The mystery that surrounds the Guidestones, its meaning and origins has drawn a surprisingly large amount of interest from men and women beyond the borders of Elbert County as well. People from outside of Georgia, and even outside of the United States, have spoken and written about the landmark, giving voice to opinions both positive and negative. Even singer-songwriter Yoko Ono has given her thoughts on the matter, contributing a sound-collage called “Georgia Stone” to the 1993 John Cage tribute album, A Chance Operation. For a granite monument outside a small rural town, the response has been somewhat unprecedented.
Many of those who have visited, or even just learned about, the Guidestones have quickly developed a fondness for the site. It seems to resonate strongly with a wide variety of people, especially among those with a mystical bent.
On March 22, 1980, the Georgia Guidestones were revealed for the first time to a crowd of onlookers. An unveiling ceremony was held in the morning, and several local political officials and businessmen spoke a few words to commemorate the event. But after the crowd had dispersed, a few individuals stayed behind. Among them were Jodi and John Minogue, two self-described “witches” from the Atlanta area. They lingered until the others had gone home, and then they performed a ceremony of their own at the monument.
Jodi changed into a long, purple robe and retrieved a sword and a vial of sandalwood oil from her car. She drew a circle around the perimeter of the new landmark, and then she and her husband John inscribed pentagrams on the faces of each of the stones with the oil. They chanted and walked about the stones two times, “once to banish negative forces, and again to invoke positive ones.”42 Believing the site to be a location of great power,Jodi stated that they performed the ritual because they wanted to cause the stones to “channel good and healing earth energy”43 so that they would have a positive impact on the area and on the world. “I certainly see this as some sort of center for occult activity,”44 she told reporters that day. But unlike many of the people today who share that opinion, Jodi did not consider that to be a bad thing.
Jodi and John belong to just one of the many pagan groups who have used the Guidestones as a site for their rituals in the time since their unveiling. The reasons that these groups believe the monument to be a sacred or magical site are manifold. The first and most obvious reason is that many groups practicing nature-based religions have felt a kinship between their own beliefs and the tenets written on the stones. Many Western neo-pagan traditions focus heavily on the need to revere and respect the earth, and the Guidestones—especially the final tenet’s exhortation to “Leave room for nature”—seem to echo that sentiment.
The Minogues in particular have also discovered another feature of the monument that leads them to believe that it has magical significance. The physical location of the Guidestones seems to them to present a strangely large number of occurrences of the number seven. The landmark is located on U.S. Highway 77, which winds seven miles back to Elberton and is crossed by Georgia 17. The hill upon which the stones stand is roughly 750 miles above sea level. The parcel of land that R. C. Christian purchased to be the home of his strange project is the pasture of Wayne Mullenix’s Double Seven Ranch. Even the dimensions of the major stones point to a seven: they are five meters tall and two meters wide, and when summed these numbers yield seven. The number seven, Mrs. Minogue asserts, is very magically important. It “stands for the mystic, the initiate. It is the number showing attainment of occult knowledge.”45 Other numbers containing seven are also meaningful, she continues; “seven-seven-seven is the representation for ‘God Supreme,’ and seventeen, the number of the highway connecting Elberton to the outside world, stands for guidance of a new era for mankind in the tarot.”46
There are also other aspects of the location of the Guidestones that Jodi finds remarkable.
The relation of the central stone to the sun and the moon show solar and lunar orientation, the male and female principles of the Old Religion. It’s also located on the cross-section of three energy points: there’s a water line running north to south … and there are underground lines of magnetic energy, and track-lines used by animals.47
The monument is also very near the spot that a southeastern Native American tribe, the Cherokee, called the center of the world. Just eight miles away, in what is now Hartwell, Georgia, a plaque on the side of the highway marks the place, “A-Yeh-Li-A-Lo-Hee” as the Cherokee themselves referred to it. It is uncertain now why exactly they felt that this particular place was so central, but the many old trails that radiate out from it provide a reasonable explanation. The proximity to this so-called navel of the world, coupled with the other evidence she sees, however, indicates to Jodi that the founder of the Guidestones had magical intentions in mind when he chose his location. “Mister Christian certainly seems to have known exactly what he was doing in laying out this monument,”48 she asserts.
