One of the greatest archaeological riddles—and one of the grossest academic omissions—of our time is the untold story of the parallel ruins left by two seemingly unrelated ancient civilizations: the ancient Mayans on one side of the Pacific Ocean and the ancient Balinese on the other. During the course of my research, I have uncovered several mysterious, unprecedented and unexplained similarities in their architecture, iconography, and religion. These similarities are so striking and profound that the Mayans and Balinese seem to have been twin civilizations—as if children of the same parent. Yet, incredibly, this mystery is not only being ignored by American scholars, it’s being suppressed.

What does archaeology have to do with politics and big business? Everything, it seems. This next statement, written in boldface, may sound extreme; but please keep reading, then look at the photographic evidence in this article, then draw your own conclusion:

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a group of researchers and independent thinkers have started to believe that by controlling major academic institutions and the mass media, a vastly wealthy elite group of powerful corporate families is successfully hiding historical and spiritual truths of our ancient past. The goal of this group, according to this theory, is to maintain a secretive global system of economic and political tyranny that their forefathers established more than a century ago that was once termed the “Invisible Government” by influential American leaders.

More specifically, this elite group is concealing the fact that there once existed a highly-sophisticated “Golden Age” civilization on earth in remote prehistory. This Golden Age civilization ended abruptly, but left behind a powerfully-advanced spiritual doctrine that was later inherited by the world’s first known civilizations, all children of the Golden Age.

The world’s first cultures inherited and practiced this “Universal Religion” via the now-academically-taboo process called “hyperdiffusionism,” a pejorative 20th century term recently invented by the establishment media and academia:

“Hyperdiffusionism — the theory that all cultures originated from one [Golden Age] culture. Hyperdiffusionists deny that parallel evolution or independent invention took place to any great extent throughout history, they claim that…all cultures can be traced back to a single culture.”

— Wikipedia

By denouncing, and thus debilitating, any academic study even remotely related to the so-called “hyperdiffusionist” model of history—a model that was widely accepted by scholars of past centuries, who called the Golden Age civilization “Atlantis”—the elite have successfully kept the Universal Religion out of our reach. In doing so they have prevented masses of people from accessing a deep, self-empowering body of wisdom that has the potential to stir a paradigm shift in humanity which would endanger their global hegemony.

The present article examines this possiblity, by relating a single example of hyperdiffusionism in the ancient past. It’s a revealing look at how the ancient culture of the Mayans, a highly-advanced civilization that flourished on the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, is mysteriously similar to a parallel culture on the other side of the globe, the ancient Balinese, who flourished on the tiny island of Bali in Southeast Asia. What you are about to see is evidence of the Universal Religion on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, apparently handed down by the same Golden Age civilization.

Establishment scholars say the Maya and Balinese were never in contact, since they were separated by the Pacific Ocean, which these scholars say was impassible by the ancients. Yet these  scholars never offer to explain the profound parallels the two cultures shared. Here are 12 examples of these parallels:space

#1 – Stepped Pyramids (With Temples On Top)

BALINESE (LEFT): The Mother Temple of Besakih, or Pura Besakih, is the most important, the largest and holiest pyramidal temple in Bali, Indonesia, and one of a series of Balinese temples. It has stepped terraces, resembling a stepped pyramid.

MAYAN (RIGHT): This stepped pyramid, called the High Priest’s Temple or Ossuary, has four sides with staircases on each side. The sides of the stairways are decorated with interlaced feathered serpents. Pillars associated with this building are in the form of the Toltec feathered serpent and human figures.space

#2 – Twin Dragons / Serpents Balusters Running Down Temple Sides

BALINESE (LEFT): The last stage of Besakih temple is called Stairway to Heaven, and it is made of twin serpent / dragon balustrades that run down the full length of the stairway. At the bottom of the stairway their mouths are open.

MAYAN (RIGHT): The pyramid of El Castillo features plumed serpents that run down the sides of the northern balustrade. At the bottom of the stairway their mouths are open. During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the pyramid and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, which creates the illusion of a feathered serpent “crawling” down the pyramid.space

#3 – Sacred Corbel Arch Architecture

BALINESE (LEFT): This corbel arch from a temple complex in Ubud is constructed by offsetting successive courses of stone (or brick) at the springline of the walls so that they project towards the archway’s center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway. Often, the last gap is bridged with a flat stone.

MAYAN (RIGHT): Notable throughout Maya architecture is the corbel arch, which directs the weight off of the lintel and onto the supporting posts. The corbel vault has no keystone, as European arches do, making the Maya vault appear more like a narrow triangle than an archway. Often, the last gap is bridged with a flat stone.

