Ancient civilizations: (priest, Earth, mystic, elder, evolve)

[YmirGF]

We have heard many tales of so-called "lost" civilizations. No credible traces have been unearthed to date and yet the discussions continue, perhaps stronger than ever before. The stories abound, some at great length and in stunning detail. The American psychic, Edgar Cayce, spoke at length on Atlantis, Mu, as well as a host of other topics. Should we listen to what he was telling us about these fabled lands, or is it just unconscious babble from a questionable source? Also in this category would be Lemuria and to another extent, even Shangri-La. I guess we could also throw in Ponce de Leon's "Fountain of Youth".

For example Google returns this many links for each:

Atlantis: 49,200,000
Mu civilization: 1,290,000
Lemuria: 1,270,000
Shangri-la: 10,800,000

I think anyone would agree that that is a huge amount of information, regarding something that has never been proven to exist. ("God" results in a staggering 540,000,000 links!)

I have different feelings about these "lost" civilization. What do you think?
Did you have a previous life in one of these civilizations? I don't mean this to be a debate of the validity of these civilzations, because such a debate would be somewhat moot to begin with. I am just interested in a discussion of what people believe. Obviously, many people have a great deal to say on the matter. What do you have to say?

[Ori]

I believe there were older civilizations, but I don't believe we'll ever find any real evidence to prove it.

[Jaymes]

I think a lot of these civilizations revolve around either what we want to be true rather than what is, or an idealized version of civilization according to certain eras.

Then again, who knows... maybe there is a mystical place hidden in the mountains where people live to extraordinary ages, and a city filled with technology sank into the sea long ago, and Elder Gods were angered when someone tried to summon Ythogtha, and a cataclysmic geographical event caused a continent of lemurs to sink into the ocean.

[Feathers in Hair]

I'm not sure what I believe on the subject. I've met people that feel that they were members of such civilizations in past lifes, and they seem to have found healing in researching them. It's interesting that some of the things one reads about such places seems to ring 'true.' For me, it's the Lemurian 'myth'. (Or 'fact'- I really don't know which it is.)

[Flappycat]

Oh, someone reminded me of a good point. When we're talking about "great" civilizations like, say, Atlantis, you have to keep in mind that a civilization working out a clever way to give themselves running water and similar luxuries would of course be viewed as fantastic and near-utopian by outsiders, even if its luxuries were bought on the backs of a severely deprived working class or it was merely planned by a series of rulers who had a strong artistic bent and knew how to make beautiful things out of simple materials. Something like carefully tended hedges and suchlike could just be worn away by time. Also, you have to take into account that peoples like the Assyrians punished anyone and everyone who dared to resist them by completely burying any memory that the offending city ever existed, to the point of salting the earth to keep anything from ever growing in their fields again and moving about the stones of every building in a place into such disorder as to make it as if an entire city, a whole civilization, never even existed. There could have been a grand and wonderful civilization that the Assyrians, for that matter the Romans, wiped out the entire memory of along with anything they'd ever discovered or written.

Even more recently, the spread of Christianity was essentially the purposeful destruction of all other cultures.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Cayce's physic readings have gained a significant amout of credibility.

With whom? Based upon what?

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Sorry Jawhawker, I should refrain from making sweeping generalizations.

You should also refrain from gross fabrications. Now, again, can you document any credible milieu in which "Cayce's physic readings have gained a significant amout of credibility"?

[PHOTOTAKER]

the names used now for the cities, are name that have changed over the years... if some of these names are thousands of years old if we find it and the name is different how will we know?... in meso America there are cities that are underwater and underground that have been berried by volcano activity and earth quacks also to mention Ponpa no one knew it existed... also the pyramided in Canada... we find lost cities but no one knows there real name and if they find out what it is called language has changed the name... we look at the bible the names used for cities are not used in some cases, so finding the cities is one thing; figuring out what it is call is anther... how know if legand really happend sience people tend to strich the truth every now and agin...

[michel]

Originally Posted by YmirGF