Introduction to Genesis Unveiled

© Ian Lawton 2003

In the predominantly Christianised Western world, we are all familiar with the book of Genesis  from the Old Testament: how God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh; how he created the first man, Adam, and then his companion Eve; how Adam’s descendants acted as patriarchs, overseeing human affairs up to the time of the great flood, which God sent to destroy humankind; and how Noah was spared in the ark and went on to father the new human race.

Over the last 150 years, spurred on by Darwin and the breakthroughs of scientists in all fields who have followed in his footsteps, we have increasingly been told to reject all of this as myth, a simple story constructed to bolster a religious outlook in simple people. Any Christian fundamentalist who still insists the world was created in 4004 BC receives, quite rightly, extremely short shrift. Nevertheless, in recent years the fact that a catastrophe tradition persists on a global scale, and is backed up by considerable geological evidence, has received widespread publicity and acceptance.[i] And it is now more or less accepted that many of the postflood biblical traditions are based more on fact than fiction.

However, for many years I have been fascinated by the possibility that the sparse and enigmatic record of a preflood civilisation in the early chapters of Genesis might also contain some elements of truth. My first surprise came when I investigated the older Mesopotamian texts on which many of the biblical traditions were based. A number of intriguing themes emerged, including some detailed accounts not only of the flood but also of life before it. Although my close examination of these original source texts led me to reject certain authors’ interpretations that humankind was genetically created by visitors from another planet, I nevertheless felt there was something in this mass of material that deserved further investigation; that it was wrong to write off the whole lot as superstitious fiction. Ultimately I decided to unearth as many of the ancient texts and native traditions from around the world as I could, to find out what the rest of our ancestors had to say about the prehistory of humankind on earth.

It soon became clear that the people who compiled these texts and traditions were anything but intellectual dwarfs trying to concoct a simplistic philosophical framework with which to make sense of the world around them, as some would have us believe. It became equally clear, however, that those who attempt to take everything within them as literal truth are also misguided. One of the most respected scholars of mythology, Joseph Campbell, reflects this view in his four-volume masterwork The Masks of God, published between 1959 and 1968:

It must be conceded, as a basic principle of our natural history of the gods and heroes, that whenever a myth has been taken literally its sense has been perverted; but also, reciprocally, that whenever it has been dismissed as a mere priestly fraud or sign of inferior intelligence, truth has slipped out the other door.[ii]

To a degree Campbell developed the work of his equally eminent predecessor Carl Gustav Jung, who prefaced the English version of his Psychology and Alchemy, first published in 1953, with the following overview:

Some thirty-five years ago I noticed to my amazement that European and American men and women coming to me for psychological advice were producing in their dreams and fantasies symbols similar to, and often identical with, the symbols found in the mystery religions of antiquity, in mythology, folklore, fairytales, and the apparently meaningless formulations of such esoteric cults as alchemy… From long and careful comparison and analysis of these products of the unconscious I was led to postulate a ‘collective unconscious’, a source of energy and insight in the depth of the human psyche which has operated in and through man from the earliest periods of which we have records.[iii]

In my view there is little doubt that Jung’s symbols, or archetypes, are the key to unlocking the hidden or esoteric meaning of much of the body of myth from around the world that our ancestors have left as their legacy. This is one of the main reasons why the most sacred texts and traditions of all ancient cultures can appear so enigmatic and obscure to the uninitiated: because to a large extent the archetypes, whether in picture or textual form, are not designed to speak to the logical left brain, but rather to the intuitive right brain that is the link to both the personal and the collective unconscious. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the written texts of the ancient Egyptians that were recorded using hieroglyphs, pictographic symbols that often had multiple and subtly different meanings appreciated only by those fully initiated into their mystery. These were often accompanied by symbolic drawings of their gods, usually represented as part-animal, part-human beings, who in turn represented various neters or divine principles that could vary according to the context.[iv]

It is also true that the most important texts and traditions of our ancient cultures tended to be handed down orally, even after they had been recorded in writing. This is why we often find important philosophical concepts embedded into a story format: so they could be more easily memorised and, indeed, would be entertaining to relate. This allowed them to survive over centuries or millennia, even if the real understanding of their symbolic message was lost on most of the audience. In addition, of course, couching such traditions in symbolism and archetype was particularly useful when, as has happened throughout history, esoteric sects were trying to maintain them under threat of heresy charges from the dominant religious orthodoxy.

We must also recognise that many of the messages found in the ancient texts and traditions are explainable in political and sociological terms – for example, acting to reinforce the rule of the prevailing political and religious hierarchy. Moreover, many of the versions that have survived have clearly been edited with similar motives in mind, making it much harder to see through the fog and establish the nature of the original message, if any indeed existed.

