Southern Guidestones for a Brave, Ready World
In 3, 2, 1 .... blastoff!
On a sultry summer day in June 1977 or 1979 (the account is unclear), a well-dressed man walked into the Elberton Granite Finishing Corporation and using the pseudonym R. (Robert) C. Christian, commissioned the company’s President Joe Fendley for a massive undertaking: 4 granite slabs 16 feet in height and 6 feet in width to be set vertically, a single, 3-foot tall capstone and a central slab known as the Gnomen stone.
On the front and back facade of each of the 4 vertical slabs, sandblasted in 8 modern languages (Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, traditional Chinese, Russian, and English), the same message was to be inscribed -- a numbered list to 10, which read:
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the Earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.
On the capstone, etched in 4 ancient languages (Babylonian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sanskrit and classical Greek) read, “Let these be Guidestones to an age of reason.”
In total, the project would take 1-3 years to complete, stood 19 feet tall, weighed over 237,000 pounds, and cost an estimated $100,000 (about half a million in today’s money).
The reason R. C. Christian chose a plain, shallow hilltop in rural Georgia, of all the places on Earth, to have this monument set in stone remains a mystery. Theories include that spot being a sacred Indian place of worship. They were located near land that the Cherokee people called “Al-yeh-li A lo-Hee,” which they believed was the center of the world. A more pragmatic guess: where else can you find 118 metric tons of igneous rock to construct the Guidestones but Elberton, the self-proclaimed “granite capital of the world”?
The Guidestones themselves remain a subject of geologic and cultural fascination, intrigue and speculation, featured in film [The Georgia Guidestones Movie (2013); The Guidestones (2012- ); Dark Clouds Over Elberton: The True Story of the Georgia Guidestones (2015)], magazines, books and on from the Smithsonian, BBC, the History Channel, Discover, and the New York Times, universally recognized as “America’s Stonehenge.”
From the time they debuted in 1980 to a stunned crowd of 300-ish locals (cows included), more pen, celluloid, and digital ink has been spilled over the origins of the Guidestones and their secret benefactor R. C. Christian than Deep Throat. They were shrouded in riddles and secrecy; some surmised them to be the clandestine totem of Freemasons; others, a cursed monument of sorcery and evil. Many residents swore by seeing cabals of witches dancing around the Guidestones beneath the full moon; others confessed to hearing strange sounds coming from the site in broad daylight.
In the late-2010s, the social media bullhorn of right-wing Qanon conspiracy theorists regularly cited the Guidestones as the devil’s obelisk.
But for the most part, for 40 years, the stones were seen as a quirky tourist attraction, bizarre and beguiling albeit benign. They topped trip advisor-type lists as a must-see marvel while wandering through America. The Grand Canyon. Check. Yosemite. Check. The GA Guidestones. Check. They were the fascination of journalists, artists, film makers, historians, mystics, and scientists alike, drawn to a tiny, cattle-grazing bluff in middle Georgia to behold the objectively masterful work of the cutters and sandblasters who put thousands of hours of labor into carving ancient typographical letters into 118-tons of granite.
But I’d be remiss in not talking about the elephant in the room. Guide 1: to “maintain humanity at 500,000,000.” R.C. Christian demanded his identity be kept secret, a condition Fendley honored until his death. But years after the guidestones were erected, a little known book “Common Sense Renewed” by Robert Christian was published, espousing “Population Policies” to maintain a “reasonable allocation of resources.”
In other words, eugenics.
In recent years, investigative reports claim to have uncovered the actual identity of R.C. Christian as Herbert H. Kersten, a physician from Fort Dodge, Iowa, also an outspoken proponent of “rational planning of human reproduction.”
In other words, eugenics.
Both claims are unprovable, without first-hand witness accounts. And whether R.C. Christian or Robert Christian or Herbert Kersten or none of the above supported nefarious, racially biased selective breeding, or China’s One-child policy is speculative.
Both Elbert County residents interviewed in a recent CNN article saw nothing awry in the first guidestone, as the author reports:
“I asked Elbert County Commission Chairman Lee Vaughn what he thought about the directive to keep the global population under 500 million. ‘I don’t have a problem with it,’ he said. ‘I didn’t read into that and think genocide.’
