Cosmic Memory
GA 11
ii. From the Akasha Chronicle (Preface)
[ 1 ] By means of ordinary history man can learn only a small part of what humanity experienced in prehistory. Historical documents shed light on but a few millennia. What archaeology, paleontology, and geology can teach us is very limited. Furthermore, everything built on external evidence is unreliable. One need only consider how the picture of an event or people, not so very remote from us, has changed when new historical evidence has been discovered. One need but compare the descriptions of one and the same thing as given by different historians, and he will soon realize on what uncertain ground he stands in these matters. Everything belonging to the external world of the senses is subject to time. In addition, time destroys what has originated in time. On the other hand, external history is dependent on what has been preserved in time. Nobody can say that the essential has been preserved, if he remains content with external evidence.
Everything which comes into being in time has its origin in the eternal. But the eternal is not accessible to sensory perception. Nevertheless, the ways to the perception of the eternal are open for man. He can develop forces dormant in him so that he can recognize the eternal. In the essays, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der hoheren Welten? (How Does One Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds?), which appear in this periodical,1 this development is referred to. These essays were published in book form, Berlin, 1909., this development is referred to. These present essays will also show that at a certain high level of his cognitive power, man can penetrate to the eternal origins of the things which vanish with time. A man broadens his power of cognition in this way if he is no longer limited to external evidence where knowledge of the past is concerned. Then he can see in events what is not perceptible to the senses, that part which time cannot destroy. He penetrates from transitory to non-transitory history. It is a fact that this history is written in other characters than is ordinary history. In gnosis and in theosophy it is called the “Akasha Chronicle.” Only a faint conception of this chronicle can be given in our language. For our language corresponds to the world of the senses. That which is described by our language at once receives the character of this sense world. To the uninitiated, who cannot yet convince himself of the reality of a separate spiritual world through his own experience, the initiate easily appears to be a visionary, if not something worse.
The one who has acquired the ability to perceive in the spiritual world comes to know past events in their eternal character. They do not stand before him like the dead testimony of history, but appear in full life. In a certain sense, what has happened takes place before him.
Those initiated into the reading of such a living script can look back into a much more remote past than is represented by external history; and—on the basis of direct spiritual perception—they can also describe much more dependably the things of which history tells. In order to avoid possible misunderstanding, it should be said that spiritual perception is not infallible. This perception also can err, can see in an inexact, oblique, wrong manner. No man is free from error in this field, no matter how high he stands. Therefore one should not object when communications emanating from such spiritual sources do not always entirely correspond. But the dependability of observation is much greater here than in the external world of the senses. What various initiates can relate about history and prehistory will be in essential agreement. Such a history and prehistory does in fact exist in all mystery schools. Here for millennia the agreement has been so complete that the conformity existing among external historians of even a single century cannot be compared with it. The initiates describe essentially the same things at all times and in all places.
[ 2 ] Following this introduction, several chapters from the Akasha Chronicle will be given. First, those events will be described which took place when the so-called Atlantean Continent still existed between America and Europe. This part of our earth's surface was once land. Today this forms the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Plato tells of the last remnant of this land, the island Poseidon, which lay westward of Europe and Africa. In The Story of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria, by W. Scott-Elliot, the reader can find that the floor of the Atlantic Ocean was once a continent, that for about a million years it was the scene of a civilization which, to be sure, was quite different from our modern ones, and the fact that the last remnants of this continent sank in the tenth millennium B.C. In this present book the intention is to give information which will supplement what is said by Scott-Elliott. While he describes more the outer, the external events among our Atlantean ancestors, the aim here is to record some details concerning their spiritual character and the inner nature of the conditions under which they lived. Therefore the reader must go back in imagination to a period which lies almost ten thousand years behind us, and which lasted for many millennia. What is described here however, did not take place only on the continent now covered by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the neighboring regions of what today is Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. What took place in these regions later, developed from this earlier civilizations.
Today I am still obliged to remain silent about the sources of the information given here. One who knows anything at all about such sources will understand why this has to be so. But events can occur which will make a breaking of this silence possible very soon. How much of the knowledge hidden within the theosophical movement may gradually be communicated, depends entirely on the attitude of our contemporaries.
