by Wisher S. Cerve

Aside from what we know of the descendants of the Lemurians and through a study of them discover the high degree of development achieved by their ancestors, there are many ancient records which refer to, and fairly accurately describe, the mental and spiritual development of the people at the time that Lemuria was in the height of its power. Ever must we keep in mind the fact that the civilization of Lemuria had developed through aeons of time. Europe may speak of its long periods of culture, and Rome and Athens may speak of the great heritage which was theirs, and even Egypt may boast of a long period of intellectual development, while we in America rejoice in the fact that there are some centuries of culture and development back of our present generation; but when Lemuria was in the height of her power she could boast of thousands of centuries of development.

In addition to the long period of time through which the Lemurians had learned the lessons of life and attained mastership through perseverance, industry, study and cooperation with the highest laws, they had the advantage of being free from the contaminating influence of false knowledge and a material conception of life.

Speaking in a purely spiritual and mystical sense we find that today those in Europe or the Western world who are seeking to comprehend the higher laws and principles of life deplore the fact that so much which we have learned in the past century or two must be unlearned in order that the intellectual consciousness of man may be cleared and purged and made ready to understand and inwardly comprehend the higher laws and principles. It is quite commonplace for students of these subjects to say that they wished they had come in contact with the real truths of life in their childhood when the mind was open, unbiased, and unprejudiced, and when the eyes had not seen so much through colored glasses and the ears had not heard so much through false trumpets. It is a fact that we are born with not only an inheritance of misunderstandings and false conceptions, but our environment and education from the hour of birth onward are fraught with the pressure and influence of false ideas and untruths. We struggle to separate the gross from the pure, to find truth amid so much falsehood, and to adjust ourselves to a correct understanding. Realize, then, what it meant to the Lemurians to have been free of this contaminating influence.

We admit that if a child born today, could be separated from the present influences of misconception and taken to a distant point and raised and trained in a purely natural spiritual way, with no contact other than that which is consistent with the understanding of higher laws, that such a child would become a great master so far as the highest principles of life are concerned. This was the situation with the Lemurians.

The Lemurians were not surrounded, right from the very earliest days, with any established conceptions of the universe or of the natural laws operating in the universe, and they had no established opinions or orthodox doctrines of life prescribed for them by any special group of scientists or educators, for all knowledge was obtained through the individual observation of Nature at work.

I do not mean to intimate that the Lemurians had no schools or institutions of scientific learning, for there is ample evidence to show that they did have these in abundance and operating with a system that would be most desirable today; but these institutions taught only that which was demonstrable, which had been proved true, and which the students could demonstrate to themselves. We find in all of the writings and records of the ancients that even thousands of years after Lemuria had attained its greatness in scientific learning and spiritual development the people had not fallen into the error of creating theoretical explanations and establishing hypothetical conditions to explain the phenomena of life. Our scientific schools today are filled with this sort of mental food and it constitutes one of the greater errors of our education.

The Lemurians and their descendants despised guess work and speculation in their learning. They came to realize that there was one dependable source of positive knowledge and this was the Cosmic Mind. It seemed to be common practice with them to resort to concentration and meditation when in doubt, or in search of new knowledge, just as we, today, turn almost automatically toward some printed book, the newspapers, or some specialist in human form, and accept the dictums, the principles, the theories, the ideas, the personal conceptions and beliefs of these supposed authorities, without question. It is for this reason that in all of the later developments of their sacred literature, which constituted their real books of knowledge, they placed great emphasis upon the value of meditation and concentration, and we should not be surprised, therefore, to find that they became mighty and powerful in their ability to attune with the Cosmic Mind and in their further ability to comprehend, understand, and interpret the impressions they received. From these practices developed all of the sacred ritualistic practices of the various religions that developed among their tribes or descendants who went into other lands and established what later historians called the various religious rites and beliefs.

We may wonder whence came this great faith in the Cosmic Mind and the universal ability to receive information in this manner. Tracing back their own comments in this regard, we find that one very natural faculty which had developed in them was responsible for this great faith and trust in the Cosmic Mind. In order to make plain what this faculty was I must say something about the personal, physical, and mental, as well as spiritual characteristics of the beings who constituted the Lemurian race.