Randall Carlson, the owner of the website Sacred Geometry International, has also been interested in the Guidestones for many years because of the magical significance that he sees in the physical properties of the structure. A professional builder who has spent over forty years researching the mysteries that surround ancient ruins, Carlson developed a fascination with Elberton’s mystery monument because it incorporates elements of what he calls “archeoastronomy”49 into its design.
Carlson describes his primary interest, archeoastronomy, as archeological study that focuses on the theory that many of the ruins of ancient structures that have been uncovered in modern times were originally “built to reflect the Heavens.” This seems to be a relatively simple and unthreatening idea, but Carlson contends that many other scholars are not comfortable with it. Modern historians are often inclined to portray ancient peoples as comparatively ignorant in the fields of mathematics and the sciences, he asserts, but the investigations of archeoastronomers seem to “suggest that people were much more sophisticated intellectually than the dogmatic models would acknowledge.” In order to precisely “reflect star maps” with the architecture of a monument or set of monuments—such as Carlson suggests was done by the ancient Pueblo people in the tenth century at Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico—the builders would have to know a great deal about astronomy and mathematics.
In the course of his work, Randall Carlson has studied a wide variety of medieval and ancient sites, but the Georgia Guidestones seem out of place in his research, as they were only built within the last century. What drew him to Elberton’s mysterious stones was the fact that he perceived a great deal of similarities between the new monument and the older structures that he has been investigating for thirty years.
The cathedral in Chartres, France, for example, has an interesting analogue to the calendrical system of the Guidestones that may indeed have been R. C. Christian’s inspiration for adding such a feature to his monument. In the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, there is a stained glass window that depicts the life of Saint Apollinaire within which there is a single clear pane of glass. Each year at high noon on the summer solstice, and at no other time, a ray of sunlight shines through this pane and falls directly on a nail that is set into an irregular rectangular flagstone on the floor. Carlson points out that this phenomenon is quite similar to the hole that is drilled into the capstone of the Guidestones monument which was intended to indicate the day of the year by directing a ray of light to the central column.
The Guidestones also have a connection to the summer solstice in the slot that pierces the central column. Through that slot, an onlooker can watch the sun rise on the summer solstice. Carlson has observed similar solsticial and equinocu-lar alignments in “numerous” ancient structures that he has studied in the course of his research. And it was because of these features in the Guidestones, that he developed an interest in the monument.
Much like ancient ruins such as Stonehenge and the Chaco Canyon Complex, the Georgia Guidestones has the ability to act as both a solar and a lunar calendar by virtue of its very architecture. This physical connection between earthly bodies and heavenly ones seems to Carlson to speak of a “magical mind-set” 50 on the part of the architects, in this case, R. C. Christian.
Both historically and in modern times, the phrase “as above, so below” has been prevalent in occult and new age ideologies. At its roots a hermetic concept, the first occurrence of which is found in The Emerald Tablet of Hermes, a medieval alchemical text, where it appears as: “What is below is like that which is above; and what is above is like that which is below: to accomplish the miracle of the one thing.”51 This is meant as more than a general observation, however; it is also a kind of simplified definition of hermetic magic. It implies that things which are done on a symbolic, or small, scale have a proportional effect on a large, or global scale. And it is largely based upon this principle that many magical practitioners like the Minogues have speculated that for the anonymous Mr. Christian, the building of the Guidestones was, in and of itself, a magical act designed to bring about change on a global scale, purely by making a change on a small scale.
The particular change that the mysterious man wanted to elicit is debatable, but many have speculated that it was related to the tumultuous time-period during which the Guidestones were built, the Cold War. There were many fears at the time that the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union would eventually erupt into a full-scale nuclear war that would lead to the end of civilization, and some believe that the Guidestones were built as insurance against that possibility. “The Guidestones,” Jodi claims, “are to be a guide for humanity after the apocalypse.”52 She believes that R. C. Christian and the group he claimed to represent were looking after the best interests of humanity in the wake of potential catastrophe, and that they were doing so because they were Rosicrucians.