Renowned 19th century Mayanist Augustus Le Plongeon, who has since been discredited because of his hyperdiffusionist idea that the world’s first cultures were children of a much older civilization named Atlantis, believed that the universality of the corbel arch in Antiquity was strong evidence of hyperdiffusionism:

“…Augustus Le Plongeon, a pioneering Mayanist, renowned for having made the earliest thorough and systematic photographic documentation of archaeological sites in Yucatan…

…for Le Plongeon, the most important evidence of cultural diffusion was the Mayas’ corbelled arch.  The arches… he believed, had proportions that related to the “mystic numbers 3.5.7” which he stated were used by ancient Masonic master builders…Those same proportions, he also noted, were found in tombs in Chaldea and Etruria, in ancient Greek structures and as part of the Great Pyramid in Egypt…

Throughout his writings, including “The Origins of the Egyptians” published posthumously in 1913, he compares modern and ancient Maya and Egyptian ethnography, linguistics, iconography and religious practices…He was basically on the right track methodologically, and he did make a number of intriguing observations and analogies…”

—Lawrence G. Desmond, Augustus Le Plongeon: A Fall From Archaeological Grace

#4 – Parallel “Fearsome” Deities At Temple Entrances

BALINESE (LEFT): Note the face, right hand, left hand, and left foot. This fearsome looking Balinese deity marks the entrances to Balinese temples. He has a torch in his left hand, huge teeth and fangs, long hair, a beard, and a fearful expression. In the bottom photo you can see his left foot points out to the left while his right hand is close-fisted just below his chest, elbow out—similar to the Mayan photo.

MAYAN (RIGHT): Note the face, right hand, left hand, and left foot. This fearsome looking “howler monkey god” statue marks the entrances to Mayan temples. The howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts—including music—and a patron of the artisans among the Classic Mayas, especially of the scribes and sculptors. He holds a torch in his left hand, has huge teeth, long hair, a beard, and a fearful expression. In the bottom photo you can see his left foot points outward to the left while his right hand is close-fisted just below his chest, elbow out—similar to the Balinese photo.space

#5 – Sculpted Stone Serpents>

BALINESE (LEFT): Balinese serpents carved in stone protrude from the sides of temples. The serpent is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols; it represents fertility or the creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through moulting, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.

MAYAN (RIGHT): Mayan serpents carved in stone protrude from the sides of temples. The serpent was a very important social and religious symbol, revered by the Mayans. The shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal. The chief Mesoamerican god, Quetzalcoatl, was represented as a feathered serpent. The Vision Serpent was also important. During Mayan rituals participants would experience visions in which they communicated with the ancestors or gods. These visions took the form of a giant serpent which served as a gateway to the spirit realm. The ancestor or god who was being contacted was depicted as emerging from the serpent’s mouth.space

#6 – Spiritual Energy Harnessed Through Hand Gestures

BALINESE (LEFT): Notice the yoga-style position of the hands of Acintya (Statuette of Acintya, Bali Museum) the chief deity of the ancient Balinese religion. An important aspect of the ancient worldwide practice of yoga is the subtle but key practice of hand, body and eye postures, to invoke certain flows of energy and create certain states of consciousness, called in India “yoga mudras” or “hand yoga gestures.”

MAYAN (RIGHT): Stela at Copan of king Waxaklahuun Ub’aah K’awiil, believe to have been erected December 5, 711. Note the position of his hands as compared to Acynta. Hand yoga gestures generally work by preventing the dissipation of prana (life-force) from the fingertips.  In order to do this, one brings the fingers together in various ways, which helps create certain subtle energy circuits.  These circuits then channel prana along particular pathways to affect the mind/body complex in specific ways.space

#7 – Frightening Faces Above Doorways (With Recessed Lintels)

BALINESE (LEFT): Many Balinese temples depict faces of deities—often grotesque or scary visages— above the main doorway. Note how the top of the doorway steps inward in successive steps. In one sense, these were used as apotropaic symbols, having the power to prevent evil or bad luck and to scare away evil spirits. The doorways and windows of buildings were felt to be particularly vulnerable to evil. On churches and castles, gargoyles or other grotesque faces and figures would be carved to frighten away evil and other malign influences.

MAYAN (RIGHT): Many Mayan temples depict faces of deities—often grotesque or scary visages— above the main doorway. Note how the top of the doorway steps inward in successive steps. Some scholars believe these to be masks. The Mayan’s created masks showing the faces of snakes and various animals and these masks were quite common.space

#8 – Twin Elephant Deities<

BALINESE (LEFT): An elephant head at the entrance to a Balinese temple. The elephant here may or may not predate the practice of Hinduism on the island. In Hinduism, the most widely worshiped Hindu god deity is Lord Ganesha: The Elephant God. He represents “perfect wisdom” and is considered to be the “remover of obstacles” and “bestower of prosperity.” He combines the natures of the two most intelligent beings—man and elephant.

