Archeology of the mind

Archeology and digging in the soil go together in our culture.

It is the obvious way of 'unearthing' the past and relates to the practice of returning our remains to the soil after we pass, based on the notion of returning to Mother Earth.

So, in our culture, physical digging into layers of soil will reveal aspects of the past that can be used to partly reconstruct that past and provide us with clues about life long ago.

However, this method has its limitations as to how far back we can reach because of soil disturbances caused by natural phenomena over time.

For example, the great glaciers would have largely obliterated any evidence of pre glacial life that may have existed in areas they occupied.

There is another place where we can look for cultural evidence that has been preserved: In the deeper layers of our own minds.

I have discovered, as many others have, that in the distant past worship of Sol (the sun) was almost universal, most recently here on Turtle Island, and beyond, in what we call "South America".

How do I know that we, who come from a European background, also looked to Sol as our saviour?

By observing the way we lay out our cemeteries with grave plots oriented east - west and gravestones facing east towards the rising sun: The redeemer, Sol, as he rises in the east, can resurrect us as well.

Even in our main Christian prayer we say "Our father who art in Heaven".

In the past that was Sol, a tangible being in whose power we are totally embedded, nurtured by our Mother Earth.