… As I sat in Wayne Mullenix’s truck near the empty and unadorned field that once held the Guidestones, I asked him the same question. Did he agree with their first guideline? ‘Knowing what I know today, I think that was a good message,’ he said. ‘We got too many people in this world right now.’
For the record, our platform in no way endorses policies with brutal consequences aimed at controlling the population.
Either way, on July 6, 2022 at around 3:32 am, the mystery surrounding the creation and intention of the Guidestones gave way to an even greater mystery surrounding their destruction after the monument was destroyed in a domestic bombing. (Live footage captured on surveillance cameras surrounding the monument).
Two months before the July 6 bombing, Georgia representative and candid Qanon conspiratorialist Kandiss Taylor, a candidate in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary, called the Guidestones “satanic” in her ad campaign and demanded their removal – by any means necessary.
Then – BOOM! Coincidence… I think not.
One of my most cherished life experiences now is that my husband Stephen and I had the honor of visiting the Guidestones in the summer of 2021, no way of knowing that in a year’s time, the 19-foot-tall shadow they cast onto that verdant hilltop would be gone. There, joined by a small crowd of people from different parts of the globe, overhearing stories told in multiple languages, we walked around the granite stones, running our fingers across the etched words, slanted and curved, and picnicked amidst the setting sun.
It was a gorgeous July afternoon, maybe much like the one R. C. Christian knew the day he walked into the Granite Finishing Company to submit his colossal plans 40 some years earlier. We were excited to return one day, to bring more friends on a field trip so they too could behold their breathtaking stature and beguiling mystery. That’s no longer an option.
Today, the choice of violence as an answer to mistrust seems more and more permissible. Fear and suspicion born of the growing misinformation epidemic tears humanity apart every conceivable faultline. Our resident country of the United States is more divided than during the Civil War. Now, more than ever, there is a need for a stable, centralizing voice of “reason.”
For us, the physical guidestones as a general concept (not for their specific ideas) stand as that symbol of stability; a rock-solid anchor of wisdom for a better world.
Political disasters aside -- this summer alone, the southeastern U.S. was hit straight on by two catastrophic hurricanes, one of which, Irene, decimated the thriving land-locked art community of Asheville, NC; followed swiftly on its heels by a toxic chemical spill that spread sulfuric acid clouds hundreds of miles across Georgia.
We witnessed first hand how a dearth of stored food, non-cellular means of communication, and off-grid electricity and water compounded the devastation of these natural disasters. Millions of people were left literally in the dark as to the extent of the near-and wider damage, where to access shelter and essentials, and when/how basic services would be restored.
The message was loud and clear. The idea of being a victim of some kind of climatic or chemical event; contagion, war, economic setback, et al is no longer relegated to a far-off hypothetical future. It hit our own backyards. Our trees were felled by 100 mph winds and along with them came down the power lines. Our eyes and throats burned from chlorine gas. And so, we made a decision. Let’s build our own Guidestones…
Well, not literally. We’re not erecting a 19-foot tall granite monument with hand-etched instructions for re-establishing humanity after the end times. Ours is not meant for after a planet-erasing cataclysm; it’s for during, the many, mini-undoings that may unfold in our lifetimes.
We are a group of five friends living in a small rural southern town much like Elbert County – the once home of the original Guidestones. Our city of Milledgeville too is an unlikely destination for ground zero in the event of some apocalyptic undoing of modern civilization, and yet here we are. Drawn to this spot by the random (or not so random) forces of life, to a land fertile with the sacred heritage of the Mvskoke Indigenous peoples.
We have pledged to come together as a bastion of community support and care. We are committed to reaching across the “aisles” of religion, politics, and socioeconomic status to build upon the one thing we all have in common: a desire to co-create a more humane, hospitable, compassionate, and healthy world where we can, in our tiny rural Georgia town.
On paper, the five of us speak wildly different “languages” in terms of our lifestyles. We are a hunter-gatherer homesteader; an intuitive channeler; a stock market trader/Vedic astrologer; a homeschooling baker/carpenter; a vegan activist meditation teaching farmer; and me, a multi-hyphenate witness to all the world’s complexities in scrivener and sharp-shooting fashion.