MAYAN (RIGHT): An elephant head on a Mayan sculpture. Elephant heads are prominent in art and sculpture throughout the ancient Americas. This is a bit of a mystery, since elephants were supposed to have disappeared from America about 10,000 years ago as the Ice Ages waned. Scholars in the past who subscribed to diffusionist theories believed the elephant imagery was created by the Mayans either because they themselves originated in the Old World or because they had seen elephants first hand after traveling there themselves. It is also possible that cultures in the Americas are far more ancient than scholars realize, and stretch back to a time when elephants were still living in the Americas.  British surgeon and sinologist. W. Perceval Yetts (1878 – 1957) wrote:

“So far back as 1813 doubts were thrown on the autochthony attributed to Maya culture, and about ten years ago the famous anatomist Professor G. Elliot Smith revived some of the old arguments and fortified them with many ingenious speculations of his own…to prove that a certain motive used in Maya design was derived from the Old World. The motive is well displayed twice on a carved monolith at Copan…and Professor Smith champions the identification of these two forms as heads of elephants, and, above all, as heads of Indian elephants.”

—W. Perceval Yetts, Elephants and Maya Artspace

#9 – Monster Temples With Massive “Mouth” Entrances

BALINESE (LEFT): This is the Goa Gajah temple, also called Elephant Cave. On the façade of the cave is an enormous zoomorphic mask with the entrance to the temple as its mouth. Next to this figure in relief are various menacing creatures and demons carved in the rock at the cave entrance. The primary figure was once thought to be an elephant, hence the nickname Elephant Cave. The site is mentioned in the Javanese poem Desawarnana written in 1365. An extensive bathing place on the site was not excavated until the 1950s. These appear to have been built to ward off evil spirits.

MAYAN (RIGHT): Uxmal: Pyramid of the Magician. On the façade of the pyramid entrance is an enormous zoomorphic mask with the entrance to the temple as its mouth. Next to this figure in relief are various menacing creatures and demons carved in the rock at the entrance. Linda Schele (1942 – 1998) an expert in the field of Mayan epigraphy and iconography, wrote:

“The façades of Maya architecture served as a stage front for ritual and carriers of important religious and political symbolism…One of the most impressive techniques was to treat the entire façade as a great monster head with the door as its mouth, as on…the Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal…People entering such buildings appeared to be walking into the gullet of the monster.”

—Linda Schele, The Iconography of Maya Architectural Façades during the Late Classic Period

#10 – Chakana Cross Symbols

BALINESE (LEFT): Scholars have mostly ignored this esoteric spiritual symbol that repeats on Balinese stone monuments, here shown on the Bali Pavilion of Taman Mini. But in Andean culture (Incas, pre-Incas) it’s well-known as “Chakana,” which stands for “Inca Cross.” The Chakana symbolizes for Inca mythology what is known in other mythologies as the World Tree (i.e., the Tree of Life). A stepped cross, with three steps on each side, it is made up of an equal-armed cross indicating the cardinal points of the compass and a superimposed square

MAYAN (RIGHT): Chakana symbols similar to those created by the Incas and pre-Incas of the Andes in Peru exist throughout Mayan art and architecture where they held the same religious meaning and served the same spiritual purpose. As in Bali, the Chakana takes the form of a stepped cross, with three steps on each side. It is made up of an equal-armed cross indicating the cardinal points of the compass and a superimposed square.space

#11 – Third Eye Dot Between Eyes On Forehead

BALINESE (LEFT): The Balinese sculpted faces and wood carvings at left display the Third Eye dot in the forehead, symbolic of the ancient “Third Eye” explained in the religions, mythologies and spiritual systems of indigenous cultures around the world. The Third Eye is available to all of us and we can open it and use it to see the “inner soul,” which is who we really re (i.e., we are the soul, not the body). You can learn more about the Third Eye here.

MAYAN (RIGHT): Mayan stone faces at right display the Third Eye dot in the forehead, symbolic of the ancient “Third Eye” explained in the Mayan religion. You can learn more about the Third Eye here.

#12 – “Triptych” Three-Door Temples—With Accent On Center Door

BALINESE (LEFT): The Triptych three-in-one temple is common throughout Bali, visible on countless temples all over the island. The Triptych pattern relates the central teaching of the indigenous Balinese religion, which is related to the Third Eye. You can learn more about this religion symbolized by the Triptych here.

