by Wisher S. Cerve

All the scientific analyses of the life of primitive man intimate that in the beginning of his earthly existence he lived separately and suspiciously isolated from others in the bows of trees or in caves along the banks of rivers until he learned whom he might trust among all the creatures of the animal kingdom. And we are told that he learned to trust a few animals of species lower than man and learned to trust a few of his companions and that eventually he domesticated the few animals he could trust and made friends of the men and women he could trust and these he gathered together in his immediate vicinity and constituted them as the elements of his community life.

Whether the Lemurians began their greatness in this manner or not we will probably never know. It must be evident to everyone who reads this that the records from which we quote, including the carvings on many monuments and the traditions preserved in the writings of many races that descended from the Lemurians, began only with the story of Lemuria after community life was established. Men did not learn to think and analyze and had no occasion to preserve their thoughts and their knowledge until after they had learned to exchange ideas with others in the quiet hours of peaceful community life. Thus we find in the earliest records that community life was a well established condition among the Lemurians. When I speak of community life I do not mean the grouping together of individual homes, merely because of a favorable site or because of related conveniences that would bring a number of individuals and their homes together, for this was a stage that preceded the community life of which I speak. I refer to that form of community life wherein all the individuals in a group constituting a town site or a definite place of homes and dwellings were interested in some occupation, some production, some demonstration of mental and physical effort that made them live and work together as one large family. So united and identical were the interests of the individuals in most of these Lemurian communities that they appointed or elected one of their group who occupied a position much like a mayor, or city manager of today, but who was really their advisor, their chief instructor, and court of last appeal in all disputed points, and their religious and spiritual guide as well.

We may grasp a better understanding of the situation, perhaps, if we realize, first of all, that the Lemurians issued no coins and had no such commodity or device as money. No one received any form of remuneration for his efforts, except the privilege of sharing in all the community interests and each having the friendship and association and guidance of the principal minds in the group and of all the other workers. Their products were not sold and the things they made or grew in the soil of the earth, or which they dug from the mines, were traded with other communities at distant points where different products were available. Their storehouses and warehouses were community ones and there was no incentive to accumulate a vast amount of any of these products as a personal possession. The result of this condition was that each was required to give his very best effort in that direction for which he was best qualified and to that degree for which he was capable in exchange for the necessities of life and the enjoyment of many luxuries and blessings which we do not enjoy today. The natural result of this is plain to be seen. Lawlessness and crime, as we understand it today, was reduced to a minimum. Social distinctions were absolutely without power. The power of personal wealth was unknown and probably could never have been comprehended by the Lemurians. Those who were talented in various ways were given every opportunity to exercise that talent and to devote themselves to it, for if it was productive in any sense it afforded an opportunity for receiving all of the blessings of community life equal to those who produced more material or necessary requirements. This is why the arts and sciences among the Lemurians progressed to a high degree. The reverse of this condition is true today. Eminent artists and scientists capable of making the most valuable contributions to our knowledge and to our ethical development are forced to abandon their work and their effort because they must resort to some occupation which pays them with money and enables them to live. If all of the truly great artists and scientists in the world today were assured of an equal degree and form of living and the enjoyment of all the necessities of life while pursuing their special professions, we would solve one of the great problems of the present and future development in our ethical culture.

I have already intimated that scientific knowledge constituted the religion of the Lemurians, inasmuch as a fundamental principle of their understanding was that God, or the Creator of all things, revealed to man all knowledge as a process of evolving man to the same degree of understanding as possessed by God. Therefore, the acquirement of knowledge was considered the acquirement of spiritual attunement, and growth and knowledge was looked upon reverentially, instead of as a commercial asset. That the knowledge should be applied in a practical way seemed natural to them, for otherwise there would be no purpose in the revelation of knowledge. Therefore, the religion of the Lemurians contained no doctrinal beliefs and no false gods or principles arbitrarily selected by any council or group of individuals and promulgated as an orthodox system.