If I could select a typical Lemurian, truly representative of those of his race who lived in Lemuria at the time of its greatest advancement in civilization, and place this individual before you as an exhibit, you would look upon a creature peculiar in many particulars. The first and most outstanding difference that you would notice between the typical Lemurian of ancient times and the typical man or woman of today, would be the fact that the head was very much larger in proportion to the body than we are accustomed to find, and we would notice that the forehead was very high, or that the distance between the eyebrows and the hair on the top of the head was much greater than in the average individual of today. In fact, the average forehead of the Lemurians must have been about six to seven inches in height. In the center of this forehead, about an inch and a half above the bridge of the nose, there was a large protrusion much like the size and shape of a walnut. We would look upon this sort of growth in the center of the forehead today, as a disfigurement, but with them it was perfectly natural, and such a protrusion was as proper to them as is the protrusion of our nose, or of the chin, or the high cheek bones. This protrusion, however, was composed of a soft mass of matter over which the outer cuticle was drawn tightly and the cuticle itself was of a delicate, soft nature and color like the skin that is underneath our eyes.

In height, these Lemurians were a little above the average of today, with a great many attaining a height of almost seven feet. The arms were much larger, longer, and well-developed in muscle, while the limbs were not so long but fairly well-developed. The hair on the top of the head was short, not through any style of dressing or training, and it grew very lightly and was of a very fine texture. The hair on the back of the head, however, grew very long, and was often braided or arranged in very fancy forms across the shoulders or down the back. If there was any one particular form of ornamentation it was in connection with dressing this long hair, and individual taste was given a wide scope in this regard, if we are to judge from pictures carved in stone or drawn or painted upon leather.

The necks supporting the heads were long and slender and usually a decorative collar formed of beads or stones was the only fancy addition to the adornment of the body. The feet and hands were large and every joint of the fingers and toes was easily moved and controlled, thereby developing them to a greater degree than we find in the present day races of man.

The women were somewhat shorter than the men and somewhat more corpulent, but their features were far more refined than those of the men. Very few of the men had any hair upon the face and the women protected their faces from the heat of the sun and from the effects of the weather by wearing a veil made of some vegetable fiber through which air passed freely, but the protection against sunburn was evidently sufficient to result in a fairer complexion for the women, throughout many generations, than was found among the men. The ears were much smaller than we find them today but the nostrils were largely developed and the nose was more broad and flattened on the face than we find among the people of the western world of the present period. The eyes were large and very clear, and gave an impression of a piercing gaze and keenness of perception that must have been very impressive. The skin was not of dark complexion but merely tanned, while the hair was very dark and the eyes were brown. The teeth were very small but uniformly even and regular.

The protrusion in the center of the forehead was a result of the sustained development of a faculty of the human body that has gradually disappeared since Lemuria submerged and the races of its people were dispersed throughout the world. I trust that my readers will not compare this protrusion of the forehead with the fantastic stories of Cyclops, but the story of Cyclops is based upon what was an actual fact with the people of Lemuria, for, although this protrusion in the forehead was not an organ of sight of a limited nature nor was it a “third eye” in a limited sense, it did constitute an organ of sense that was equivalent to an eye, and an ear, and a nose, and any other faculty that we now possess for the reception of impressions. It was commonplace for the Lemurian to close his two physical eyes and to stand still at any moment of his dally activities and focalize his consciousness upon the center of his forehead and receive an impression that might have been translated into one of sight or smell, or hearing, or feeling, or tasting. In fact, it was as common for the Lemurians to suddenly turn their concentrated attention to this organ for some impression, as it is for us today to stop in our conversation or our activities, and concentrate our attention upon our hearing in order to hear some distant or faint sound, or concentrate our eyes upon something we wish to see clearly, or concentrate our sense of smell, or feeling, for a moment in order to analyze some impression. The Lemurian, however, used this special faculty not for local impressions or for purely intimate matters, but for long-distance impressions, for it is recorded that through the use of this faculty he could see or sense by smell or sound, some dangerous animal at a very great distance. In fact, he developed eventually, the ability to communicate with animals in their own language or their own manner of communication, through attuning this sixth sense with their own.

We should not be surprised to learn, therefore, that the art of mental telepathy or the mental exchange of ideas and impressions at unlimited distances became a perfectly natural, commonplace, and regular practice with the Lemurians. They recorded, in a casual manner, the reception of impressions from others who were hundreds of thousands of miles distant, just as a hunter today in recording his story of his hunting experiences would state in a casual manner that he heard the call of another hunter or the call of an animal five hundred or a thousand feet distant. To the Lemurians this sixth sense was not an extraordinary thing but quite commonplace, though they were conscious of the fact that its usefulness had been developed by their ancestors through practice and concentration and that it was a faculty more susceptible of development and growth than any of the other faculties which are common to the human race.

