The Lost Continent 遗失的大陆-14

In 1888, Blavatsky wrote a book called the Secret Doctrine 1, in which she attempted to establish the principles of Theosophy or God Wisdom that the cosmic masters had imparted to her. Blavatsky cited most of Donnelly's theories about Atlantis with approval, but she had one major disagreement. In her opinion, Donnelly's belief in Darwin was a grave error. And in one corner of her room sat a stuffed baboon 2 as a constant reminder 3 of how wrong she thought the Theory of Evolution was. Instead Blavatsky proposed that the cosmic masters of Atlantis had been the real progenitors 5 of the human race.

Occultism rejects the idea that Nature developed man from the ape, tracing the origin of the species to the Third Race man of the early Atlantean period.

Blavatsky argued that while some peoples notably 6 the Aryan-Hindus had retained the Atlantean purity of their ancient ancestors, others had not.

The Aryan- Hindu belongs to the oldest race now on earth, the Semite-Hebrew to the latest. There was a day when the Israelites had beliefs as pure as the Aryans, but now Judaism has become a religion of hate and malice 7.

Blavatsky's linking of Atlantis to ideas of racial superiority would later be seized upon by the most sinister 8 forces of the 20th century. Madam Blavatsky died in 1891, and true to form, the grandmother of the new age refused to go quietly.

Her last years alas 9 were fraught 10 with endless dramas, because although she had officially retired 11 from the Theosophical society, she couldn't stop meddling. And being a hell-raiser, she took every possible opportunity to stir the pot, so she died rather sadly, really, because she was in the middle of a maelstrom 13 of anger and scandal when she died. But somehow that's entirely 14 appropriate one feels she rather enjoyed it.

Madam Blavatsky's ideas cast a long shadow over the story of Atlantis, providing fertile ground for the myth-makers of new age spirituality. But ironically it would be the propagandists of the Third Reich who would first seize upon her theories of a pure Atlantean race. The year's 1933 and in Central America, one of the forgotten chapters in the story of Altantis is about to unfold. Deep in the Guatemalan jungle, a German archeological expedition believes it's unearthed 15 finds which challenge many of our most cherished ideas about human evolution. Buried deep in the earth are the mortal remains 16 of a people who don't even appear to be human, remains which local people believe to be the forgotten race of Atlantis.

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impart: v. 给予，传授
progenitor 4: n. 祖先
fraught: adj. 充满...的
meddle 17: v. 干涉，管闲事
maelstrom: n. 大旋涡，一种暴力的或混乱的局势
propagandist: n. 宣传员