Between 1614 and 1615, two very strange anonymous manuscripts that would later become collectively known as the Rosicrucian Manifestos began to circulate around Germany. Their source was unknown, and their content claimed to announce the existence of a secret group of Christian magicians and mystics that had until that point never been made known to the public. Their circulation spread like wildfire, and soon the whole of Western Europe was abuzz with interest in these mysterious essays.
The first document was distributed under the title, Fama Fraternitatis de R. C., which has been roughly translated to mean the “Discovery of the Brotherhood of R. C.” Addressed to the “Learned in General and the Governors of Europe,”53 the short pamphlet tells the story of a German referred to only as Brother C. R. C. In the tale, the man travels to the Middle East and learns quite a bit of information about science, mathematics, and magic that was at the time unknown in the West. He spends many years in these travels, and then he returns to Europe, hoping to share his new knowledge. But instead of being welcomed gratefully, he is scorned and reviled as foolish by the educated men of Europe, reportedly because they are unwilling to admit that there is so much that they did not know. Having failed to immediately reform the current course of science in the mainstream, he returns to Germany and gathers a small group of men—at first just three others, but later seven—together to found a society called the “Fraternity of the Rosie Cross.”54
Together these men build themselves a temple, the Sancti Spiritus, and develop a magical system of writing, in which they claim to have written many texts. The new brothers swear an oath to their order wherein they promise, among other things, to heal the sick free of any charge and to keep the fraternity secret for one hundred years. It is then revealed in the manuscript that the authors are the third generation of this fraternity, and that—the mandated one-hundred-year period of silence having ended—they are seeking to broaden their membership. Mysteriously, however, the manuscript provides no means for an interested party to contact this brotherhood.
The second pamphlet, which is mentioned by name in the first, is the Confessio Fraternitatis R.C, or the “Confession of the Brotherhood of R. C.” Unlike the Fama, the Confessio is not a narrative tale of a legendary figure, but instead it merely expands upon the philosophy and workings of the group. Portions of this second document are structured apologetically, reasserting the claim made in the Fama that they are devout followers of Jesus Christ in the wake of public criticism of the first document. But other sections make bolder statements, decrying both the Roman Catholic Pope and Mahomet for their “blasphemies,”55 and in the preface referring to the Pope as the “Antichrist.”56
The Confessio also reiterates the desire of the brotherhood to recruit new members now that they feel the world has grown more progressive, but once again no clear means is presented to the reader who would seek application to the order. Instead, it is hinted that persons who are worthy to join the brotherhood will be found by the authors, and that all others will simply find nothing at all:
A thousand times the unworthy may clamour, a thousand times may present themselves, yet God hath commanded our ears that they should hear none of them, and hath so compassed us about with His clouds that unto us, His servants, no violence can be done; wherefore now no longer are we beheld by human eyes, unless they have received strength borrowed from the eagle.57
Unsurprisingly these enigmatic manifestos caused quite a stir in Europe. According to historian Frances Yates, the “announcements aroused at the time a frenzied interest and many were the passionate efforts to reach the R. C. brothers by letters, printed appeals, and pamphlets. A river of printed works takes its rise from these manifestos, responding to their invitation to get into touch with the writers and co-operate with the work of the order.”58 Other writings, inspired by the pamphlets, began to crop up in cities around the continent, including one that claimed to be a third manifesto.
In 1616, a text entitled the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz appeared in Strasbourg. Divided into seven sections, the Chymical Wedding is a symbolic tale of Brother C. R. C.’s attendance at a wedding of a king and a queen. In the story, C. R. C. is referred to by the name Christian Rosenkreutz, a moniker that had not been applied to the legendary figure prior to this publication. The narrative is allegorical however, and actually seems to refer to an alchemical process whereby two disparate elements are joined rather than a true wedding between two people. This sort of structure was common among alchemical texts of the time period, and thus the text was readily believed to be genuine by the public.
