Grant
request: 225,000 USD over a three year period to research and edit a
book.
Project Proposal: To sponsor and report on an
evolving psychometric impression at
www.theGeorgiaGuidestones.com
about the message and implications of the stones.
Keywords: multi-media, education, population
issues, energy, urban planning, religion, social justice
Principal:
Bartlett Joel Ridge, a peripatetic philosopher, hermetic
iconoclast, and autodidactic scholar, activist, etc… a man of many hats.
Performance: photo-documentation, translation,
research, commentary, publicity, collection of papers, publication of a
coffee table book.
Background: the Georgia Guide stones were
erected circa winter 1979 in Elberton Georgia. A message in ten parts is
carved on them in eight languages. That message was commissioned,
anonymously, in recognition of Thomas Paine and his philosophy; hence the
stones are capped with this message “Let these be Guide Stones to an Age
of Reason”
That message is:
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.
There are many ways to look at the stones. The
first message in particular is attention grabbing:
“Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in
perpetual balance with nature”
And then from a book about the stones deposited
in the public library of Elberton, this message is explained as – “Means
the entire human race at its climax level for permanent balance with
nature.” The number “half a billion” and the words “its
climax level” suggest a global catastrophe. Just what that
catastrophe might be, and preparing (or sparing) humanity for it by
contemplation and education, is inspiration for this project.
I first heard of the
Georgia Guide stones in late 2001, and felt they needed their
own web site. I’ve written the web pages @
www.theGeorGiaGuidestones.com to be as surreal as possible:
“psychometric impressions” with the intention that as many interpretations
as possible be sustained in a state of cognitive dissonance rather than
collapsed to a single interpretation, as it were, which would very
probably be wrong.
Notwithstanding that intent, my research soon
focused on population and energy issues, historical process and the
cultural worldview “we’re on the eve of destruction”
These suggest certain prescriptions.
Direction: The stones suggest this orderly
course of action: to photo-document the message in the eight languages,
develop the site in those languages, and finally publish a coffee table
book featuring the stones.
To begin with this requires travel to Georgia, and as
it would be opportune to comport this project as an office, to meet local
officials, visit the local library, the Elberton Granite Association, and
any others peripherally involved. That would include, by coincidence,
the collection and study of the works of Thomas Paine.
To be able to speak and write authoritatively on the
stones as “sacred stones” conducting on site research at other megalithic
monuments is essential. Further, to make the book a definitive report it
is important to concurrently consult with experts in various fields.
The research, commentary, and publicity phase of the
project are expected to take two years. The aim of the research is to
document “sacred sites,” and the essays and reports for inclusion in the
book. The purpose of the commentary and publicity is to raise public
awareness of the issues involved, and to survey the literary, cultural and
academic tableau of neo-Malthusianism. The commentary may variously be
pop culture sidebars, my own writings, fiction, historical essays, music,
and what’s more, highlighting both simple and innovative technologies that
meet human needs while reducing the ecological footprint, i.e.,
“prescriptions”
Through it all I want to encourage people to
entertain the fullest range of possibilities, even the paranoid and
delusional, (that they may ultimately be dismissed) while walking a sober
path, leaving reasonable conclusions self-evident.
Conclusion: In the third year of the project I
shall formally undertake to compile an illustrated book about the Georgia
Guide stones and their message for publication as a high end coffee table
book.
Faithfully,
Bartlett Joel Ridge
For USD Remittance:
1.) Pay to: Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas
SWIFT: BKTR US 33
2.) Beneficiary Bank in Vietnam:
Eastern Asia Commercial Bank, Head Office, Ho Chi Minh City
Viet Nam
SWIFT: EACBVNVX
A/C No.: 04-429-103 CHIPS UID 361435
3.) Beneficiary in Viet Nam:
Bartlett Joel RIDGE
A/C 4361.37.40.01.1559 (US Dollar account)
@ Ngan Hang TMCP Dong A
82 Nguyen Cong Tru Street
Quan 1
TP Ho Chi Minh
Viet Nam