Now follows the first of the writings which can be given here.
Aus der Akasha-Chronik
Vorbemerkungen
[ 1 ] Durch die gewöhnliche Geschichte kann sich der Mensch nur über einen geringen Teil dessen belehren, was die Menschheit in der Vorzeit erlebt hat. Nur auf wenige Jahrtausende werfen die geschichtlichen Zeugnisse Licht. Und auch was uns die Altertumskunde die Paläontologie, die Geologie lehren können, ist nur etwas sehr Begrenztes. Und zu dieser Begrenztheit kommt noch die Unzuverlässigkeit alles dessen, was auf äußere Zeugnisse aufgebaut ist. Man bedenke nur, wie sich das Bild dieser oder jener gar nicht so lange hinter uns liegenden Begebenheit oder eines Volkes geändert hat, wenn neue geschichtliche Zeugnisse aufgefunden worden sind. Man vergleiche nur einmal die Schilderungen, die von verschiedenen Geschichtsschreibern über eine und dieselbe Sache gegeben werden; und man wird sich bald überzeugen, auf welch unsicherem Boden man da steht. Alles, was der äußeren Sinnenwelt angehört, unterliegt der Zeit. Und die Zeit zerstört auch, was in der Zeit entstanden ist. Die äußerliche Geschichte ist aber auf das angewiesen, was in der Zeit erhalten geblieben ist. Niemand kann sagen, ob das, was erhalten geblieben ist, auch das Wesentliche ist, wenn er bei den äußeren Zeugnissen stehenbleibt. — Aber alles, was in der Zeit entsteht, hat seinen Ursprung im Ewigen. Nur ist das Ewige der sinnlichen Wahrnehmung nicht zugänglich. Aber dem Menschen sind die Wege offen zur Wahrnehmung des Ewigen. Er kann die in ihm schlummernden Kräfte so ausbilden, daß er dieses Ewige zu erkennen vermag. In den Aufsätzen über die Frage: «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?», die in dieser Zeitschrift erscheinen, wird auf diese Ausbildung hingewiesen. In ihrem Verlaufe werden diese Aufsätze auch zeigen, daß der Mensch auf einer gewissen hohen Stufe seiner Erkenntnisfähigkeit auch zu den ewigen Ursprüngen der zeitlich vergänglichen Dinge dringen kann. Erweitert der Mensch auf diese Art sein Erkenntnisvermögen, dann ist er behufs Erkenntnis der Vergangenheit nicht mehr auf die äußeren Zeugnisse angewiesen. Dann vermag er zu schauen, was an den Ereignissen nicht sinnlich wahrnehmbar ist, was keine Zeit von ihnen zerstören kann. Von der vergänglichen Geschichte dringt er zu einer unvergänglichen vor. Diese Geschichte ist allerdings mit andern Buchstaben geschrieben als die gewöhnliche. Sie wird in der Gnosis, in der Theosophie die «Akasha-Chronik» genannt. Nur eine schwache Vorstellung kann man in unserer Sprache von dieser Chronik geben. Denn unsere Sprache ist auf die Sinnenwelt berechnet. Und was man mit ihr bezeichnet, erhält sogleich den Charakter dieser Sinnenwelt. Man macht daher leicht auf den Uneingeweihten, der sich von der Tatsächlichkeit einer besonderen Geisteswelt noch nicht durch eigene Erfahrung überzeugen kann, den Eindruck eines Phantasten, wenn nicht einen noch schlimmeren. — Wer sich die Fähigkeit errungen hat, in der geistigen Welt wahrzunehmen, der erkennt da die verflossenen Vorgänge in ihrem ewigen Charakter. Sie stehen vor ihm nicht wie die toten Zeugnisse der Geschichte, sondern in vollem Leben. Es spielt sich vor ihm in einer gewissen Weise ab, was geschehen ist. — die in das Lesen solcher lebenden Schrift eingeweiht sind, können in eine weit fernere Vergangenheit zurückblicken als in diejenige, welche die äußere Geschichte darstellt; und sie können auch — aus unmittelbarer geistiger Wahrnehmung — die Dinge, von denen die Geschichte berichtet, in