The first 'Questioning History' event kicked off on Saturday 14 December with a room of people from all corners of the globe. We were privileged to have people who had flown in from Costa Rica, Hong Kong and Spain, and a speaker the next day, Andrew Gough who jetted in from Egypt only to then take off again for Oslo, Norway.
This elite group of people gathered to hear and question speakers who made it clear that Balzac's distinction between 'official' and 'real' history was all too realistic. So we heard from ex-headmaster Gerry Docherty how a small cabal in London had worked to stoke the First World War; how, according to Mark Devlin, the Beatles did not achieve fame without people pulling occult strings; how the Fire of London may not have been the accident generations have been told it was (this in the talk by Gloria Moss) and how a separate realm may exist below ground - the talk by Andrew Gough that had everyone on the edge of their seats.
All went to prove the point attributed to Winston in Orwell's '1984' that: ' Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past’. So understanding the past is essential to having a grasp of where we are today. And the audience had plenty of chance to add their own piece to the jigsaw. So, when discussing the sloping floor in the large area at Qumran, with objects there described by archaeologists as tables, the speaker, Gloria Moss, questioned whether these might not in fact have been beds. After all, she was arguing for the evidence pointing to the site having been a healing centre, with herbal medicines and hydrotherapy at its core. One person - the man who had jetted in from Madrid and made nothing of it - explained how sleeping on a sloping floor can improve health, with his own bed set up at an angle.
When discussing St Paul's cathedral, one person - this time from West Sussex - showed how the angle of its dome mirrored that of the Egyptian pyramids. Fascinating when considering sacred geometry.
Animated conversation
The exciting buzz continued over lunch where even the most extreme diet was catered for. Milk-free, sugar-free, vegetarian and vegan options left people scratching their heads while engaged in exciting dialogue in the area reserved for the 'Awake and Aware' contingent. For this was just one of several groups at the beautiful 'High Leigh' venue in Hertfordshire but the intense discussions within the group left them in a world of their own.
After dinner, there were three evening chats (two given by members of the audience and one by a speaker discussing Pembrokeshire history) and not satisfied with that, many took themselves off to the Chesterfield sofas in the sitting room and continued chatting for another two hours!
Real learning
Listening with an open mind was evident throughout the weekend and is in reality the essence of good learning. With so many agendas blocking free inquiry in universities, this felt like the real deal. Not surprising that there was interest in next year's 'Questioning History' event on 12-13 December as well as in the study tour to Malta on 8-12 May and 19-24 June. Details can be found on this website with the June tour including a Summer solstice tour to one of the Island's temples. This tour will link in with Andrew Gough's description of giants and Hollow Earth and just contact us if you have any queries.
Success
People said how much they enjoyed the venue, the food and of course the stimulating company and speakers. So if you would like to open your eyes - and stop the controllers of today controlling the future - consider booking for our 2020 Questioning History event running on 12-13 December.
We look forward to greeting you then and do not hesitate to reques t the programme (it will go up up very soon, after all the hard work for the weekend just past is behind us! We do hope that you will join us next year and help us all solve intractable historichappenings!
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