Plato's Atlantis

Plato's story of Atlantis was a parable Plato told to his disciples. The myth was most likely structured around the historic destruction of the island of Santorini. This myth belongs to the genre of spiritual annihilation or emasculation.

The debate began in antiquity as to whether Plato's tale of Atlantis was to be considered real in the physical sense or just a myth. The physical manifestations like the black, red, and white rocks of Atlantis point devoted spiritual disciples to the elements of the inner sanctum. The devastated island, even in today's history, blocks direct shipping routes between Europe and Africa.

The tale recounts the building of a great city with bridges and moats. A city that owned great ships and sailed to many places throughout the Mediterranean sea. A city that had a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power.

We must remember that the Power of Grace is often portrayed as water. Inundation can also mean the powerful release of Grace. We know from recent experience that tsunami can wipe out cities and kill thousands of people.

Plato writes:
". . . there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down."

All that was built by man was washed away, annihilated. The disciple was spiritually emasculated, empty. This is why Jung discouraged the use of Buddhist and Taoist texts such as, The Secret of the Golden Flower which enhance the descent of Grace within the student.

We cannot deny the fact that the island of Santorini, the land of great kings and warriors, is now shaped like the very feminine symbol of the crescent and star.

Mischa V Alyea on Google+