Our livelihoods run the gamut. Our political causes take the cake. Some of us have children. Others choose to be childless. Some humanely raise animals to sell their meat at markets. Others are dedicated, decade-plus long vegans. But we are all friends, and we are all entrusted with the vision of reducing harm, deepening understanding, and increasing the welfare of our planet and people.
On our Substack, we rise to the challenge of constructing a digital compilation of educational posts (nod: “Guides”) that teach you everything we’re learning along the way about coming together as a community. Think: “How-To” articles on organizing a tool library or finding the best generators. Book reviews, inspirational poems, philosophical posts on food sourcing, medicinal plant identification, relationship enrichment exercises and more.
We believe in resilience, rather than resignation; in inspiration, rather than indignation; and hope rather than helplessness. Our Southern Guidestones are not etched in hardened igneous; they are a living, breathing, ever-expanding etch-a-sketch of what we believe to be the wisest ways toward a brave, ready world.
We are five. And here are our first five Guidestones, one submission per person:
Nicole: Understand all beings as beloved members of your family
Kristina: Continually seek balance in greater and greater spheres of your life
Stephen: Learn to communicate with the earth through heart and senses
Megan: Form harmonious relationships with yourself, society, and the natural world
Luke M: Know your relationships to all beings in all time and maximize their ability to thrive
Meet the Southern Guidestones for a Brave, Ready World stewards:
Kristina
Kristina often wonders if she was born too early or too late in history. As a Perspective Alchemist, she blends the ancient wisdom of energetic practices with the inspiration and intuition of the present to craft a transformative recipe for personal and collective evolution. Through her work as a coach and channel, Kristina has discovered that the only way to truly shift our world is by transforming reality on all levels—inner, familial, and communal.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a dual degree in Chemistry and International Relations, Kristina has served on co-op boards, executive teams, environmental councils, and alumni boards. She now resides in Milledgeville on her small piece of Faery Heaven, where she lives with her husband, two children, a dog, cats, a snake, fish, and a host of other beings.
Megan
Megan is a Georgia native, born and raised, and currently resides in Milledgeville. With an Ecology degree from UGA that specialized in sustainable agriculture and years of experience working on organic farms, she hopes to share some of her knowledge, tips, and tricks with others. As a gardener and backyard chicken mama, she loves to dabble in all things sustainable. She is also a proud, boy mama, armchair astrologer, yogi, and day trader.
Stephen
An innovative and unconventional thinker trained in neuroscience, massage, yoga, meditation and data analytics with a penchant for transforming ideas from conception into creation. Inspired by virtue in action, Stephen seeks to awaken the creative potential in humanity - one that nourishes peace among peoples, harmony with the natural world, and well-being above profit. He thrives in service of nurturing life, be it by developing equitable systems, inspiring those who aspire towards liberation, supporting creative endeavors, or listening deeply and ameliorating suffering.
Nicole
Nicole was born in Long Island, New York, but her northern ancestors would call bullshit at every “Ya’ll” that affronted their Yankee senses. She grew up in a quaint suburb north of Atlanta, Georgia, where she was made to obey one single rule: “Be home by dark.” This was integral to shaping her into a feral, bike riding, tree climbing, abandoned-house-exploring ragamuffin with no regard for authority or Chronos time. Which then informed her adulthood as a dedicated daydreamer and admirer of all things natural, wild and whimsical, for which she captures in nets of words or cameras or songs. For 20 some Chronos years she’s been a freelance writer, photographer, and often the two combined. She now resides in Deepstep, GA with her cookie-monster husband and ever-expanding cat circus.
Luke
Luke is a stay-at-home father of two and married to the Perspective Alchemist. He has spent his days having experiences such as getting a degree in religious studies, completing a year long permaculture apprenticeship, building a house and homestead, raising hogs, and selling humanely raised meat at local farmers market. His current interests include all things rewilding and learning about the numerous ancestral lifeways that people have created together throughout the ages. You can find him strumming a guitar, singing a song, experimenting in the kitchen, or chilling with family and friends.
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(More pictures of the original Guidestones, from our visit in July 2021)
