What is in a name?
29/11/23 12:39
When I was at University again in London, studying the Middle Egyptian it was pointed out to us the ancient belief in the power of a name, especially your own. Egyptians and others believed that saying a name out loud protected the eternal soul from oblivion and that is why it was important to memorialise the king, to name the gods and build memorials of all kinds where the name was carved or written. This no more important than the Song of the Fat Harper, where the harper sneaked a prayer to the soul of his departed lover and sneaked it into the burial chamber of the king, propping it up in a corner to be discovered in the 20th century, and the name of the lover recited, meeting the criteria the ancient Egyptians were after.
I think since I am the last of my line, there will be nobody to remember me or mine in the generations that follow, so I think there is some desire still in me to see my name remembered in places, whether that is the list of grand priors of England and Wales or of the UK, to be remembered as a writer of an obscure Gann book, or to be remembered with Anthony as a provider of necessary equipment to various causes across the country and beyond. In the centuries ahead my name will appear in lists of Fan Maker, Bonnetmakers and Dyers of Glasgow, and of course as leader of the Knights Templar and I hope the latter memorial of a lasting administration will still be a market of good governance of a voluntary organisation.
To be remembered is fine. To be recalled is more important and to avoid oblivion as my atoms fly through space in the millennia ahead, some genetic or sub-atomic memory is illuminated by my name.
I think since I am the last of my line, there will be nobody to remember me or mine in the generations that follow, so I think there is some desire still in me to see my name remembered in places, whether that is the list of grand priors of England and Wales or of the UK, to be remembered as a writer of an obscure Gann book, or to be remembered with Anthony as a provider of necessary equipment to various causes across the country and beyond. In the centuries ahead my name will appear in lists of Fan Maker, Bonnetmakers and Dyers of Glasgow, and of course as leader of the Knights Templar and I hope the latter memorial of a lasting administration will still be a market of good governance of a voluntary organisation.
To be remembered is fine. To be recalled is more important and to avoid oblivion as my atoms fly through space in the millennia ahead, some genetic or sub-atomic memory is illuminated by my name.