Meanwhile, elsewhere around the Bloggernacle...

[Harry Tic]

I didn't find any particular thread where we could share links and provide drive-by discussions of interesting LDS-themed threads and blogs elsewhere (mods, if I'm wrong, go ahead and bump this). Of course there are lots of threads here that make reference to other blogs and online resources, but I envision this thread as a one-stop shop to report on discussions going on elsewhere.

Feel free to share links to insightful (or, being that it is Mormon-themed, absurd) discussions that you may come across.

I'll get this started with this fascinating thread that I just came across at the LDS Freedom Forum. There's a lively discussion going on over there right now on whether or not the earth is hollow:

http://www.ldsfreedomforum.com/viewt...hp?f=1&t=28513

The more sober-minded commentators are careful to note that they are personally withholding judgment until all the evidence is in.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I read a book recently about the US Exploring Expedition, which was a major scientific expedition into the South Pacific and included the discovery of the antarctic continent. The specimens brought back from the voyage were used to start the Smithsonian museums.

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Glory-Disc...s=sea+of+glory

Anyway, in the years leading up to the voyage, there was a guy named John Symmes who promoted a hollow earth theory and claimed that there were openings at the poles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleves_Symmes,_Jr.

There was an Ohio journalist named Jeremiah Reynolds who got quite excited about this theory and spent quite a bit of time promoting it and trying to get funding for expeditions to the poles to find the openings. Eventually, he concluded that the theory was most likely bunk, so he started lobbying for a South Pacific naval expedition that was eventually approved and became the US Exploring Expedition. I could be wrong, but I seem to recall some kind of mention in that book about how some people believed the lost tribes were hidden away in the hollow earth.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Holy cow, what a great find. That thread is comedy gold. A few examples.

It's not a joke. Some people believe the earth is hollow and has an inner sun in the middle. I personally am open to the idea but I'm waiting for some personal revelation or something of that sort to find out for sure.

The solid earth theory is a belief that is arrogantly upheld by it's followers.

Has anyone considered that God is not limited by Outer Space, much less interstellar travel. Not to sound UFO-Cultish, but hey, I think it's just as possible as a Hollow Earth for God to move the 10 tribes to someplace like one of the Centauri Stars and have them live their lives there for a while.

UFO coverups are a matter of fact, and what has been disclosed is probably the tip of the iceberg. Aliens are bad enough, since they are something they can't know or control, but assumed to be from a distant star system. It cannot be acknowledged by government officials publicly that their are advanced civilizations a couple hundred miles beneath the surface.

[creekster]

I could be wrong, but I seem to recall some kind of mention in that book about how some people believed the lost tribes were hidden away in the hollow earth.

There was a patriarch in a stake I served in on my mission who held to this belief with great fervor. I recall vividly several of his testimonies in which he described how the ten tribes were squirreled away inside the earth and that the ice caps were like frost around the opening to a rabbit's warren in the winter. He also explained that when the ten tribes returned, they would issue forth from the north pole and come down through Quebec, into the United States and then reveal themselves to the rest of the world. Perhaps not coincidentally, we were located in Quebec at the time. I can't say I ever believed him, but he was so convincing that I was ready to camp out early for a good seat on the ten lost tribes' return parade.

[Solon]

I wrote this up a few years ago for a different purpose, but here's what I have on the Hollow Earth theory:

There's a 2006 book by David Standish called Hollow Earth that traces the history of this idea. I was surprised at how fascinating it was. (A New York Times Book Review from 2007 seems to agree.) To riff on a crude metaphor, the rabbit hole goes pretty deep.

Standish's book traces the earliest publication of the theory to none other than Sir Edmond Halley (1656-1754), the same man who successfully predicted the return of the comet named for him. Halley proposed that the earth was hollow in 1691, and published a book explaining the "physics" behind his hypothesis in 1692. Despite the scientific trappings, Halley's argument was really religiously based, proposing that it would be a great waste of God's power to make a huge planet that would only support life on the surface (or close to it).