However, several years later, a German theologian by the name of Johannes Valentinus Andreae published an autobiography in which he asserted that the document was a hoax. In his book, Andreae claimed authorship of the Chymical Wedding and stated that he had written it as “a ludibrium, or a fiction, or a jest, of little worth.”59 Since the publication of the original two manifestos, many had already speculated that perhaps the entire legend of the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross was merely a fabrication, and Andreae’s allegation only added further fuel to that fire.
To this day it is still unclear whether or not the fraternity ever actually existed as such. Yates asserts that she has “found no evidence of a real secret society calling itself ‘Rosicrucian’, and really in existence as an organized group at the time the manifestos were published and during the time of the furore.”60 No actual persons were ever identified as certain members of the order, though many men attempted to contact and join the group. For historians it has become nearly impossible to even determine which, if any, of the hopefuls were actually earnest in their desires to become brothers, as so many of those who published open letters to the fraternity in the newspapers were “merely attracted by the exciting possibility of getting into touch with mysterious personages possessing superior knowledge or powers, or angered and alarmed by the imagined spread of dangerous magicians or agitators.”61
But if the manifestos were not completely genuine in their presentation of their purpose, it is somewhat difficult to determine what purpose they could truly have served. Scholars have conjectured that they were perhaps intended allegorically, or that they were designed to illuminate the public as to the existence of similar hidden magical societies without specifically disclosing any details about them. It is also possible that the first two documents were, like the Chymical Wedding is now presumed to be, simply an elaborate joke.
The only thing that is known for certain is that the Fama and the Confessio continued to circulate throughout Europe for many years, and that their impact was far-reaching. In particular, the manifestos had an enormous effect on the development of other secret societies within Europe, most notably the Freemasons.
Though the Freemasons are a secret society and therefore not all the particulars of their history have become public knowledge, some of the details of their origin are a matter of record. One of the earliest people known to have been inducted into the Freemasonic order was a British antiquarian by the name of Elias Ashmole. Ashmole is notable in his early connection with the Freemasons largely because of his involvement with the Rosicrucian legend. He was one of the strongest initial supporters of the nebulous fraternity and he copied out in his own hand the Rosicrucian Manifestos, adding to them a formal letter admiring their aims and asking to be allowed to join.”62
Other, more concrete factors seem to link the Freemasons to the Rosicrucian movement even more strongly. In early Masonic literature there are numerous references to the symbols utilized in the manifestos, some of which even mention the order by name. “For we be brethren of the Rosie crosse,”63 proclaims an early Masonic poem, making it seem rather clear that even if they were not technically affiliated with the Brothers R. C., they were at least heavily inspired by them.
And in modern Scottish Rite Masonry, that influence remains in the symbolic language of the order. There is even a rank within the hierarchical structure of the order that conveys the title “Knight of the Rose Cross.” Today there are a variety of magical societies, such as the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC), that purport to be directly descended from the authors of those manifestos. For scholars and curiosity-seekers alike though, it is impossible to either confirm or deny such claims.
The Georgia Guidestones, however, would seem far removed from Renaissance legends. But there are those who make the claim that the Rosicrucians and the mysterious Elberton monument have more in common than at first it might appear.
