolithic site in Turkey confirmed to be at least 12,800 years old. This site, which appears to have been intentionally buried thousands of years ago, has just begun to be fully excavated and it seems there’s little doubt more discoveries will emerge that continue to beg the question – from where did civilizations of 13,000+ years ago learn to build such advanced structures?

 

Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, John Anthony West – Secrets of the Pyramids and the Sphinx (1995)

TLC created this 50-min documentary in which the three main boat-rockers – Hancock, West and Bauval – present their collective case that numerous structures and texts of the ancient Egyptians demonstrate a level of technology that was well beyond the abilities of the Bronze Age culture we’ve assumed them to be. This documentary, which uses much of the same key footage seen in the first two films, does a nice job of presenting the main themes in the related work of these three men; work that, years later, continues to reshape the historical timeline of ancient Egypt – and perhaps that of human civilization as well.

 

top image: Daniel H. Tong