Ok once again class is in session.

Today's topic is going to be a BDA related one. Specifically "Lost Legacy" by Robert Heinlein. I know it's been a bit of a broken record of mine, for those of you following, but this story has a very pertinent theme, plot, and lesson.

TLDR: 2 men and a woman discover how to learn Psi powers when they realize it's a latent talent all men have. They come into contact with a hidden group of adepts at mount Shasta and learn about ancient times of prehistory Mu and Atlantis.

Their efforts to teach others this talent is resisted by an evil cabal or deep state that is slowly trying to take over the USA. The cabal in this case can use Psi powers as well and control major institutions and political persons.

Note:
The novella has the same flavor and themes as Stranger in a Strange Land. A lot of the same concepts will be revisited 20 years later in that book.

Let's get to it.

The novella introduces us to the 3protagonists. Ben Coburn a brain surgeon, Phil Huxley a psychologist, investigating psychic abilities in people, and Joan Freeman a long term college student who has bounced from discipline to discipline from a lack of any good answers.

Ben gets called on an emergency surgery and invites Phil to observe in the OR. Turns out the patient is one of Phil's subjects who has a psi talent of being able to see the other side of playing cards.

Brain surgery goes well and he recovers, however the patient loses his psi talents. Ben said the portions he excised have no known use to medicine.

Phil offers a theory as to what those unknown are actually for

Phil then offers a theory as to why people have not been able to develop these abilities if they are latent in people's brains:

The subject of evolution and anthropology come up in the discussion:

Which leads Phil to the conclusion that men did not evolve the way that the anthropology books and experts would let you believe.

Phil because of his new theories get reprimanded by the college dean. And since it's a week before summer vacation Ben suggests a road trip to clear their mind and discuss their notes. The trio end up going north to northern California and to Mt. Shasta.

Joan decides to climb the mountain and they all follow. Unfortunately they get hit by a snow storm in the middle of their climb. Ben slips, falls and breaks his leg. A mysterious stranger dressed in only a light shirt and pants shows up.

He splints Ben's leg and carries him with no effort and leads them to his hidden alcove.

This is the part that gets interesting and relates to the Valley of the Blue Moon:

The next morning the trio wakes up and has breakfast. Ben's leg is miraculously healed.

The stranger confirms that he is Ambrose Bierce, the same one that disappeared in 1914.

Ben of course asks how is leg got healed to which Bierce replies:

Yes the mind can affect the body. Why do we have double blind placebo trials?

The trio spends the day at Mt. Shasta exploring the apartments where all manners of people of age and races live and do art, or do science stuff. Everyone else there exhibits Psi talents of one or another.

After a day of being astonished by the inhabitants and their wondrous abilities they call it a night. Phil dreams the strangest dream which in fact is an allegory of what happened in prediluvian times. (note: Lold is Loki ocr typo)

Vulcan one of the "Young men" speaks to "Jove" who may also be God as in the God of Abraham. This is all symbolic. Try to follow along

Jove is not convinced.

Confirmed Loki (Lucifer/Satan) is a gamma male. See Vox Day's socio-sexual hierarchy for more info.

There was another meeting, to decide what to do about the Young Men. There was debate as to what to do about them. One can't push on a string.

The elders were not in the mood to fight. They wanted to leave this world and go off. @blocksofwood, Babylon 5 was the inverted version of this story.

They decide to leave. But the elders (Ancient ones mentioned by BDA?) decide to leave records for those ready to accept it (Valley of the Blue moon? The library that was somewhere in the Sonoran desert of Arizona?)

Jove decrees to make records and to make them able to endure the coming calamities to the Earth's crust (wait what? Yeah we are going to get there)

That is the end of that dream for Phil Huxley. Although it wasn't the end of the night of revelations to him. He dreams another dream about the world that the Young Men create. The mighty empire of Mu/Atlantis.

The description of Mu is the same tropes attributed to those lost empires before written history.

But as with any empire, there inevitability comes rebellion and destruction. Foundation series by Asimov is intertwined and becomes readily apparent as to how it correlates with the ancient past.

