An MP3 version of this talk is on your podcast feed at my Talks and Thoughts.
Much is now known about Stonehenge. Wonderful artefacts have been recovered, a welter on display at the British Museum’s gobsmacking 2022 show.
But much mystery remains. How to interpret the past? Why do stone circles still draw us? What did our ancestors know?
They participated in life differently. They weren’t waiting to be us, though we yearn to hear from them, via the sciences of archeology and the brilliance of exhibitions. And the insights of the rites, rituals, trances and treasures that shine with the light of the sun and knowledge of the gods.
As the great friend of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien put it, we long to participate once more with the inside of the whole world. It is no surprise that ancient riches draw us.
For more about Owen Barfield and the evolution of consciousness – https://www.markvernon.com/consciousness
For more about the exhibition – https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/world-stonehenge