The Georgia Guide Stones

I needed to clear some cobwebs outta my head today and do some thinking about some tough decisions that are ahead of me right now, so I hopped on the scooter and took a ride 110 miles (each way) to The Georgia Guide Stones.

Like most people from Georgia I didn’t even know they were here.  i read about them a while back in Wired Magazine and thought one day I gotta go see that.

Today was that day.

Its an interesting place.  In addition to its astronomical features marking the celestial pole, the annual travel of the sun and a calendar that at noon shows you the day of the year. The guide stones bear an inscription in eight different languages: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian.

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.

It’s pretty impressive and as hard as this may be to believe it has been defaced by Christian Extremists, who claim it is  the “Ten Commendments of Satan” and should be broken into a million pieces.

It is further interesting because it is shrouded in secrecy

On the highest hilltop in Elbert County, Georgia stands a huge granite monument. Engraved in eight different languages on the four giant stones that support the common capstone are 10 Guides. That monument is alternately referred to as The Georgia Guidestones, or the American Stonehenge. The origin of the monument is shrouded in mystery because no one knows the true identity of the man, or men, who commissioned its construction. All that is known for certain is that in June 1979, a well-dressed, articulate stranger visited the office of the Elberton Granite Finishing Company and announced that he wanted to build an edifice to transmit a message to mankind. He identified himself as R. C. Christian, but it soon became apparent that was not his real name. He said that he represented a group of men who wanted to offer direction to humanity, but to date, almost three decades later, no one knows who R. C. Christian really was, or the names of those he represented.

The ownership of the site is unclear. According to the Georgia Mountain Travel Association’s detailed history: “The Georgia Guidestones are located on the farm of Mildred and Wayne Mullenix…” The Elbert County land registration system shows what appears to be the Guidestones as County land purchased on October 1, 1979.

If you are ever near Elberton, Georgia this is worth seeing, if for no other reason than to ponder why this symbol of reason evokes such a base reaction from the religious right.  You can walk up to it, touch it, and the fact that the graffiti and such don’t get removed from it seem to add to the message it presents.  I wanted to clean it but wouldn’t know how to go about it without damaging the granite and or the inscriptions.

The ride did what it was supposed to do too, I knew the answers all along, I was just looking for some clarity and riding down the road on a beautiful fall afternoon seeing the country at eye level does wonders to bring it all into a sharper focus.

There’s more Thailand pics coming.