The foregoing analysis is fine as a general summary of the modern approach to mythology. But are there any grey areas where it would be right to debate whether at least a part of a particular text or tradition is more than just symbolism and myth? Might it have some basis in fact that, albeit perhaps in only the broadest of senses, can act as a pointer to real historical events? My research has led me to believe these grey areas do exist, particularly with respect to the passages I encountered repeatedly that appear to describe a veiled history of humankind – one only hinted at in Genesis. Above all, various ancient cultures right across the globe preserve a tradition of a forgotten antediluvian race that was originally highly spiritual but degenerated until it was wiped out by a major catastrophe. These traditions are far more widespread than is normally recognised – and most revisionist authors have, in my view, failed to appreciate the essentially spiritual message they contain. Meanwhile, orthodox scholars’ attempts to explain them away as mere psychological, sociological, political or religious constructs strike me in this case as unconvincing.

Of course, I appreciate that the orthodoxy is conditioned by the prevailing archaeological, and to some extent philosophical, paradigm. I would argue, however, that these paradigms are increasingly proving to be unduly restrictive, and that we should reappraise these traditions to see if we can unveil the history of our forgotten race from the many common and consistent elements, while still operating within the basic principle of appreciating the role played by symbolism and archetypes.

Meanwhile, I do not intend for this work to rely solely on my reinterpretation of ancient texts and traditions. In support, firstly I propose to turn to archaeology and use the mounting body of artefactual and cultural evidence – only a small part of which is still regarded by the orthodoxy as ‘anomalous’ – that increasingly suggests modern humans have been around in highly cultured form, although not necessarily with the levels of advanced technology proposed by some commentators, for somewhat longer than has hitherto been accepted. As to what I mean by ‘somewhat longer’, as we will see I have good reason to suggest this is only of the order of tens of thousands of years, rather than millions. Thus, unlike some other commentators, I do not believe we have to fundamentally question the theory of evolution – although as we will see we might find that a slight philosophical tweak to that theory is appropriate. Secondly, I will bring in the geological evidence that in the relatively recent past the earth was rocked by a major catastrophe that would have wiped out virtually all traces of advanced culture other than those few that, arguably, still remain.

With these and other additions from the realms of science and philosophy, the various pieces of the puzzle start to fit together. It is my contention that our ancestors all over the world have left us textual clues about our hidden past stretching into antediluvian antiquity, if only we look for them in the right places.

I would not wish to conceal the fact that some of the material in this book has been presented before. Ever since the Western scientific orthodoxy wrested power from the church a few centuries ago, a succession of mavericks has stepped into the breach to ensure those who believe the rationalism of science does not have all the answers have plenty of material with which to back up their view. This long tradition of questioning is undoubtedly a healthy one – even if some of the revisionist views put forward have been little short of criminal in their lack of attention to scholarship. The number of researchers and writers involved in this revisionist quest has proliferated dramatically in recent decades, and a great many of them have touched on subjects included in this work. It would be invidious to select just a few for special mention, while to list them all would take a book in itself. Suffice to say, although I have significant areas of disagreement with many of them, it is their groundwork, and that of their predecessors, which has inspired new researchers like me to take up the challenge.

So what am I bringing to the debate that has not already been covered? I believe my approach is fundamentally different from that of most of my colleagues and predecessors. For a start, many of them have, either explicitly or implicitly, shown a serious lack of respect for the specialists in a number of orthodox disciplines – which I think belittles their arguments. Although there are exceptions in any walk of life, by and large these scholars have not achieved what they have by being narrow-minded imbeciles. There must be a new ‘middle way’ that questions aspects of the orthodoxy that deserve re-evaluation without blatant disrespect – and one that does not gloss over or remain ignorant of orthodox arguments, but instead faces them head on.

In particular, when postulating a ‘forgotten’, ‘lost’, or ‘hidden’ former race of humans on earth, many revisionist authors have demonstrated a disturbing lack of understanding of orthodox arguments in three main areas. The first is human evolution, where certain of them provide supposed evidence of great antiquity for modern man without placing it in any philosophically or scientifically logical context, while others propose that extraterrestrial intervention is the only answer to supposed enigmas they have perhaps not fully investigated. The second is the roles of context and symbolism in myth, where certain of them make unduly literal translations of specific texts with no regard for the context of similar themes in other cultures. The third is the dating of monuments from our earliest civilisations in the postdiluvian – or in my terms ‘modern’ – epoch, where certain of them appear to disregard the significant body of contextual evidence archaeologists have painstakingly amassed; and nowhere more so than in their attempts to ascribe a far earlier date to the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx, a subject covered in detail in my previous book Giza: The Truth, coauthored with Chris Ogilvie-Herald.

