Friday 21 September 2007

The Great Seal called the Diard-en-Dnaid


The facade of the Granary (conference center) in New Harmony, Indiana

I had dinner this evening with Michael Francis Gibson, Gondwana's newly appointed Ambassador at Large, who returned only a few days ago from the United States where he had gone to lecture about Gondwana in New Harmony, Indiana.

This interesting little town treasures the memory of the great 19th century industrial reformer Robert Owen (who attempted to set up an innovative industrial center there) and it occasionally convenes symposia devoted to the sort of issues of society that would surely have interested him.

This symposium was devoted to World Heritage cultural cities and cultural landscapes, and Michael was invited to lecture about Gondwana which, in the view of the organizers, constitutes one great cultural landscape. Let's hope the country makes the World Heritage List in the near future!

Michael was very much struck to observe the nine windows of the street facade of the old Granary, in which he spoke - which very much resembles the pattern of the great seal of Gondwana, the Diard-en-Dnaid. He showed me a picture he took of it on that occasion. He said this sort of coincidence might be viewed as an omen - assuming that one actually believes in omens.
We were both deeply gratified to note the interest with which our sorely-tried country was recieved by the distinguished company assembled there. As Foreign Minister of the Federation of Gondwana (FOG) I most sincerely thank them for the stirring warmth of their reception and the singular honor they do us.
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For detailed information about the seal and its inscription, go to the www.greaterdream.com website and click on About the Seal. This site was recently put on line by Friends of the Greater Dream, a non-profit association established this year to win international support for the cultural policies of the newly established government of Gondwana.
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I really can't resist quoting the association's thrilling declaration of purpose:
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"We believe in the democracy of the daydream.
We don’t want to change the world.
We only want to change the way people imagine the world.
And if this should somehow also cause the world to change,
would there really be cause to complain?"





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Paddy, You must remind your staff to put in some links to such subjects as New Harmony!
Meanwhile, please allow me to send warmest greetings to Jane, Kent, Connie, Dosey, Judy, and the other kind people who welcomed me there -and to Richard de Marco and John David Mooney whose demonstrative enthusiasm was much appreciated in Gondwana, as you know.

Links:

www.newharmonysymposium.com/
www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/newharmony/home.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Owen
www.historyguide.org/intellect/owenAnd an interesting insight on:
www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/robertowen

Anonymous said...

Michael, You're forgetting one highly relevant link:

http://whc.unesco.org/