In each community a temple of an appropriate size was built, handsome and enduring, as befitting a monument to the glory of its purpose and in which the religious services were of a double nature; namely, of silent or spoken adoration to God, with prayers of thankfulness and appreciation, and the dissemination of knowledge. These temples, therefore, were equivalent to universities and schools of the present day, and it is to be noted that the instruction was classified into various branches of study and presented progressively to the young people and in the form of forums and open discussions with those who had completed the youthful years of study. The education of the youth was compulsory, but the young people also had to contribute to their own support by participating in some of the practical work of dally life in accordance with their individual qualifications, talents, and capabilities.

It is from the records preserved in some of these temples and the carvings upon the walls of all of them that we have learned much about the Lemurians. These temples were typical of what the word temple means. They were buildings enshrined against time for the preservation of knowledge, as well as the giving of knowledge, and upon the walls of these structures, and especially on many large stones arranged in special position to stand the test of time, the outstanding discoveries and proved facts of life were carved for future reference. There are many indications in these writings that they anticipated the future to be very far distant and that much which they carved upon the stones would have to be preserved for many thousands of years in order that future races might learn the truth of these ancient people. We are sure, therefore, that these Lemurians anticipated some great cataclysm that might destroy most, if not all, of their continent, and scatter their people to all parts of the world and almost destroy all knowledge of them. It was this attempt on their part to prevent a complete obliteration of their existence that has resulted in our present day knowledge of them.

The moral standard of the Lemurians was extremely high, even though a modem purist would look upon their code as one of no morals at all, and would consider the Lemurians unmoral rather than moral or immoral. We find, for instance, a total lack of emblems or intimation that any form of phallic or sex worship entered into their consciousness. Our research would reveal that this phallic worship is a much later creation of uneducated men or races of men in distant lands. Among the Lemurians there was no prudery regarding the naked body, nor was there any particular reference to it for there seemed to be neither shame nor glorification of nudity, yet the Lemurians did not dwell in nudity nor do they picture themselves as being undressed or lacking in dress in any degree. They wore loose flowing outer garments, much like the Egyptian and Arabs of today, which was probably as a protection against the sunlight and heat. But they had community swimming pools and bathing pavilions much like the Romans adopted in later centuries in which both sexes bathed at the same time without any consideration of sex or nudity.

There were very definite rules regarding all sex relations and they had a marriage custom that is still to be found among some of their descendants in some of the islands of the Pacific. According to records which have been found, the marriage system was as follows. When a young man and a young woman had found sufficient interest in each other to believe that they desired to become man and wife, they appeared before the official Gu of their community, who was their spiritual advisor, instructor, mayor, and Supreme Court judge. Their appeal was properly recorded and the relatives of both were called in consultation, and if the marriage was found agreeable to the parents a date was set for a ceremony that was preliminary to the actual marriage. On the day of this ceremony the young couple, their parents, and all in the community who were interested, gathered at the large open square or circle in front of the principal buildings and temple and the young couple were denuded of every bit of clothing and every worldly possession of a material nature. They were then escorted in a sort of fiesta parade with much music, flowers, and cheering, to the edge of the city or community bordering upon the wilds of unoccupied and unsettled land. They were then directed to proceed at least fifty miles inland into the wilderness in the company of each other, but without any material things, not even a piece of metal or device of any kind. In part of the ceremony the Gu or his representative suddenly demanded of the young man a piece of metal as a souvenir and token of his departure and the same was required of the young woman. If either of them possessed any thing of a materialistic nature or device of any kind the ceremony was postponed for a full moon period, or they were rebuked in some manner and not allowed to proceed. This test, therefore, was applied for the purpose of determining, in the presence of all witnesses, that neither one of the young people had anything concealed in their long flowing hair or braided locks or in their hands.

