Instructions for the post-apocalypse

For once, these instructions are not coming from me. Or Ann. Or Tavia.

Shocking, isn’t it?

It seems that we are not the only apocalypse-obsessed people on the planet. Also, not everyone wants to announce that obsession over the Internet.

Also shocking.

Anyway. Last week, I came across this article from Wired. And it fascinated me. So much that I decided to write about it.

It seems that, way back in the Before Time (by this I mean 1980), a little gigantor-sized monument was unveiled in Elbert County, Georgia. Called the Georgia Guidestones, it lists “post-apocalyptic commandments” for what’s left of civilization. You know, like a guide.

The Georgia Guidestones. Image from Wikipedia.

No one knows who was behind the Guidestones. We know who built them–Joe Fendley and his company, Elberton Granite. But no one knows the true identity of the monument’s sponsors. All Fendley and the town’s banker, Wyatt Martin, know is that a man named R.C. Christian visited Elberton in 1979 to inquire about building the giant stone monument. R.C. Christian was (obviously) a pseudonym.

Christian gave Fendley very detailed plans and specifications for the monument’s construction. The Guidestones consist of four slabs of thick granite, each about 16 feet high and about 7 feet long, etched with end-times instructions in eight different modern languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, and Swahili.)

In the middle of these is a granite tower the same height as the wider slabs, but is only about 4 feet long. Holding it all together is a 9-foot by 6-foot capstone. Along the sides of the capstone, the phrase “Let these be guidestones to an age of reason” is written in four different languages (Classical Greek, Sanskrit, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Babylonian cuneiform.)So you’re probably wondering what exactly these apocalyptic instructions are. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you. In the event of world catastrophe and no one can remember what society was like, get thee to Elbert County to be enlightened. What you’ll read is this:

  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.
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  4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
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  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.
Guidestones specifications. Image from Wired.com.

These “ten commandments of the Antichrist” have scared the shit out of a few people. Some conspiracy theorists believe that R.C. Christian was part of a Luciferian sect. Others believe the monument was sponsored by the Rosicrucians, a secret initiatory order that follows the Western Mystery Tradition. These theorists also believe that the Rosicrucians are masterminding the apocalypse (beginning with the economic meltdown of 2008), which will, of course, culminate on December 21, 2012.

Because of course it will.

The stones have also attracted some Pagan groups–with the stones’ astronomical alignments, they’re the closest thing North America has to Stonehenge, which is a pretty big deal in Pagan circles. Apparently the Guidestones had at one point been adopted as the home of an Atlanta coven, and has been the location of many a handfasting (a witch marriage–and note that male witches are called witches, not warlocks; don’t ask me how I know that).

But don’t worry, there haven’t been any human sacrifices. I guess Kali isn’t worshiped there.

We’ll probably never know who was behind the Georgia Guidestones, or what their intentions truly were.

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What we do know is that, should the world end, we’ll have a set of rules to live by.

So much for that “anything goes” society.

3 thoughts on “Instructions for the post-apocalypse

  1. To be fair, those are some pretty good instructions to have post-apocalypse. They make sense if humanity is to survive. Following these would seem to do away with opver-population (and therefore poverty and starvation), xenophobia, civil war (and possibly war in general) and the corruption of the planet. Not bad. Writing it in modern languages I can understand, but why write in the ancient tongue? Can’t imagine many retrograde time travellers coming to our future from our past showing up and gong ‘oooooh, how considerate that they left us a note!’

    1. Well, I suppose it’s best to be prepared, just in case a few Babylonians decided to go time traveling.

      They are good instructions; I agree. They’re good instructions for sustainability and all that. Though I have to wonder how much people would actually pay attention–humans aren’t exactly known for learning from history…

      What really amused me during my research was the ultra-conservative people who are freaking out because the stones are *clearly* the work of some Satanist secrety society. Because anonymous sponsor of good insructions = secret society = evil Satan-loving anti-Christian group. Obviously.

  2. The reasoning for writing it in Ancient languages as well as modern is pretty clear to me: those ancient ones have survived. People can still read and understand Sanskrit and Classical Greek. Compare what we’re currently conversing in to English as it was first spoken and written: it’s incomprehensible – and that’s only after a thousand years or so. Consider that Classical Greek is around 3000 years old. Sanskrit is something like 4000. And people still read this stuff, daily. Cuneiform and hieroglyphics much less so.

    We don’t hear about ancient languages that HAVEN’T survived, because -well- they didn’t survive! Does anyone remember Demotic? What did the Hittites speak? Half of the languages on here will be as lost to us in 3000 years as Linear A and B. If the pieces aren’t dragged away, though, it’ll be one hell of a Rosetta stone.

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