We all know that the greatest mass of an iceberg is hidden unseen beneath the surface of the water. And likewise, underlying the search for Atlantis lie many deep prejudices. Some of these prejudices revolve around time. Our twentieth-century faith in progress propels us towards the future, leaving the past behind at a constantly accelerating rate. But here at the Return to the Source Symposium we are invited to face the past. This event is an opportunity to turn to the past for knowledge and perhaps even some wisdom.
I believe that Plato's famous account of Atlantis
is a holographic fragment, a sliver of a once common view of the world.
In order to reconstruct that worldview we must revise our own assumptions
about geography. Words like "Atlantic", "Libya" and "Asia" had a different
meaning to the ancient Greeks than they do to us today. When we realize
this, Plato's account of Atlantis can be read without distortion and we
can follow his clues to their logical conclusion. But in order to understand
this Atlantean worldview we need to reconsider our own presuppositions
about geography.
Here's a map of the Earth centered on North America,
and although you may not have seen this particular projection before -
the world is still recognizable: it doesn't challenge any of our current
beliefs. North is "up" as it is always traditionally depicted. (I should
say here that this only a tradition. There is no such thing as "up"
when the Earth is seen from outer space.) Notice how the "north-is-up"
perspective causes the oceans to appear as distinctive bodies of water.
The Pacific and Atlantic seem to be entirely separate "oceans". This "north-is-up"
viewpoint also highlights the separateness of the continents. Now I'd like
to show you a map of the world showing South in the "up" position.