They were instructed to go into the wilderness and remain for a given time, usually two moon cycles or approximately two months, and then to return to the temple together and in the company of each other. If, upon their return, the young woman could show that she had some form of clothing, made from animal skins or from feathers and fiber, and had been well-protected against the attack of animals, properly fed and nourished and provided with comfortable sleeping facilities wherever they were in the wilds of nature, and, was convinced of the tenderness and devotion of the young man, and if he could show that he had provided himself with similar clothing and had secured proper food and protected himself against injuries and attacks from animals and could say that the young woman had been his help mate in every sense and that he was still fascinated by her charms and devoted to her, then a date was set for the marriage ceremony which was held in the temple with a very elaborate ritual, which included the making of an incision in the first or index finger of each of their right hands and the hands bandaged together so that the blood from one flowed into the other and thus became as one blood. The ceremony was a sacred one in many ways and constituted a form of marriage or union that was never to be broken except by transition. There was no such thing as divorce or temporary separation in the marriage relations of the Lemurians. If the young couple returned together or separately and either one claimed that the other had shown an inability to secure and provide food, sleeping accommodations, clothing, or was lacking in devotion or attention, the marriage ceremony could not be performed and the couple were never permitted to make a second application for marriage. In other words, the couple had to prove their individual abilities to care for each other, support each other, and continue to love each other under the most trying and difficult circumstances. We cannot help but wonder how many of the young men of today would be able to go into the wilderness without the least piece of material as an instrument or device and build a protective hut, make clothing, secure and prepare food, and care for another in similar circumstances. If such a test was applied today there would be few marriages, indeed.

All bartering and trading was done in accordance with certain standards and a violation of these standards disqualified the individual from sharing in any of the community interests for certain periods of time.

The young children of the community were cared for in a community nursery under the guidance of those who were specially selected to care for them physically, mentally, and even spiritually. Physicians were appointed in each community who developed a high degree of knowledge and skill in all systems of healing, including the use of herbs and surgery, and, according to some records found in different places, there was evidently a system of massage or exercise which was used as a part of the healing system for special conditions. Drugs or herbs were not depended upon exclusively, for a form of healing from the use of hands or the laying on of hands and another form of healing through meditation and prayer was in universal use.

I have already touched upon the subject of death, or transition, but we may add that no elaborate ceremonies or graveyards existed among the Lemurians, for after transition the body was considered of little importance. The mere fact that the average Lemurian voluntarily decreed his own time of transition, prepared his own grave, and laid himself into it and was willing to have his body become lifeless, indicates that little thought was given to the physical part of our beings. From some records we learn that three days after the transition had occurred, and it was found to be a true transition, the body was covered with some mineral or chemical much like lime, which ate away the body or destroyed every vestige of it without contaminating the soil. It is to be noted that in digging the grave the one who was to occupy it was always one of two who did the digging and the graves were always in lines running east and west and the head of the deceased was always placed toward the east. After the passage of many thousands of years there seemed to have come a change in regard to burial, for records show that the person who anticipated or decreed his transition did not lie in the grave but knelt or squatted in a position facing the east in a square excavation with his hands clasped in front of him and remained fixed in this position in meditation and concentration until transition came and some chemical was poured over the body three days later which made sure of the preservation of the flesh and bones against contaminating decay. Some graves have been discovered where the skeleton with some flesh is still in this kneeling posture with the dirt of the earth closed tightly around it. Since there were no individual possessions that were not owned by the community there was nothing willed or transferred to others at the time of transition except possibly some little ornament, or personal token, or keepsake, which never had any intrinsic value. Gold and platinum were quite plentiful but had no value except in the making of instruments and devices for ornamentation. There were few references to any minerals that could be considered precious, except a red stone which may have been the ruby, and if there were diamonds in Lemuria they were considered of no more value than pieces of glass would be. Rare feathers of a brilliant color were perhaps the most valued of rare ornaments known to the Lemurians and marble used in building some of the beautiful temples was the most unusual product taken from the soil and the most carefully used.

The homes were large and airy and sleeping arrangements consisted of a raised platform surrounded by a netting of fiber which afforded a protection against insects and small animals. This screen around each sleeping place was open at the top to allow ventilation. Food was cooked by fire or by the heat of the sun in special sun ovens. There were regular periods for daily worship and study for all members of each community and there were sacred features connected with the early morning ablutions just after sunrise, and again at sunset and at midday there was a community service of concentration and worship lasting for a few minutes.

This, in general, is a picture of the community life. It does not include, however, many of the vast activities of the Lemurians about which we shall learn about later.

Excerpt from Lemuria: The Lost Continent Of The Pacific

See Part I here.

See Part III here.