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Plato, Atlantis, and the Neuroscience of Supernatural Belief
From ancient Egypt to modern brain anatomy: symbolic shells and psychoactive Atlantean legends
This is an excerpt from Sky Gods and the Recipe for Immortality: The secret influence of psychoactivity over science, society, and the supernatural.
Plato and Solon, ancient inventors of democracy and reason, were psychedelic Eleusinian initiates who shared Atlantis’ legend. According to Plato, the advanced prehistoric civilization crumbled when its spiritual nature devolved into greed (and lust for material gold) before a divine cataclysm washed it away.
A viable candidate for the Atlantean capital city is the Eye of the Sahara in Northwest Africa. In addition to gold and Acacia being found in abundance near the mysterious site, another notable artifact can be found naturally: giant shells called ammonites. NASA once described the strange geographical feature itself as looking similar to an ammonite shell:
“This prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert of Mauritania has attracted attention since the earliest space missions because it forms a conspicuous bull’s-eye in the otherwise rather featureless expanse of the desert. Described by some as looking like an outsized ammonite in the desert, the…
