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Again, Nine, beautifully written. Your
writing has indeed touched a responsive chord again. Symbolism is something that
I hold very dearly and enjoy thoroughly. This is another reason I want to
see Roslyn. I hold your view about history, and reality for that
matter. If history isn't true, then how can man have a true sense of
reality at the present? We have to follow our feelings and intuition to
seek the truth, and seek out those with a like mind that can help us. We
are doing so many things wrongly, from our technology, to entire culture.
Especially our education.
On an aside note, I presently have a young
Scot (24 years old) staying with us. He is from the Glasgow region
and plays with a British soccer team. He is here to teach our children how
to play the game better. He will be with us for 4 days. I hope to learn much
from him. I am currently on vacation, but I still go in to work for
meetings and business. I am currently working with a man from Yorkshire
who inspects large power plants ( I manage a large power plant). My
utility is associated with Northern Electric in Yorkshire. We are
subsidiaries of a large global utility. So, I am learning as much as I can about
Scotland and England this week while I have the opportunity.
I thoroughly enjoy the Sinclair mailing
list. Sometimes when I am busy, I cannot view the mail as often as I
prefer. Yesterday I had 85 messages to view. I scan them
carefully, if I don't, I may miss wonderful messages such as
yours. But then, I watch for your name and several others very
carefully.
I am very interested in the esoteric, as I feel
I have a special appreciation and understanding of various aspects. I am
very interested in the Templars, Scottish Rite etc.. We
do not have very active Templar of Scottish Rite groups near us, and I am
not a member myself largely due to that. I would be interested in
joining such a group if circumstances made it easier. I depend on
infrequent discussions and literature. This web site is helping me greatly
in that respect as well as with geneology.
Dear Paul,
It is good to know I've been able to
touch a chord with you; that we are on the same wavelength. Words
are
only pale shadows of the things they represent and this is particularly the
case whenever one has
to delve into the spiritual dimension of Man or in
trying to explain the esoteric; the symbolism of heraldry
or the meaning
of the myriad of carvings within Rosslyn Chapel. These things can be
felt rather than
explained.
At a time when books could be banned
or burned Earl William Sinclair wanted to leave a message
for
posterity. He had this chiselled out in stone in Rosslyn
Chapel. We have still to find the key - the Rosetta
stone - which
will allow us to decipher the symbolism which appears on each side of the
hundreds of cusps
or cubes which hang from the underside of the
various arches. Experts cracked the runes of the Vikings, the
ogham
of the Celts, the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. It is to be hoped
that someone will realise the importance
of the symbolism of Rosslyn and
address the need for its 'interpretation' with due urgency. Alas, at
the moment,
there is no interest being shown. I am reminded of the
following lines:
The notice reads:
"Do not pluck these
blossoms"
But it is useless
Against a wind that cannot
read.
For 'wind' read 'academics' because, with a few notable
exceptions, they would rather live in everlasting ignorance
than face the
prospect of having to change a single line of their stereotyped
teaching.
At Rosslyn, I unearthed the oldest known 'floor' in
Midlothian. I was ordered to cover it up again although I had
only
'scratched the surface' of what could have been a major find
going back to Roman times.
The official line seems to
be:
"On no account must history be re-written". Children
are still being taught (in Scottish schools, as elsewhere)
that
"Christopher Columbus discovered America" although he
never set foot on the Continent of North America;
never claimed to have
done so because he went to his grave still believing that he had reached the
Indies - hence we
call a place the West Indies which has nothing to do
with the Indies and we call people "Indians" who are NOT
Indians.
Similarily, we are told that Speke (1827-1864) 'discovered'
the source of the Nile although Ptolemy (A.D. 90 - 168) had
already drawn
a map showing the Nile rising from two lakes in Central Africa. A book
in my possession (published in
1990) still tells us that Speke
'discovered' the source of the Nile. I know differently. I, too,
have travelled the whole length
of the River Nile but, before doing so, I
researched its history - factual and mythological.
One could go on
and on about the regurgitation of historical untruths long after these
untruths have been laid to
rest in the light of 'so-called fresh
discoveries' which, on examination, have been known for countless
centuries.
All this may seem to be something of a digression.
My aim is to demonstarte that we often hold (however
inadvertently)
preconceived ideas about ourselves and about our
history. Ameriacn history did not begin with the Declaration
of
Independence or even with the Pilgrim Fathers. The cultural
diffusiuon between the old World and the new has been
going on for
thousands of years just as the history of the Sinclairs goes back thousands
of years i.e. long before we
'assumed' the name of St Clair. In
writing to King John of Denmark, Henry, Lord Sinclair wrote on the 12th
July,1507
"...even in relation to the Earldom of Orkney and
Hietland (Shetland) which lands for certain service to be done to
the
kings of Norway were alienated heritably to my progenitors even
before the birth of Christ"
Elsewhere we are told:
"No family in Europe beneath the rank of royalty boasts a higher
antiquity, a nobler illustration
or a more romantic interest than that of
St Clair"
And from "The St Clairs of England" we
read: "The hill of Danbury, Essex , by the Thames, beneath London,
is a landmark
and a tower to this lineage, as it has been for ages to the
World's greatest city, and its chapel will always stand fixed to
memory
as something notable that has been".
It goes on:
"All that was highest in marriage, lands and office they had in England
for nearly a Century after the Conquest,
and the glow of their fame
and their physical and intellectual powers kept them high for
centuries afterwards in a way
rare to any one particular
lineage".
All of this may seem to be a bit over the top but
when one finds a Professor at the Moscow State University stating
that
the Sinclairs were one of the two most important families in Europe
you have a truly objective opinion from a truly independent
source
untainted by the need to butter anyone up!
In reply to your query
about my visit to the United States: that will be centred on
Massachusetts.
Niven Sinclair
[ This is the
Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@jump.net. [ To get off or on the
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