Although Halley said it first, it was really John Cleves Symmes (1779-1829) who took the notion of a hollow earth into the modern era. Symmes proposed that the inner earth was accessible through large holes near the poles that enjoyed warm, tropical climates and probably supported life. Symmes never made it to the Arctic to look for the holes, but he might have been the actual author of the book Symzonia, an 1820s novel about a journey to the interior of the earth. Symmes' ideas were popularized by J.N. Reynolds, who toured the eastern US advocating exploration of the polar regions. Reynolds probably crossed paths - at least in print - with Edgar Allen Poe, and probably influenced the Symmes-like story told in Poe's novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

After Poe, the idea of a hollow earth shows up in all sorts of 19th and 20th century English-language literature, including the works of authors like Jules Verne, L. Frank Baum (whose book set in the earth's interior is called Dorothy and the Wizard In Oz, a title barely different from his more famous book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), Edgar Rice Burrough (who wrote Tarzan of the Apes), and dozens of others (I'm using the term "literature" liberally here).

Perhaps the most interesting chapter (for me, personally), was light on hollow earth but quite heavy on 19th century religious ideas. Cyrus Teed (1839-1908) believed that the universe was hollow, and that we on earth were inside of it, living on the concave curved surface of the inside of a sphere. Born in upstate New York, Teed (according to Standish) was a distant relative of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith. Like Smith, Teed received visions from a divine spirit or being, and Teed began the work of using science to redeem humanity. Like other millenialist Utopian groups of that time and place, such as the Millerites, the Harmonists, and the Mormons, Teed founded an ideal utopian community. He called it the Koreshans and they set up in Florida where the movement eventually fizzled out, not in the least because of its emphasis on celibacy. Although Teed's idea of the hollow earth was quite different from the science-fictiony versions of Verne or Poe, his vision of the cosmos struck me as both highly innovative yet consistent with other 19th century Utopian movements. Along these religious lines, many hollow-earth advocates claim that the hollow earth supports a pristine habitat and might be the location of the so-called lost 10 tribes of Israel, keeping with the spirit of Jeremiah (at 3.18, 23.8 and 31.8) (and Ether 13.11; D&C 110.11; D&C 133.26-32, for the LDS readers out there).

Finally, the idea of a hollow earth still has its adherents. Several websites advocate the theory, and I'll list below the few that I've come across, as well as some of those that Standish includes:

ourhollowearth.com

voyagehollowearth.com Sign up for a voyage to discover Symmes' holes for only about $20,000. Seems like a bargain to me. Too bad the voyage has been canceled.

This site claims to conduct "scientific investigation into the Hollow Earth Theory."

The Hollow Earth Insider .

Hollow Earth Conclusions and its linked site, one of my favorites, some information on the hollow earth cities, including the kingdom of Agartha.

Incidentally, this last link - from crystalinks.com is a personal favorite because a friend of mine who teaches college had a student in a literature class cite a page from this site in a term paper as a reputable literary source. True story.

[Northwestcoug]

Wow, that's really interesting. Thanks Solon.

[Indy Coug]

I'm sure the church has compiled via Patriarchal Blessings a demographic breakdown of the membership by the 12 tribes. It would be cool to see what it is and what the demographic shifts are by geographic location.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hollow Earth Conclusions and its linked site, one of my favorites, some information on the hollow earth cities, including the kingdom of Agartha.

Agharta!!

[BigFatMeanie]

Agartha!!

Those man-made tunnels are sweet. I also like the little footnote that says the "Inner earth to be re-drawn by someone who has been there!"

[Solon]

Agartha!!

Good call. That's a better link.

http://www.crystalinks.com/agartha.html

[Jeff Lebowski]

Good call. That's a better link.
http://www.crystalinks.com/agartha.html

Fixed. Thanks.

[Indy Coug]

OK, here's my confessional:

http://www.cougarboard.com/board/mes...tml?id=6160352

[beefytee]

So is there ever night in Agartha?

I also love how the article starts out:

Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti or Agarttha)

but on the map it is spelled Agharta.

[Solon]

So is there ever night in Agartha?

I also love how the article starts out:



but on the map it is spelled Agharta.

This is because creekster is their webmaster.

Anyone else notice that 'Garth Ute' can be anagrammed to spell Ugartthe, which is basically another form of Agarthe? Mere coincidence? I think not.

[Moliere]

OK, here's my confessional:

http://www.cougarboard.com/board/mes...tml?id=6160352

I remember that thread. That's back when I was heffer32.