For her part, Jodi Minogue says that she has “always … speculated that ‘R. C. Christian’ stood for Rosicrucian.”64 She makes this connection because of a portion of the oath that the Brothers were mentioned to have taken in the Fama Fraternitatis, “that the word R. C. should be their seal, mark, and character.”65 And she is not alone in perceiving this correlation. Randall Carlson also notes that “there seems to be Rosicrucian symbolism woven through the structure in various ways.” He sees a possible correlation between the eight modern languages that are present on the Guidestones and the eight original Rosicrucian brothers. And to Carlson and many others who are familiar with the Rosicrucian legend, the pseudonym chosen by the Georgia Guidestones’ mysterious creator presents “an immediate red flag.”66
For though the body of Rosicrucian literature associates the group with a wide variety of symbols and signs, as Yates notes, “the emblem of the order is neither a double cross, a Fleece, or a Garter, but the words R. C.”67 This, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding the anonymous stranger’s pseudonym, has led many to assume that the Guidestones’ founder chose his name because he “was trying to align himself with the Rosicrucians.”68 For while Wyatt Martin reports that the stranger claimed to have chosen the last name “Christian” to highlight his own religious beliefs, he never made any comment as to why he chose the initials “R. C.”
Many of those who subscribe to the theory that R. C. Christian was a member of a Rosicrucian order do not believe, however, that there is anything wrong with that. Quite to the contrary, among most pagans and occultists, the Rosicrucians have a very positive reputation. They are known for their belief in the importance of good works and charity, and the modern organizations profess to be dedicated largely to the idea of personal growth and improvement.
In February of 1997, another mysterious stranger found his way to Elberton, Georgia on a mission. But this man did not go to the Elberton Granite Finishing Company, nor to the Granite City Bank, instead he went straight into the offices of Carolyn Cann. At that time, Cann was the weekly editor of the local newspaper, The Elberton Star, and had followed the events surrounding the Georgia Guidestones mystery very closely.
The man, who never revealed his identity, went to Cann to persuade her to become the caretaker of a trust that he wanted to set up to beautify the property that the Guidestones stood upon. The man insisted that the monument should present itself as more of a “Christian-oriented prayer site.”69 She consented, though she was confused as to why she had been singled out for this task, and the man donated a quantity of money sufficient to allow for the planting of rose bushes around the monument. He then submitted an article to her describing in detail his motivations for donating his money and promised to return soon to furnish the funds required to place benches at the site.
Cann never heard from him again, but a copy of the article that the mystery man wrote is still on file at the Elberton Public Library, and it provides further insight into his own theories as to the true meaning behind the Georgia Guidestones. Describing itself as “Article One of a Series,” the text is titled “The Georgia Guidestones Guides the Stone,” and it is here reproduced in its entirety:
What is the mystery? Does it point the way to a new age or to an old age returning? What is “THE COMING AGE OF REASON?” Why did the benefactor call himself R. C. Christian? Why was he anonymous? What did he know about what or WHO was to come? Why is the use of Granite Rock important? Is there a technical reason the Guidestones are constructed from granite? If so, what are the reasons? Why Blue Granite?
Why did Master Jesus say he would build his church “On The Solid Rock.” Was it literal? Is that “solid rock” the solid granite of The Piedmont Region and the granite outcropping? Where is the center point of the outcropping and does it extend outward like a pebble in a pond or like radio waves?
We are told that “in the beginning was the word.” Could it be that at the turn of the century is a new beginning and that the Georgia Guidestones are like a great key that turns the wheels of a clock to reset time. Could it be that there are clues in the word to point or guide the way to a new understanding that is contained within the word?
Words and sound go together like guidestones and guides the tone.
Words and sound go together like stone mountain and tone mountains.
Was it not sound that brought the wall of Jericho down?
Will not sound and frequency shatter a kidney stone and heal disease?
Cannot a beautiful soprano voice shatter glass with the purity of her tone or tender the woundings [sic] of a suffering soul with the same tone?
What is the relationship between the Georgia Guidestones, Stone Mountain, and the Piedmont Granite Shelf? Does it truly Guide the Tone, and Tone the Mountain? Are they not all “The Solid Rock.” Is solid granite rock not also crystalline formation? Is not crystalline formation required in the transmission of sound waves and tone in the transmission of frequency and radio waves?
Is it coincidence that the Georgia Guidestones can be accessed by travelling through Hart (Heart) County? Did not Master Jesus give his Heart to the Earth? And is not Heart and Earth the same word when the first (H) becomes the last Heart/earth?