As there were several foundations to preserve ancient knowledge and to help foster a rebirth of Civilization so that men won't be stuck in the darkness anymore than they have to be.

There are priests of both sides still remaining, who unleash everything they have at one another.

Unfortunately such fighting was so destructive, that it actually disturbed the Earth's crust.

It sounds like a fantastic tale for sure, "But professor, such things aren't possible! Not in the real world." Yes I thought similar until 11NOV2018 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/11/strange-earthquake-waves-rippled-around-world-earth-geology/

There were some priests who survived on both sides. The Young Men's priests became the Prometheans or "Light Bringers" of today, i.e. the cult that once ruled the world in our lifetime (the past tense is not a typo).

The white hat priests? They have been also working behind the scenes keeping humans alive.

BDA is a member of such a group. POTUS is currently their leaderl. Heinlein, Asimov, and De Camp were members too. Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln I suspect, along with a large number of founding fathers of the USA.

It is no coincidence that the Prometheans hate everything the USA stands for. And have through the centuries slowly tried to subvert the USA. They damn near won too.

Ok back to the story:

The trio ate breakfast the next morning. All of them crabby from bad dreams. They all had the same two sets of dreams.

There was a slight variation where Loki was Lucifer, or Jove was Odin, etc but the general story was the same. (Sounds like many mythos from numerous different cultures)

After breakfast Bierce comes to them and explains that the dreams were no coincidence but rather a historical record of sorts that relate how the Ancients went away, the Young Men and Mu came to be and the great fall.

They then meet the head of the valley, Ephraim Howe. Who explains the purpose of the valley to the trio:

Next Howe explains current events. The novella never specifically mentions the time. It was published in November of 1941, a month before the Imperial Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It is hinted that it's in the near future, because Ben has a "pocket phone" i.e. a cellphone.

The trio gets recruited and taught advanced Psi powers. In a conversation about how the group at Mt Shasta started it goes into the significance of high places in various world religions.

@paul_furber, are there any legends of holy mountains in SA/Rhodesia area? I'm willing to bet there may be a valley nearby that gets visited by an American Cherokee that has trouble finding pants to fit him properly.

Apparently the Genesis tale is the most accurate renderings of the fall. But because it was written for nomadic desert shepherds thousands of years ago certain things weren't mentioned or understood at the time.

Imagine if you will, you have a good grasp of 20th century history and you had to tell George Washington what was going to happen and you even brought a TV to show him a general documentary of the 20th century. And then have him explain it to people of his time.

Don't forget you have the advantage of speaking the same basic language.

Once again there's mentioning of multiple copies around the world. Where they were moved. Sounds like a certain library that was in the Arizona desert

The trio are determined to use their new found abilities and share them with the world. Their mission statement is a restoration of mans place against the Young men's (Promethean) way of only selecting a few to share the ancient knowledge.

I'm willing to bet those in the Valley of the Blue Moon have similar goals.

The trio go to the Valley people and tell them they plan to share this knowledge with the world. Ephraim Howe warns them that the world may not be ready for such things all at once.

Howe continues, Mark Twain apparently had similar thoughts about sharing this knowledge with the people at large. I was taken back a bit at this part. Needless to say I will be doing a thread on what Twain had to say about the subject in the future.

Remember that bit about the USA being a special thing in history? It is, and they received help from time to time.

Howe says that they can share the knowledge they learned, they don't need his permission. Free will being what it is. However he does warn them:

As they are about to leave Bierce bids them luck. They ask him to join them but he has seen enough of human nature to know that often people won't appreciate it. Sadly I share this sentiment...

That's pretty much it. I will leave the story at that. I apologise for the length of this thread it just a lot of information packed into the novella that I wanted to share and is relevant to today.

You can find a copy of this novella at

http://www.sfsfss.com/stories/Robert_A._Heinlein_-_Lost_Legacy.pdf

Thoughts? Questions? Gripes? Complaints?

@threadreaderapp unroll