Column is a monthly feature that explores the world
of creativity and aesthetics.
Our Common Ancestors
Winter solstice in colder climates has
been the focus of our attention for a very
that were set vertically in the ground and
a circle over 5,000 years ago,
are remnants of a culture that left its mark
of Northern Europe.
spread from the Ring of Brodgar in the northern
islands of Orkney, to Stonehenge in Southern
England, and beyond.
quarters of a million people visit Stonehenge
every year. They come
to view the ancient monument out of curiosity,
because of its reputation, for its historical
significance, and as a spectacle or historical
site. There is also another reason
why we are drawn like flies to a lamp - we are
a spiritual species, and the stones connect with
a place far distant to the rush of our modern
stones, like those at Stonehenge pictured above,
are a testament to our long held need of monuments,
structures created to mark important
events. Even though there is no definitive understanding
of the purpose of this structure, we intuitively
respond to the materials and their position in
relation to one another. Oliver Wendell Holmes'
poem captures the spirit of the place as much
now as over a hundred years ago...
I stood on Sarum's treeless plain,
The waste that careless Nature owns;
Lone tenants of her bleak domain,
Loomed huge and gray the Druid stones.
Upheaved in many a billowy mound
The sea-like, naked turf arose,
Where wandering flocks went nibbling round
The mingled graves of friends and foes.
The Briton, Roman, Saxon, Dane,
This windy desert roamed in turn;
Unmoved these mighty blocks remain
Whose story none that lives may learn.
Erect, half buried, slant or prone,
These awful listeners, blind and dumb,
Hear the strange tongues of tribes unknown,
As wave on wave they go and come.
" Who are you, giants, whence and why?"
I stand and ask in blank amaze;
My soul accepts their mute reply
" A mystery, as are you that gaze.
" A silent Orpheus wrought the charm
From riven rocks their spoils to bring;
A nameless Titan lent his arm
To range us in our magic ring.
" But Time with still and stealthy stride,
That climbs and treads and levels all,
That bids the loosening keystone slide,
And topples down the crumbling wall,--
" Time, that unbuilds the quarried past,
Leans on these wrecks that press the sod;
They slant, they stoop, they fall at last,
And strew the turf their priests have trod.
" No more our altar's wreath of smoke
Floats up with morning's fragrant dew;
The fires are dead, the ring is broke,
Where stood the many stand the few."
My thoughts had wandered far away,
Borne off on Memory's outspread wing,
To where in deepening twilight lay
The wrecks of friendship's broken ring.
Ah me! of all our goodly train
How few will find our banquet hall!
Yet why with coward lips complain
That this must lean, and that must fall?
Cold is the Druid's altar-stone,
Its vanished flame no more returns;
But ours no chilling damp has known,--
Unchanged, unchanging, still it burns.
So let our broken circle stand
A wreck, a remnant, yet the same,
While one last, loving, faithful hand
Still lives to feed its altar-flame!
Oliver Wendell Holmes
word monument comes from the Latin "monere," which
means 'to remind' or 'to warn.' Monuments are often
large in relation to a human figure. Ancient
monuments tend to either tower over humans,
over a wide area. When we approach them we
feel an overwhelming feeling of wonder. Their
purpose is to transform our psychological perspective.
plan view below shows the layout and scale of
Stonehenge as it is
today. This ancient monument has evolved
over many thousands of years but has always featured
circles as the unifying underlying structure:
to philosophers, mathematicians, and creative
people since the first cave paintings were
some 32,000 years ago. They are the shape
of our sun, moon, and the wheel.
we see or find ourselves part of, or within
a circle, our attention is heightened - we
sense it is a place of significance.
circle is like no other shape. Its seemingly
simple form is both inclusive and excluding.
It is easy to draw roughly, yet difficult to
express exactly. It is said that the strict technical
usage of "circle" refers to the perimeter,
while the interior of the circle (the area within
the perimeter) is called a disk. These two elements
are inextricably aligned, and one cannot exist
without the other. They are like darkness and
light, mind and body.
dualism that relates to our own
nature, raises our awareness,
and encourages our connection with our common
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