On Stone Circles and Other Mysterious Things

Dear Reader,

I took to reading at a very early age, but after graduating from storybook-style 'comics' and 'annuals', and as our home possessed only two books that were accessible to me (the Bible and an encyclopedic dictionary), I was limited as to my reading apart from books borrowed from the local library a mile away. But I managed to maintain an interest in mysterious things, fostered by the very occasional trip into the country undertaken by my family to visit places such as the Rolright Stones - a mysterious stone circle on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border.

So when (as a 10-year-old) I saw a copy of the book 'The Kon Tiki Expedition' (by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl) lying on the table at an aunt's house, I immediately asked if I could borrow it, and subsequently devoured it in double-quick time. That was the first time I had come across Easter Island, but I didn't know then that my attention would be returned to that vicinity. Over the decades since, I managed to piece together a picture of all the mysterious things that are still visible throughout the world.

I have never talked about this interest very much - at least until I came across the works of James Churchward, a former British military man and, indeed, once a well-known metallurgist, who published some remarkable books about the Pacific area in the 1920s, based on his explorations and findings. Not many years ago I put together a fairly short article about mysteries and his work, and to save many words here, that article can be seen on my website.

Some five decades ago, I was mildly captivated by von Daniken and his smash-hit book, "Chariots of the Gods", which fuelled my sense of belief in more than was stated in the Bible, though I have never totally accepted what science tells us. Science all too easily gets modified as it goes along. That's even though I spent over 40 years as a software designer/developer, which is a lot brain-based and not much connected to religion or to mysticism!

When I later read a book by a NASA engineer by the name of Blaumrich - who had at first taken an agnostic position after he had read van Daniken's work - it woke me up to the possibility that, hidden in the archaic (and mistranslated) words of the Old Testament, there are descriptions of things that had become part of our consciousness - in this case, UFOs. Blaumrich had actually been able to fathom out from the Book of Ezekiel that the prophet was trying - in his limited way of the time - to describe spaceships. From his findings, Blaumrich was even able to draw a picture of a spaceship described in Ezekiel.

And then I came across the magnificent work of John Michel in the mid-70s. Michel cleverly described much of the underlying mystery of the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge, and more. Since, I became more aware of sacred geometry - wrongly attributed to Plato - and the work of Michel's friend, Keith Critchlow.

Over the decades since, I have read many more well-researched and thought-out books on the Earth in ancient times, including (but not only) some by Graham Hancock, but my prime focus of attention has been in the world of Spirituality. I realised early on that (mere) research and writing about ancient history does not provide answers as to who we are and our purpose, so hence - in parallel - I practically and theoretically studied Christianity, Islam and Hinduism (Sanathana Dharma), as well as other spiritual teachings. As a consequence, I became aware of much science in the Hindu Vedas that would stand up in today's scientific community. In fact, it does stand up: the atomic physicist Robert Oppenheimer had great respect for the Vedas, as have many other scientists and philosophers.

However, only in recent weeks I came across a magnificent 30-years-old piece of scholarly achievement of 732 pages which spans ancient history and spirituality, and comes out with (to me) the most insightful, surprising and illuminating interpretations of the Old Testament, and particularly the OT's view of creation. It also explains in detail much of the mystery of ancient stone circles in Britain. It has impressed me so much that I equate it (in its scope) as being greater than the works of John Michel and James Churchward. 

Even so, some synthesis of the works of all three needs to be done to create a more valid and bigger picture, in my opinion, together with a reference to the science of the Vedas, and the effect of the Vedas and Sanathana Dharma ('the Perennial Philosophy') on thought in the rest of the world.

In future weeks, therefore, I intend to write a combined but humble view of the world, based on the works and scripture just mentioned. 

Thank you for reading this.