 Hey there, so this week is basically Conspiracy Week and I wanted to remind you that if you haven't seen our other videos that go along with this one, The Secrets of Hollow Earth, and The Conspiracy Theory of Everything, make sure to go check those out right after watching this one. Countless cultures have myths about a subterranean world where advanced beings and keepers of knowledge live. In parallel with, but hidden from, us topside dwellers. Even in Japan, as secluded as it is beyond the East China Sea, has mythologies of Yomi, the underworld where souls reside deep under the earth. And like anywhere, it has tales of gods and heroes descending down into the underworld, oftentimes to bring someone back or discover ancient mystic knowledge. Now to coincide with our Spirit Science episode about Hollow Earth, we thought that we'd ask the question. Outside of the obvious journey to the center of the earth, are there any movies that actually talk about the Hollow Earth story? Yes indeed, because this whole idea of journeying to the underground is probably best shown in this little known anime movie, The Children Who Chase Lost Voices, or as it's sometimes known in Japanese, The Journey to Agartha. And best of all, not only is it free to watch right here on YouTube, but it's full of spiritual wisdom about our acceptance of death, rebirth, and the quest for knowledge. As always, we're about to spoil the crap out of this movie. You've been warned. The Children Who Chase Lost Voices follows your typical anime girl protagonist, Asuna, as she hears a mysterious yet hauntingly beautiful song on her handmade crystal radio. By using a crystal given to her by her father, who is actually implied to be from Agartha himself, in classic anime loner fashion, she sits on a cliffside looking all moody and begins to hear a beautiful song that inspires curiosity and wonder. What a strange melody. As fate would have it, one thing leads to another and she ends up getting attacked on a bridge by a monster that would otherwise fit right into Spirited Away. Which isn't a bad thing. The art style and animation in this movie is gorgeous. And so she is saved by the mysterious Shun, a boy from the underworld of Agartha, and so of course they instantly become best friends. Now if you saw our spirit science about Hollow Earth, you'll remember that Agartha is another name for the supposed kingdom in the Hollow Earth. Which is populated either by ancient humans, extraterrestrials, or ascended masters, depending on who you ask. Coming from the 19th century French occultist Alexandre Saint Yves, who published the first reliable account of Agartha in Europe, he argued that it was a place that not only actually exists, but was situated in the Himalayas in Tibet. An idea that seems to correlate very well with the Buddhist concepts of Shambhala and Agarti, which were located around the same place. Wait a second. Agartha and Agarti? Coincidence? Yeah, maybe. In The Real Life Legends, Agartha was supposedly this place of great knowledge, wealth, and spiritual wisdom that would one day reveal itself to us when we were ready as a society. It might have even been like Atlantis before the fall. In fact, this whole thing is even mentioned in the movie, as Asuna's teacher Morisaki tells her that not only does Agartha possess the knowledge to bring souls back to life, or in our case, reincarnate without that pesky memory loss, but it is also a place guarded by what he calls Ketsukautals. Ketsukautal was a Nahatal version of the feathered serpent in Mesoamerican mythology, the boundary guardian between the realms of sky and earth, spirit and matter, and was one of the major creator deities. In the movie though, they're a little different. In this movie, there's a wide array of these monsters or mythological creatures who act as guardians of knowledge in Agartha. After hearing that Shun died, Asuna visits her teacher later that evening after learning about Agartha in class. Morisaki then recounts to her the story of Agartha and the Guardians. In classic ancient alien style, he gives her a book on Sumerian religion that shows images of fabulous beasts and monsters, one of which is similar to the creature that attacked her. He tells her that once there were gods like this all around the world, and they were guiding the path of humanity when we were still in our infancy. But eventually, humanity grew up and we didn't need gods anymore, so they hid themselves under the earth as keepers of knowledge, taking a small group of humans with them. While this might sound simply like some kind of narrative plot, it's actually very similar to the events of Atlantis that we've talked about before in our original human history movie. This idea that many of these ancient gods were actually ascended masters who had attained new levels of enlightenment beyond the rest of humanity. After the great fall of consciousness, we hit rock bottom on the consciousness ladder, having to rediscover the world for the first time. Many of the ascended masters, such as Thoth and Ra, stayed behind to help guide us on this new path, helping to found the mystery schools that would eventually lead us back to unity consciousness. While they didn't necessarily retreat into inner earth once the mystery schools were founded, many of them did choose to ascend into higher dimensions, which are sometimes described much like how Agartha is depicted in the movie. As far as ascended masters go, it would seem that they naturally interact with us at different times to grant us knowledge when we are ready for it, and act as the gatekeepers of wisdom, much like the Quetzalcoatl's do in the movie. Now the rest of the movie is kind of your typical hero's journey kind of thing, in that Asuna meets a new guide, Shin, who takes her to Agartha, crossing the threshold of adventure and going through different challenges in this new spiritual world, while on a quest to fulfill lost wishes and come back with a new sense of deeper understanding of her place in the world. It's a long, weird journey in which they travel across very different lands, meet different people, shadow creatures, and all along the way, Asuna is trying to figure out exactly why she's there and what she really wants, with Morisaki almost blindly determined to see through his mission to the end. Ironically, despite all of the shortcomings and weird behavior Morisaki shows, Asuna still calls him teacher regardless. Perhaps there's a lesson here that we can see anything as a teacher, even the bad things, if we simply choose to learn from them. Interestingly, it seems like many of the beings in Agartha have a place, a