einer weit zuverlässigeren Weise schildern, als es dieser möglich ist. Um einem möglichen Irrtum vorzubeugen, sei hier gleich gesagt, daß auch der geistigen Anschauung keine Unfehlbarkeit innewohnt. Auch diese Anschauung kann sich täuschen, kann ungenau, schief, verkehrt sehen. Von Irrtum frei ist auch auf diesem Felde kein Mensch; und stünde er noch so hoch. Deshalb soll man sich nicht daran stoßen, wenn Mitteilungen, die aus solchen geistigen Quellen stammen, nicht immer völlig übereinstimmen. Allein die Zuverlässigkeit der Beobachtung ist hier eine doch weit größere als in der äußerlichen Sinnenwelt. Und was verschiedene Eingeweihte über Geschichte und Vorgeschichte mitteilen können, wird im Wesentlichen in Übereinstimmung sein. Tatsächlich gibt es solche Geschichte und Vorgeschichte in allen Geheimschulen. Und hier herrscht seit Jahrtausenden so volle Übereinstimmung, daß sich damit die Übereinstimmung, die zwischen den äußeren Geschichtsschreibern auch nur eines Jahrhunderts besteht, gar nicht vergleichen läßt. Die Eingeweihten schildern zu allen Zeiten und allen Orten im Wesentlichen das gleiche.
[ 2 ] Nach diesen Vorbemerkungen sollen hier mehrere Kapitel aus der Akasha-Chronik wiedergegeben werden. Der Anfang soll gemacht werden mit Schilderungen derjenigen Tatsachen, die sich abspielten, als zwischen Amerika und Europa noch das sogenannte atlantische Festland vorhanden war. Auf diesem Teil unserer Erdoberfläche war einstmals Land. Der Boden dieses Landes bildet heute den Grund des Atlantischen Ozeans. Plato erzählt noch von dem letzten Rest des Landes, der Insel Poseidonis, die westwärts von Europa und Afrika lag. Daß der Meeresboden des Atlantischen Ozeans einstmals Festland war, daß er durch etwa eine Million von Jahren der Schauplatz einer Kultur war, die allerdings von unserer heutigen sehr verschieden gewesen ist: dies, sowie die Tatsache, daß die letzten Reste dieses Festlandes im zehnten Jahrtausend v.Chr. untergegangen sind, kann der Leser in dem Büchlein «Atlantis, nach okkulten Quellen, von W. Scott-Elliot» nachlesen. Hier sollen Mitteilungen gegeben werden über diese uralte Kultur, welche Ergänzungen bilden zu dem in jenem Buche Gesagten. Während dort mehr die Außenseite, die äußeren Vorgänge bei diesen unseren atlantischen Vorfahren geschildert werden, soll hier einiges verzeichnet werden über ihren seelischen Charakter und über die innere Natur der Verhältnisse, unter denen sie lebten. Der Leser muß sich also in Gedanken zurückversetzen in ein Zeitalter, das fast zehntausend Jahre hinter uns liegt und das viele Jahrtausende hindurch gedauert hat. Was hier geschildert wird, hat sich aber nicht allein auf dem von den Wassern des Atlantischen Ozeans überfluteten Festland abgespielt, sondern auch auf den benachbarten Gebieten des heutigen Asien, Afrika, Europa und Amerika. Und was sich in diesen Gebieten später abspielte, hat sich aus jener früheren Kultur heraus entwickelt. — über die Quellen der hier zu machenden Mitteilungen bin ich heute noch verpflichtet, Schweigen zu beobachten. Wer über solche Quellen überhaupt etwas weiß, wird verstehen, warum das so sein muß. Aber es können Ereignisse eintreten, die auch ein Sprechen nach dieser Richtung hin sehr bald möglich machen. Wieviel von den Erkenntnissen, die im Schoße der theosophischen Strömung verborgen liegen, nach und nach mitgeteilt werden darf, das hängt ganz von dem Verhalten unserer Zeitgenossen ab. — und nun soll das erste der Schriftstücke folgen, die hier verzeichnet werden können.