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN! COULD IT BE THAT THE MYSTERY OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES POINTS TO THE GREATEST MYSTERY OF ALL!
The Georgia Guidestones must become a sacred place. It is placed there for a very specific technical, religious, and geometric and astronomical reason. A great garden of life life life, life more abundant, life must be planted there with evergreens and roses roses roses, roses red, roses white for the blue rose to come.
“IF YOU BUILD IT! HE WILL COME!” A beautification and care fund has been set up by an anonymous benefactor into which all Christians are invited to contribute in the name of Jesus The Christ, The Savior of Mankind, The Greatest Master of Time itself. The endowment fund will be solely dedicated to the care of the garden that is to be built for the Great Master.
Many will begin to meet the Miraculous at the Stones That Guide and Miracles will meet those who come to the Garden To Pray for Guidance like the Great Master once prayed at Gethsemane before the Great Resurrection and Ascension. Miracles will come upon the wind. Miracles will come upon Sun that Rises. Miracles will come in the song of the bird. Great healings will begin to occur there.
REMEMBER! “THE SOLID ROCK!”
I will continue to unfold the mystery in articles presented to and through The Elberton Star. It is the Star in the East and I am simply a friend of THE MASTER OF THE ROSE.
You may send your non profit donations or endowments to Carolyn Cann at the Elberton Star who has been asked to manage the beautification project to bring the Garden into Being and make the Stones that Guide a Sacred and far less mysterious place.
To date, no other donors, Christian or otherwise, have come forward to add to the beautification fund, and a single, bedraggled rose vine is all that remains of the roses that were planted “for the blue rose to come.” But that rose and the mimeographed copy of the anonymous man’s article remain as reminders of the clearly profound effect that Elberton’s most mysterious monument had on at least one man.
Over the years since their installation, the Georgia Guidestones have inspired a wide variety of people to take action. Some have felt compelled to perform ceremonies to honor the stones or to “channel” whatever power they believe them to possess, while others have sought to beautify the land on which the monument stands. And on one particular occasion, a group of individuals who perceived the message of the Guidestones to be in line with their own ideologies were moved to use the site as a platform on which to make a political statement.
On the morning of May 8, 2011, visitors to the Georgia Guidestones were shown a monument that was startlingly different from the one that had stood at the site since 1980. Each of the stones was draped with a black drop cloth that had been cut to its measure and inscribed on all sides with text in white paint. Atop the capstone, five small satellite dishes were affixed, each bearing a different phrase. The words written on the display were strange and confusing to the people of Elbert County, and no one seemed entirely certain what the demonstration meant. But a few days later, The Elberton Star received a letter from an organization calling itself “The Neo-Transcendentalists for the Society of the Third Millennium,” who claimed credit for the installation.
In the letter, the Society of the Third Millennium, or S3K, referred to the new face they had given the Guidestones as “an outdoor, site-specific, guerilla art project called ‘THE MONOLITHIC MILESTONES PROJECT, 2010 – 2011, A Declaration For Interdependence Through The Integral Vision, Strategy & Philosophical Pillars Of Neo-Transcendentalism At The Georgia Guidestones.’ ” The purpose of the project, they indicated, was to raise public awareness of their group and others like it that were attempting to foment sweeping social, cultural, and political change in order to achieve a state that they perceived would be better for mankind.
The Society of the Third Millennium is an anonymous organization. In their dealings with the public, its members each take on pseudonyms with the initials “ZXC,” after the style of their leader, Zoren X. Cross. Though they more frequently describe themselves as “Neo-Transcendentalists,” S3K also self-identifies as an organization composed of people who fit into the segment of the population known as “cultural creatives.” Coined by psychologist, Sherry Ruth Anderson, and sociologist, Paul H. Ray, the term “cultural creative” describes a member of a movement first identified in the late 1990s. They are dissatisfied with the current state of geopolitics and active in trying to change them. Members of this group are generally highly concerned with environmental and social issues, and they believe that the current political systems are unable to adequately address those issues.