meaning, and to fulfill their purpose is to complete their lives in something similar to the Lion King's circle of life. Even Mimi, Asuna's stray cat, is shown later on as passing away once it's fulfilled its purpose of being her friend and stopping her from being lonely. While it might seem a bit morbid to think that once we fulfill our purpose, we die and move on, but I don't think that's the message here. Instead, think of it like completing a level. Everything and everyone has a purpose to fulfill in their life, and once that purpose is complete, we are given a new one to pursue that is even more in line with our soul's journey. Eventually, when we have learned everything we need to, we can ascend into higher dimensions of love and wisdom. In that, the biggest hidden spiritual truth of this movie lies in its subject matter. It's not something touched upon in anime very much, but this movie is more of a treaty on death, loss, and regret. The loneliness the characters of this movie feel isn't due to romantic entanglements gone south, but hearts broken over those who have died. And it tells a very human story of coming to terms with death by gaining new knowledge of what death actually is. The best example of this is Mimi, like we mentioned earlier. After the cat comes to the end of its path, we see it swallowed up by an ancient ketsukado, but it's not really like eating the way that we know it today. In the movie, it retains its cycle of life's significance. This consuming is kind of like becoming a part of the greater body and continuing act of life, moving into new dimensions. And in that way, it becomes part of an even larger part of the cycle of life. Later on, that same ketsukado carries Asuna and Shin the same way before regurgitating them at the gate of life and death. And while it's gross, there does seem to be the implication that everything is connected and existing together in harmony. Everything leads to everything else and perpetuates existence. Now, remember earlier we said that Asuna's father is implied to be from Agartha? Well, that is its own interesting side story. See, right from the outset, Asuna has this crystal, which we later on find out is called a clavus, these crystal things that are worn by Agarthans to give them power, longevity, and open special doors. Which kind of seems like they're copying Disney's Atlantis. But of course, we of all people don't need to explain the spiritual significance of crystals, but suffice to say, even the name for them in the movie is steeped in history and spiritual lore. The Agarthans call them the clavus, which is a name taken from Frederick Hockley's The Rosicrucian Seer, which are a series of works on crystal magic and occultism. In fact, the influence of occultism on this movie is pretty huge in itself. Even Agartha is the interpretation of Hollow Earth that's used in many occult circles. Of course, reminiscent of HP Lovecraft, the idea of forbidden knowledge or the misuse of spiritual knowledge is something very common in the occult, and is also very present in this movie. The reason why Agartha is shrouded in mystery in the film is that its residents remember times that top-siders visited in the past to rate it of its resources and the genocide that ensued. The Elder of the Village even tells us that top-siders need Agartha's knowledge and treasure to rule over the surface. But what they brought in return were countless wars. And this is undoubtedly a warning to us. If knowledge of Agartha was revealed, how would our world react? The Elder tells us that kings and empires throughout history came to claim Agartha's knowledge, and one of the dictators shown is actually Hitler. It's no secret that Nazi Aryan ideology was rooted in the occult principles of root races, and Hitler himself did actually search for Agartha because he believed it was inhabited by perfect Aryans. There's even a story that Hitler went to India to gain more information and spiritual wisdom on Agartha, and was told he was mad and not worthy of such knowledge. When you really take the time to watch this movie, you'll see that almost all of the protagonists are on a journey. They're changing, showing sides of themselves, dealing with their motivations and feelings. Some journeys end, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, though it doesn't excuse the ways in which they die or pass on. Pain, hope, renewal, loss, acceptance, and movement in general really paced this film and its characters. The whole story seems like a metaphor for the grieving process to some extent, our own journey from denial and loneliness to eventual acceptance. And of course, this brings us to our epic finale. Once they reach their final destination, Mr. Morasaki is greeted by a giant, living, um, eye god? I mean, it started as a boat and then becomes this four-limbed thing with enough eyes to even make Alex Grey proud, and has a similar feeling not to just all of our favorite DMT paintings, but also the great door from Full Metal Alchemist that God is infinite awareness, represented by all these eyes. Morasaki asks for his dead wife to return, and almost uses Asuna's body to do so. One of the core ideas that I took from this was the suffering we can impose on others when we want what we want. Morasaki wanted his wife back, but he never stopped to really consider what the others around him wanted, or even what the spirit of his wife would have wanted. When his wife returns for just the moment, she tells him what she wants, for him to find his happiness. All in all, throughout this story, we see Asuna, a lonely girl who lost her father, Morasaki, a lonely dude who lost his wife, and both Shun and Shin are evidently lonely, searching for greater meaning by coming to the surface. By the end, they all fulfill the roles each other are missing. And even though there isn't an overt religious message in the movie, I think the creator somehow tapped into that vein of truth that goes deeper than our physical understanding. There are no real saviors in this movie. Everyone seems fairly equally needed, and there are no dying and rising gods, but there are places beyond our limitations and worlds even beyond them that we can't see or touch. For Asuna, we see a longing for home beyond the four walls where she sleeps. No one watching children who chase lost voices will be given the solutions to life's eternal mysteries, but they may start asking the right questions. And if that's where you're at, and you want to ask some even bigger questions, click the link below to get access to our private conspiracy content for free, and see where the red pill really takes you. See you there.