| Episode | MB00 (series introduction) |
|---|---|
| Series | Mystery Babylon, Hour of the Time |
| Host | William Cooper |
| Air date | February 11, 1993 |
| Station | WWCR (shortwave) |
| Chapter title | The Dawn of Man |
| Transcript length | About 5,500 words |
| Runtime | n/a |
| Listen | Full series audio on archive.org |
What This Episode Covers
The Dawn of Man is the unnumbered opening broadcast of William Cooper’s Mystery Babylon series, aired on the Hour of the Time over WWCR on February 11, 1993. Rather than opening with a historical lecture, Cooper builds the entire hour around a scene-by-scene symbolic reading of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The broadcast opens and breaks on Also sprach Zarathustra, the film’s theme, and closes with When You Wish Upon a Star.
Cooper’s framing claim is that the film was not made for general audiences at all. He asserts it was a coded message to initiates of what he calls the Mystery Schools, a secret religious tradition he says descends from ancient Babylon and survives in the present day. In his telling, the famous opening eclipse shot depicts Osiris riding the boat of Isis across the heavens, the barren landscape and rising sun depict the birth of the world, and the passage of the sun across the sky marks ages of evolutionary time rather than a single day.
The center of the reading is the monolith sequence. Cooper says the apes living peacefully before the monolith appears represent humanity in a state of innocence, his version of the Garden of Eden. The monolith itself, which he groups with the obelisk and the stone as a single recurring symbol of the generative force, represents the gift of forbidden knowledge. According to the broadcast, the Mystery Schools teach that an unjust God held man prisoner in Eden and that Lucifer, acting through Satan, set man free with the gift of intellect, by which man will himself become God. Cooper calls this doctrine the key to everything else in the series: for those who grasp it, he says, it explains everything that has happened in human history and everything yet to come. He is careful to present it as their belief, while identifying himself as a Christian who rejects it. He also spends time on the question of whether Lucifer and Satan are the same being or different entities, admits he does not know the answer, and reports, without accepting it, the claim of initiates he has spoken with that Christ and Lucifer are one and the same.
From there the broadcast traces the film’s remaining symbols: the first murder as Cain and Abel, the HAL computer as runaway technology (Cooper repeats the often-noted letter shift from HAL to IBM), the voyage to Jupiter as the evolutionary journey of an elect few into a new age, and the star child as the birth of the illumined new man. Cooper attaches a darker warning to that image. He claims the message to initiates is that only the illumined man enters the coming age, and that the rest of humanity faces servitude or extermination. He links the illumined man to the number 666 and, for Christians, to the mark of the beast and the Tribulation of Revelation. Readers interested in the biblical source of the series title can compare this with the actual text of Revelation 17 and 18.
The final segment leaves the film and sketches the prehistory that the next episodes develop. Cooper describes early man’s fear of darkness, names the sun as humanity’s first object of worship and the moon as the second, and calls this first religion astro-theology. He says the first tool-using primate in the film was, symbolically, the first priest of the Mystery Schools, and that these priests have ruled from the shadows ever since as advisors and powers behind thrones, calling themselves the Guardians of the Secrets of the Ages. The sun’s daily passage, he explains, gave early man his first model of a deity that is born in the morning, reaches full power at noon, dies in the west, and is reborn the next day, a cycle the series returns to constantly in later episodes. Cooper also mentions CAJI, the research organization he founded, framing the series as a collective investigation rather than a finished doctrine, and he admits on air to his own confusion about where the evidence ultimately leads. He closes by urging listeners to verify everything independently, a disclaimer he repeats throughout the series.
Key Claims Made in This Episode
- Cooper claims the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a coded message to initiates of the Mystery Schools, not entertainment for the general public.
- Cooper claims the Mystery Schools teach that Lucifer, through his agent Satan, freed humanity from an unjust God by imparting intellect, and that man will become God through knowledge.
- Cooper claims the monolith, the obelisk, and the stone are interchangeable Mystery School symbols of the generative force.
- Cooper claims mankind’s first religion was astro-theology, the worship of the sun and moon, later personified as Osiris and Isis.
- Cooper claims the first priests of the Mystery Schools developed science in secret and have ruled from the shadows as advisors and powers behind thrones throughout history.
- Cooper claims Isaiah 14:12, describing the fall of Lucifer, could be called the first recorded UFO sighting in history.
- Cooper claims classified technology runs a minimum of 50 to 100 years ahead of anything publicly known.
- Cooper claims the modern descendant of the ancient religion calls itself the Order of the Quest, and that its initiates regard the public as profane.
- Cooper claims the date of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius can be determined astrologically, though he declines to state it in this broadcast.
Every dated claim above is plotted on the Mystery Babylon series timeline.
Sources Cooper Uses in This Episode
Unlike most later episodes, this introduction quotes no books at length. Cooper works from two sources:
| Source | Status | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| 2001: A Space Odyssey (film, 1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick) | Under copyright; discussed, not excerpted | Commercial release; Cooper urges listeners to rent and rewatch it |
| The Bible, King James Version (Isaiah 14:12, Revelation) | Public domain | KJV scans on archive.org |
The books Cooper relies on across the rest of the series are indexed in the sources and bibliography hub.
Notable Quotes
“The priests of the ancient Mystery Religion are the ones who have caused most of the misery in the history of man.” (Cooper, MB00, February 11, 1993)
“As always when you listen to this show, don’t believe a word you hear unless you can substantiate it in your own research.” (Cooper, MB00, February 11, 1993)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Babylon episode 0 about?
It is the introduction to the series. Cooper presents a symbolic interpretation of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, claiming it encodes the doctrine of the Mystery Schools, then introduces the series thesis that an ancient sun-worshiping religion survives today as a hidden ruling priesthood.
When did The Dawn of Man air?
February 11, 1993, on the Hour of the Time, broadcast over shortwave station WWCR. The numbered series proper began the following night with MB01: The Sun of God.
Does Cooper read from a book in this episode?
No. This is one of the few episodes built on commentary rather than extended reading. His only quoted text is Isaiah 14:12 from the Bible. Extended readings from published books begin in episode 1.
Where can I listen to this episode?
The complete series audio is preserved on archive.org. This site documents and indexes the series; it does not host audio or transcripts.
Continue the Series
- Next episode: MB01: Intro to Mysteries (The Sun of God)
- Related topic hub: Mystery Schools and Ancient Religion
- Full index: Mystery Babylon Complete Episode Guide