The Sphinx – Virtual and Real

How should the modern view the past? The chapter talked about a conflict that exists concerning the view of the Great Pyramid and Sphinx. The scientific community looks at the evidence using technique like carbon dating and concludes that the structures were built during the Old Kingdom. A second group based on the teachings of Edgar Cayce and similar types believe that the structures were built by descendants of Atlantis thousand of years earlier. What the chapter brings out is the conflict that exists between the modern and the past. There are groups of people who view the past as superior to the present, modern world. These people look to the ancients as the source for life’s problems. The Cayce group would be those people who believe the pyramids hold secrets to the universe. The scientific community is represented by men like Lehner who base the arguments on the evidence found at the sites.

The problem for the scientific is that in order to continue the restoration and preservation projects they are depended upon those who visit the monuments, who provide needed revenue, many of whom are there because they are adherers to Cayce or Graham Hancock types. Also, the merchants that surround the Sphinx are depended upon those same people for their livelihood.