We, today, are conscious of the fact that our eyes can be trained in seeing, as witness the training given to an artist; or that our ears can be trained to hear, as is necessary with a musician; or our taste may be developed, as is true with those who are experts in the tasting of wine, for instance. We are likewise conscious of the fact that our muscles in any part of the body may be developed, or that certain features or functions of the body may be strengthened through definite effort and practice.

With the Lemurians the knowledge was handed down from generation to generation that the salvation of their race and the hope for mastership in the highest attainments of civilization depended upon the individual and personal development of this sixth sense. Naturally, they did not consider it a special gift and it is doubtful if they ever thought that the time would come in the development of the human race that that sense would become obliterated through lack of use and lack of development to such a degree that its existence would never even be suspected. They did believe and did understand that a lack of use of this faculty in any family for several generations might result in a diminishing of its size or its high degree of usefulness, just as we realize that the discontinuance of the use of the tongue in speaking through several generations might naturally result in an offspring having no ability to use the tongue at all.

That this sixth sense was an organ equal to or in some way connected with the present small organ in our modem bodies known as the pituitary body is quite likely. And, scientists have discovered that in many of the races of man living today in remote parts of the world this organ is much larger than it is in those of more civilized races and that it has unquestionably diminished in size throughout the ages and must have been an important organ in some early races of mankind. However, that may be, this sixth sense also enabled these Lemurians to sense things in their fourth dimension, for one of the problems that confronts every student of their ancient carvings and writings is the continued description of things in a manner that shows that they saw or felt or sensed something about everything in nature of which we have no consciousness today. When they saw a tree, or an animal, a stone or a mountain, they saw more than its height and breadth and thickness. They saw something of a Cosmic nature or ethereal nature, to which they gave various terms; and to them it was as much of nature and as important in description as were the other three dimensions.

Now, if we add to this faculty and its abilities the further fact that it enabled them to attune with the Cosmic and to receive direct information of a dependable, reliable nature on all subjects and covering the entire field of knowledge, we will realize at once that the Lemurians must have attained an extraordinarily high degree of perfection, not only in knowledge but in the matter of living and cooperating with all of nature’s laws.

Should we be surprised, then, that these people living on one continent, stretching almost halfway across the globe, should have been intimately acquainted with the facts concerning the universe, the growth and development, rising and submerging of other lands, and other continents? Should we be surprised at their intimate knowledge of what was going on in distant points of the world far beyond their personal contact? And, should we be surprised that they had solved all of the great problems of life and had found solutions to all of the mysteries?

Their records and writings show that they were acquainted not only with the rest of the world as it existed during their time, but with what had existed on the face of the earth prior to the formation of their continent, and what would eventually happen to their continent. This was their guide in their wide colonization of other lands, and in the dispersion of their people to distant points in various periods. Again, we must take into consideration the fact that for over a hundred thousand years they had an opportunity of developing their knowledge and of carrying out their plans for preserving the race of mankind against the cataclysmic changes that they knew would take place.

To them the spiritual part of the world was the most important, because it was the only real part and the only dependable and safe part in life. Thousands of years of accumulated knowledge had taught them that the very foundation upon which they stood, composed as it was of earthly materials, and subject to the mighty changes that had taken place and would take place, was a most unreliable and unreal part of life.

Their conception of a future existence was quite unique and yet most logical, and probably as good as any that we have today. They were not only firm believers in the doctrine of reincarnation (not transmigration) but they had had ample time, and the faculty with which to prove, that reincarnation was a fact and that there were those living among them who had lived before on the same continent and in intimate contact with them. Therefore, reincarnation was not a matter of belief with them, for, as I have said above, they had no beliefs which were not demonstrable truths. They knew reincarnation to be a fact the same as we know that so-called death of the body is inevitable, and that the same body will not be seen on the earth plane again. This is not a belief with us but an established fact over which there can be no dispute. Their understanding of reincarnation was just as well established. But, they did know, also, that in the interim between the passing from this life and the re-embodiment of the personality again, the personality would exist in a spiritual world which they were not foolish enough to attempt to interpret in material terms like the clergy and the religious doctrinaires of today attempt to do.