MAYAN (RIGHT): The Triptych three-in-one temple is common throughout Mexico, visible on countless Mayan, Aztec and other cultural temples all over the Yucatan. The Triptych pattern relates the central teaching of the indigenous Mayan religion, and pre-Columbian religion in general. You can learn more about this religion symbolized by the Triptych here.space

Why Scholars Fail To Study The Parallels

These are 12 major parallels still visible in the ruins of the ancient Balinese and ancient Mayan cultures—twin civilizations that developed on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean who scholars say were never in contact and who scholars believe developed independently of each other. The parallels shared here point to a far different story than scholars tell. The evidence indicates a much deeper relationship shared by the ancient Balinese and ancient Mayans.

Yet establishment scholars are completely ignoring these parallels, not out of spite or because they are purposely trying to cover something up; but because they are being controlled to do so in a way so subtle that even they themselves aren’t unaware of it.

How?

These scholars—mainstream historians and archaeologists—are fundamentally honest and hard-working people who perform the extraordinarily laborious task of unearthing artifacts from our ancient past. When they say “there’s no mystery in the past” and “hyperdiffusionism is an outdated model of history” it seems clear that they themselves genuinely believe it; they’re not trying to deceive the public in any way.

The problem is that they are locked into a particular paradigm that sees our society as the apex and pinnacle of the human story. They view history as a straightforward evolutionary process that went from primitive cavemen through a gradual development into agriculture and then down into the Greeks, Romans, the Middle Ages, and finally the Enlightenment and beginning of Science, all ending with our highly technological civilization of today, which in their minds is the “supreme” one.

They are 100% locked into this “evolutionary” idea of how history works, and so it’s very difficult for them to accept that deep in the remote past there existed a civilization or Golden Age that was even higher than we are, and that was able to do things that we cannot. This is the lens through which they view reality, and so they dismiss any anomalous evidence or find plausible explanations for any evidence that does not jive with this reality.

Moreover, being a “scholar” or an “academic” is a job, a profession, which is part of a larger structure. If you want to get a job as a “scholar” or “academic” you absolutely need to buy into its mindset; buy into the paradigm. If you don’t buy in then you simply won’t get hired, and you won’t climb the ladder and move up. Thinkers and researchers who might have wilder or different or more extra ordinary ideas of the past are thus weeded out so that the ones who are left are those who have bought into the existing paradigm.

Thus, no scholar dares challenge the “established” model against hyperdiffusionism, that is, if he or she wishes to get published or win research grants or move along in the profession. This is the simple way in which research into the human past is being controlled by forces we can’t see and most of us don’t understand.

In Conclusion

This is a very brief look at highlights of the parallels common to two ancient civilizations separated by the Pacific ocean. Like a jig-saw puzzle, the missing pieces of these twin cultures separated by the Pacific Ocean can be put together to reveal a common ancestry.

Scholars of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century believed they understood this ancestry. According to their research, in the dimness of remote Antiquity, in an age so prehistoric it is now lost to time and memory, there once existed a spiritually-advanced “Golden Age” civilization which far surpassed our own modern society culturally and spiritually. The world’s first cultures were all children of this Golden Age “Mother Culture,” and we can still see traces of it today in the many similarities shared by those civilizations that we understand to be the world’s first cultures.

The trouble is, if you mention this Golden Age culture to scholars by using the words “hyperdiffusion,” “Atlantis” or “Lost Civilization,” then not only have you lost their ear, but you’ve lost the ear of most people who hinge on every word the academics say (without thinking for themselves). Hyperdiffusionism is bubkis; that’s the academic line, and if you don’t tow it you’re through.

Richard Cassaro is the author of the groundbreaking new book Written In Stone: Decoding The Secret Masonic Religion Hidden In Gothic Cathedrals & World Architecture:

Richard Cassaro’s new book, The Missing Link, explores the meaning, transformations and propagation of the ancient world’s most important religious icon. His first book, Written in Stone, is a wide-ranging exploration of hitherto-unknown connections among Freemasons, medieval cathedral builders and the creators of important ancient monuments, in support of his theory that a spiritually advanced mother culture, lost to history, is behind many of the world’s architectural and artistic traditions.

Prior to the publication of Written in Stone, Cassaro enjoyed a successful career as a U.S. correspondent, professional journalist, and photo researcher for Rizzoli Publications, one of the world’s leading media organizations. Cassaro, who is a graduate of Pace University in New York City, has examined first-hand the ancient ruins and mystical traditions of Egypt, Mexico, Greece, Italy, Sicily, France, England, India, Peru and Spain; he has lectured on his theories to great acclaim in the United States, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Peru.

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