On the other hand, some revisionist historians take a different tack and, even if they accept the orthodox view of human evolution and of the dating of ancient monuments, suggest the level of technology displayed by these early civilisations could not possibly have ‘developed overnight’, some even arguing that highly advanced technology must have been handed down by survivors from the legendary Atlantis or even introduced by extraterrestrials. However, in my view they fail to properly appreciate just how much can be achieved by a civilisation with superb organisation and focus, but not necessarily high levels of technology in the modern sense of the word. Moreover, if we look at how far modern Western civilisation has developed in only a handful of centuries, this argument just does not ring true, because there is a development period in the archaeological record of these ancient civilisations that they tend to ignore.

My approach here is fundamentally different because, rather than using the argument that the supposedly advanced technology of our earliest civilisations in the modern epoch implies that previous civilisations must have existed, I would argue there is prima facie textual and to some extent archaeological evidence of humankind’s extensive cultural prehistory – although in my view it does not suggest these earlier cultures were technologically advanced in the modern sense of the word. They might have constructed settlements of considerable size, but not necessarily with huge structures or advanced techniques, or even durable materials. They might have developed a high state of civilisation, but one based primarily on group co-operation, and on knowledge development and education. And, what is more, they might have continued like this for millennia before becoming slaves to the great god of material progress.

Above all, instead of extrapolating the technical knowledge of our postdiluvian ancestors back to their antediluvian forebears, I believe we should concentrate on extrapolating their spiritual knowledge back. Although many other commentators have touched on the esoteric wisdom displayed by our earliest civilisations in the modern epoch, for the most part they have not been able to put this into any overall philosophical context; even more importantly, they seem to have overlooked the fact that this more than anything else may be the key to unveiling the hidden messages of the ancient texts and traditions regarding our forgotten antediluvian race. It is their original spiritual advancement in a ‘golden age’, their subsequent debasement through concentration on the material world and forgetting their spiritual roots, and their consequent destruction, that shines through loud and clear.

Moreover, once the texts are properly decoded by the removal of distortions, they tell us that the original spiritual worldview of the golden age was totally consistent with that maintained by the most enlightened Eastern and Western esoteric sects of the modern epoch. In my view the reason for this consistency is that there exists a universal spiritual wisdom that transcends all barriers of space and time. Not only that, but the valiant and ongoing attempts by modern theoretical physicists and cosmologists to uncover the true nature of the physical, and indeed not-so-physical, universe are increasingly confirming the universal truths that various of our pre- and postdiluvian forebears took for granted – even if from a somewhat less technological perspective. A proper appreciation of the legacy left by them, and a reappraisal of their entire worldview, is long overdue.

Finally, despite the fact that fundamentally I am an evolutionist, I do believe that at a certain point in humankind’s history there was a sudden impetus to its evolution that cannot, or at least should not, be analysed in purely scientific terms. For a proper evaluation, as we will see, we will have to turn to the realms of philosophy, and listen to what the ancient texts have to tell us about the onset of the golden age. Then, perhaps for the first time, we will be able to develop a framework in which a spiritual worldview forms a logical corollary to a scientific, evolutionary approach, rather than remaining essentially irreconcilable and illogical. And this is perhaps where a revisionist author such as myself can really contribute something, by insisting we look at the big picture and not be afraid to cross disciplines in our search for an all-encompassing paradigm that merges science, history and philosophy into a coherent whole.

In Part 1 I will examine the orthodox approach to supposed mythology, and the evidence to support a spiritual worldview, before exploring what the ancient texts and traditions have to say about, in turn, the debasement and destruction of our forgotten race, the introduction of civilisation by various sages, the golden age, potential multiple world ages, and the creation of humankind. In Part 2 I will turn to the potential corroborative evidence from archaeology and geology; I will also reappraise the work of certain celebrated modern-day ‘seers’, along with the body of material on Atlantis, other lost continents, and supposed advanced technology, to establish how well it stands up to scrutiny and whether or not any of it provides useful support for my arguments. Finally, in Part 3 I will return to the ancient texts and traditions and their descriptions of the origins and nature of the universe, evaluating the extent to which the universal truths they reveal are consistent not only with the worldview of the most enlightened Eastern and Western esoteric sects, but also with that emerging from modern theoretical physics.

One final preliminary comment is essential. By its very nature this work is far more speculative than my previous endeavours. Although I cannot prove that my reinterpretation of the antediluvian aspects of the texts and traditions is correct, I can guarantee it has been researched and compiled with as much regard to scholarship and integrity as I can personally muster. Moreover, it is my strong belief that the conclusions I draw just may take us closer to the truth of these traditions than we have ever been before.

As a result, I believe our hidden history, and the wisdom of the ancient universal truths, have profound implications for our understanding of our place in the world, and of our future as well as our past. Above all, they warn us of the dangers of repeating past mistakes by forsaking our spiritual roots and allowing material preoccupations to predominate. Placed in this context, they can act as a wake-up call for us all.