I spent this mornings subway commute reading the most recent Wired Magazine.  This issue just happened to have a guest editor…the notorious J.J. Abrams (if your in the dark…this is the dude behind Lost).  While at first I was opposed to the layout of the issue finding it hard to maneuver… while pleasing to the eyes it is difficult in  general.  At the recommendation of klk I started to sift through it again, and specifically to read the article titled:  American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse.

I was completely unfamiliar with this until reading this article, but it is truly an amazing story.  I’m not going to go into all the details, because the full article is available on the internet, but I will give you a little back ground on the  Georgia Guidestones.

The Georgia Guidestones were unveiled March 22,1980, and was commissioned by a man going by the pseudonym Robert C. Christian, and a group of Americans who seek The Age of Reason. Robert C. Christian went through great lengths to keep his true identity a secret, and is not known til this day.  Only two men are know to have met him in person, and the project was financed by money sent from various banks all over the country.  The monument was built with specific Astronomical specifications, and weighs 240,000 pounds.    These commandments are carved into the stone in 8 languages:

• MAINTAIN HUMANITY UNDER 500,000,000 IN PERPETUAL BALANCE WITH NATURE
• GUIDE REPRODUCTION WISELY — IMPROVING FITNESS AND DIVERSITY
• UNITE HUMANITY WITH A LIVING NEW LANGUAGE
• RULE PASSION — FAITH — TRADITION AND ALL THINGS WITH TEMPERED REASON
• PROTECT PEOPLE AND NATIONS WITH FAIR LAWS AND JUST COURTS
• LET ALL NATIONS RULE INTERNALLY RESOLVING EXTERNAL DISPUTES IN A WORLD COURT
• AVOID PETTY LAWS AND USELESS OFFICIALS
• BALANCE PERSONAL RIGHTS WITH SOCIAL DUTIES.
• PRIZE TRUTH — BEAUTY — LOVE — SEEKING HARMONY WITH THE INFINITE
• BE NOT A CANCER ON THE EARTH — LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE — LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE

If you are as interested as I am you can read the article Here.

I read this while listening to Brian Eno and Harold Budd’s Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (I would have liked to be listening to Ambient 4: On Land, but didn’t have it available).  This was a completely appropriate sound track.  I recommend you do the same while reading.

My vacation this summer will be in the South (I guess you can say my homeland), and although it is short (well not that short, but a large portion will be taken up by Merge XX) I would really love to visit this site.  If I had known of it’s existence I’m sure I would have already visited it by now, but it was built to withstand the apocalypse so I’m sure it will still be there when I get there.

Again the article is titled: American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse and was written by Randall Sullivan

Photo/image via Wired Magazine.

More info on the Georgia Guidestones here.