From the Akashic Chronicle
Preliminary Remarks
[ 1 ] Through ordinary history, man can only learn about a small part of what mankind experienced in prehistoric times. Historical evidence only sheds light on a few millennia. And even what antiquity, palaeontology and geology can teach us is very limited. And this limitation is compounded by the unreliability of everything that is based on external evidence. Just consider how the image of this or that event or people that happened not so long ago has changed when new historical evidence has been found. Just compare the descriptions given by different historians about one and the same thing, and you will soon realize what uncertain ground you are standing on. Everything that belongs to the external world of the senses is subject to time. And time also destroys what has been created in time. But external history is dependent on what has been preserved in time. No one can say whether what has been preserved is also what is essential if he stops at the external evidence. - But everything that arises in time has its origin in the eternal. But the eternal is not accessible to sensory perception. But the paths to perceiving the eternal are open to man. He can develop the dormant powers within him in such a way that he is able to recognize this eternal. In the essays on the question: "How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?", which appear in this journal, reference is made to this training. In their course, these essays will also show that man, at a certain high level of his cognitive faculty, can also penetrate to the eternal origins of temporally transient things. If man expands his cognitive faculty in this way, then he is no longer dependent on external evidence for knowledge of the past. Then he is able to see what cannot be sensually perceived in the events, what no time can destroy from them. From the transient history he advances to an imperishable one. However, this history is written in different letters than the usual one. In Gnosis and Theosophy it is called the "Akashic Chronicle". Only a faint idea of this chronicle can be given in our language. For our language is calculated for the world of the senses. And what we call it immediately takes on the character of this sense world. It is therefore easy to give the uninitiated, who cannot yet convince themselves of the reality of a particular spiritual world through their own experience, the impression of a fantasist, if not an even worse one. - He who has acquired the ability to perceive in the spiritual world recognizes the eternal character of past events. They do not stand before him like the dead testimonies of history, but in full life. What has happened is played out before him in a certain way. - Those who are initiated into the reading of such living writing can look back into a far more distant past than that which external history represents; and they can also - from direct spiritual perception - describe the things of which history reports in a far more reliable way than is possible for it. In order to prevent a possible error, it should be said right away that spiritual perception is not inherently infallible either. This view can also be mistaken, can see inaccurately, crookedly, wrongly. No man is free from error in this field either, no matter how high he may be. That is why we should not be offended if information that comes from such spiritual sources does not always agree completely. But the reliability of observation is far greater here than in the external world of the senses. And what different initiates can tell us about history and prehistory will be in essential agreement. In fact, such history and prehistory exist in all secret schools. And here there has been such complete agreement for thousands of years that the agreement that exists between the external historians of even one century cannot be compared with it. The initiates describe the same essentials at all times and in all places.
[ 2 ] After these preliminary remarks, several chapters from the Akashic Records will be reproduced here. The beginning shall be made with descriptions of those facts which took place when the so-called Atlantic mainland still existed between America and Europe. There was once land on this part of the earth's surface. Today, the bottom of this land forms the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Plato still tells of the last remnant of land, the island of Poseidonis, which lay to the west of Europe and Africa. That the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean was once dry land, that for about a million years it was the scene of a civilization which, however, was very different from ours today: this, as well as the fact that the last remnants of this dry land perished in the tenth millennium B.C., the reader can read in the booklet "Atlantis, according to occult sources, by W. Scott-Elliot". Here, information is given about this ancient civilization, which supplements what is said in that book. While there the outward side, the external processes of our Atlantean ancestors are described, here a few things will be recorded about their mental character and about the inner nature of the conditions under which they lived. The reader must, therefore, take himself back in thought to an age which lies almost ten thousand years behind us and which lasted for many millennia. What is described here, however, did not only take place on the mainland flooded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the neighboring areas of today's Asia, Africa, Europe and America. And what took place in these areas later developed out of that earlier culture. - I am today still obliged to observe silence about the sources of the information to be given here. Anyone who knows anything at all about such sources will understand why this must be so. But events may occur which will soon make it possible to speak in this direction. How much of the knowledge that lies hidden in the bosom of the theosophical current may gradually be communicated depends entirely on the behavior of our contemporaries. - and now shall follow the first of the writings that can be recorded here.