Atlantis: An Interpretation

Plato's account of Atlantis in his Critias and Timaeus is interpreted. A diagram of the Orphic Key to the Atlantic Fable is included, as well as a bibliography.

The most famous of all accounts describing the condition of Atlantis and the causes for its destruction are to be found in the Critias and Timaeus of Plato. Most modern books dealing with the problem of Atlantis are built upon Plato's description. The integrity and learning of this great philosopher cannot easily be assailed. Had it not been for the weight of Plato's authority, the whole subject would have been discredited by modern archeologists. There is, however, in fairness to both sides of the controversy, a certain weakness in Plato's story. The thoughtful reader is impressed immediately by the allegorical and symbolical parts of the account.

While these do not detract from the possibility that an Atlantic continent actually existed, they do present the necessary elements for an alternative interpretation. The anti-Atlantists contend that in the Critias Plato takes a flight into fiction, in the words of Plutarch, "manuring the little seed of the Atlantis myth which Solon had discovered in the Egyptian temples."

The Philosophical Research Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1934 for the purpose of assisting thoughtful persons to live more graciously and constructively in a confused and troubled world. The Society is entirely free from educational, political, or ecclesiastical control. Dedicated to an idealistic approach to the solution of human problems, the Society's program stresses the need for the integration of religioo,/philosophy, and the science of psychology into one system of instruction. The goal of this instruction is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life, to recognize his proper responsibilities and opportunities, and to understand and appreciate his place in the unfolding universal pattern.

Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) was a seeker and lover of wisdom (the very definition of a philosopher) he had the courage and raw energy to look for wisdom in places most men had long since forgotten or never knew existed. As the Philosophical Research Society's founder and first president, he began his career in an era when most Americans did not look toward other cultures and traditions without looking down. And yet, Manly P. Hall spoke and wrote extensively on the wisdom found in all ancient traditions, and the deep cross-cultural threads and many interconnected roots of modern religious expression. While neither guru nor saint (he made no claim of perfection, far from it), his work is exceedingly rare in its grand scope, detail and synthesis. He embraced the wisdom of every tradition and, with a fluid command of the obscure and complex contents of these traditions, worked to express their unifying truths.

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The Philosophical Research Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1934 by Manly P. Hall for the purpose of providing thoughtful persons rare access to the depth and breadth of the world s wisdom literature. PRS is entirely free from doctrinal, political, or ecclesiastical affiliation and provides an environment sheltered from any interest intending to coerce or convert. The institution's goal is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life, dedicated to understanding and appreciating one s own unique possibilities in the unfolding universal pattern. The works published by PRS, most of which are written by Manly P. Hall himself, probe the life mysteries and spiritual issues with which every inquisitive individual is concerned. Whether interested in creating a personal library of philosophical insights, or just beginning the search for enlightenment, one will find the works featured here valuable steps through the "gates of wisdom" to the greater world around.