They definitely stated that the personality of man was ethereal, spiritual, invisible essence and consciousness, which would occupy the fourth dimensional conditions of a purely spiritual world, and that such a world could not be located or described, limited, or compared with material terms relating to the material world. Even the Cosmic Mind which they looked upon as superior and above all human and material things, was not considered as being above them in a physical sense, nor located in the heavens or the clouds, as we think of Heaven today, but was considered to be in all space, everywhere, and for this reason they were apt to picture the Cosmic Mind or Cosmic consciousness as being within their rooms or even in the deeply excavated secret chambers beneath their homes, as in the vast space above the clouds.

For this reason the spiritual personality of one who had passed through transition was just as apt to be close to them and living with them in their homes or in their temples as above the clouds or anywhere else. That they could sense or contact these dis-incarnated personalities through their sixth sense is quite plainly indicated in their writings, but such contacts did not imply that such personalities were either close at hand or at a distant place inasmuch as this sixth sense received its impressions instantaneously, regardless of distance.

With such a nature and such an understanding of universal conditions it was only natural that the Lemurians should have developed a very high degree of appreciation of spiritual laws and principles. Their conception of God was of a universal principle, both positive and negative, male and female, and creative and loving in every sense. They had outgrown any earlier beliefs that their primitive forbears might have had that storms and strifes, cataclysms and destructive forces, were sent by gods of evil or by a loving God expressing His wrath. They looked upon all of the processes of Nature as constructive, even when temporarily destructive, and considered these as established laws of evolution having been created by a loving God in the beginning of time. Their interpretation of God as analogous to the human individual was much like comparing God with a Great Master, as well as parent, of all living beings. He regulated or controlled every process of nature with only one thought in mind, that of life and the perfection of the human race.

In another chapter [future post] I will speak of their communistic affairs, and their ethical and moral practices, for at the present time I am speaking only of the individual as a highly spiritualised being. The refinement in the food they ate (being almost totally of a vegetable nature), the care which they exercised in what they drank, the manner in which they lived so far as hygienic conditions were concerned, coupled with labor, exercise, and rest, produced an unusually healthy body; but there was no attempt to seek a long life as the most desirable asset of the living. In fact, my readers may be surprised to know that they looked upon transition not only with a total absence of fear, but as a valued change and improvement in the status of the individual, and they were capable of deciding when transition should take place, and how, and it was common for the Lemurians at certain ages to announce to their relatives and friends that three days, or two days, hence they would pass through transition. They and their relatives would then make preparations for such an important event and all material affairs would be adjusted. On the day of the expected transition the devout ones would place themselves on that portion of sacred soil which they had selected to be their burial place, and with due ceremony lie down, bid farewell to all, close their eyes and go into eternal sleep within a few hours. Seldom were Lemurians stricken unexpectedly by any disease, and even accidents due to the attacks of savage animals, which was their greatest problem, were generally known to them in advance and every attempt was made to avoid such attacks. The average Lemurian, however, chose transition as the next step in his life after he became convinced that he had accomplished all that he could do or all that was expected of him in the conditions and circumstances in which he lived. For this reason, many Lemurians passed through transition in what we would call youthful ages, while most of them passed through transition between the sixtieth and seventieth year and a number out of every thousand lived to be over a hundred years of age.

If you, my reader, think that such a thing is impossible as the selecting of a day for transition and the arbitrary creation of such a condition without disease or pain or injury, you should know that there are still some groups or tribes living who practice this system at the present time, and the well-known explorer, Capt Salisbury has recently lectured upon his contact with transitions which he saw in various places. Many ancient records of the descendants of Lemuria show the continuance of this practice for many centuries after the continent submerged, and undoubtedly the pure Lemurian, or the pure descendants of ancient Lemurians who are still living in various parts of the world, carry on this same system as a quite natural solution to many of life’s problems. It was not looked upon as a form of suicide, for in their ancient writings the willful ending of life by injury or undue risk of the maintenance of normal conditions in the body, is considered sinful, and any attempt to avoid obligations or the solution of life’s problems by bringing life to an end was considered a violation of the highest laws. He or she who contemplated transition and prepared for it had to be able to show to relatives and friends that whatever their mission in life, it had been fulfilled, and that there were no uncompleted duties nor obligations, nor any fears from which they were withdrawing in cowardice.

These facts will give you some idea of the Lemurian as an individual, and with these in mind we will make a little study of their community life and of their various moral and ethical codes.

Excerpt from Lemuria: The Lost Continent Of The Pacific

See Part II here.