On their installation at the Georgia Guidestones, the Society of the Third Millennium explained at length their particular motivations, ideals, and goals. Four of the satellite dishes atop the capstone each bore the names of a group of people to whom they were directing their message—“New Progressives,” “Green Conservatives,” “The Millennials,” and “Cultural Creatives”—while the final one indicated what they wanted to bring about: “The Grand Synthesis.” Each face of the four main stones—which, uncovered, display R. C. Christian’s ten tenets in different languages—showcased a different “pillar” of Neo-Transcendentalism. But the side that they marked as the “Philosophical Pillar” of “Foundational Principles” was perhaps the most informative in explaining the ideals of the group:
1. Perceptions no longer corresponds [sic] to reality so it becomes moral responsibility [sic] of the mentally liberated to help others break out of Matrix of False Consciousness [sic].
2. There is an absence of new modes of thinking that is Required to provide alternatives to the status quo. Only Cohesive Vision & Coherent Strategy Will Create & Capitalize Critical Mass For Transformative Change.
3. We Need To Envision Real Utopias & Develop A Common Code of Ethical Conduct Consistent w/ the Various Basic Needs & Human Nature Tendencies.
4. Human Nature Is Not Greedy, Selfish, Aggressive & Individualistic, Instead The Tendency Is To Fit Into A Social Whole. Our Prehuman Ancestors Were Strongly Bonded, Sharing & Communal: the Building Blocks of “EARTH COMMUNITY.” Thus “Nuturant [sic] Parent” Worldview coincides most with Human Nature.
5. In contrast, “Strict Father Figure” worldview perceives World [sic] As Evil & In Need To Be Protected From [sic] At All Cost & By whatever Violent, Dominating & Destructive Means available, like Torture, Oppression & War. This Has Led To Possessive Individualism, Extreme Competition, Excessive Materialism & the Ascendency of private property, Capital & Interest, Efficiency of Production Imperialism. The Corrupt Cornerstones of “EMPIRE.”
6. While The Past cannot Be Undone, There Is No Moral Justification for ongoing exploitation into the future. It can Be halted only by understanding its past & present realities.
7. To bring about a more just world, major political changes Will be necessary. Politics is either the means for enforcing Those beliefs & assumptions, or the means for changing Them. Gov’t, therefore, should not be perceived as “A Necessary Evil.” But [sic] As The Physical Manifestation Of Our Highest Ideals.
8. However, Our Current Political System Is Broken. We Are Governed By A Plutocracy—Rule By The Elite Few.
9. Violence Must Be Avoided At All Costs, For The Ends Do not justify the means because the Means are the Ends In The Making. Ethics Is Not Doing What Is Best For the Most, But Instead Doing What Is Best For The Long Run.
10. Ultimately Our Power Lies Not With Working Within The System but By Unplugging The System Itself Through A Nationwide, General Strike That Will Require Courage, Sacrifice & Perseverance.
[Original capitalization preserved.]
When asked to comment as to why the group chose the Georgia Guidestones for their art installation, S3K member Zevin X. Cruz said that the notoriety of the stones was undeniably a factor, in that it was likely to generate more press for the organization. But he also said that what they perceived as the “secular humanist philosophy” of the Guidestones was seen by many in the organization as directly in line with the beliefs and motivations of their own group. Because of this, they took pains to ensure that the monument was not in any way damaged or permanently altered by their display. They drew inspiration from the stones as a “terrific work of art,” and could think of no more fitting site to house their message.
The effect the Georgia Guidestones have had on others throughout the world has at times, however, produced a far less favorable impression. There are those who believe that the monument is not a symbol of the power and benevolence of “Master Jesus” or of grand social change, but of the tyrannical plans of a sinister and secretive group. And while these men and women were also moved to make alterations to the land that the Guidestones stand upon, it was not “beautification” or temporary change in the name of activism that they had in mind, but vandalism.
8. Epoxy damage to the English face
9. Epoxy damage to the Swahili face
10. Damage to flagstone, caused by treasure hunters digging for the time capsule
