Fourknocks - an interpretation
by Martin Dire
June 2004
(Shared here with the author's permission)
This article is based on a lecture given to the Meath archaeological and historical society
by Martin Dire at the Fourknocks in June 2004. The lecture outlined the less obvious reasons why structures like the Fourknocks were sited where they were. Martin argues that the
placements of the prehistoric monuments are far from haphazard or random.
Knowth.com features Martin's well illustrated report, including graphs, photographs and maps.
Excerpt
Mind Set
The right brain deals mainly with artistic expression, aesthetics, poetry, imagination and recognising patterns in the whole.
Paradoxically we only ever use just under 10% of the brain and in today’s society we are left brain biased. In other words
we interact with our world from an “I must do, enter, translate, earn, build, conquer, fix” perspective. Our culture
and aesthetic values reflect this.
However, the Japanese are predominantly right brained and just a cursory glance at their culture would show that they are
concerned with buildings that look inherently beautiful and in harmony with the landscape. There is another more ancient
culture that is very right brained in its approach, even the language is poetical as a result. That race is the Irish.
An example of how our language reveals our brain bias is illustrated by how in english we may say “she is pregnant”….a
sterile dispassionate description. However, on the west coast of Ireland, describing the same event, we may hear,
“ tá sí ag eirí eneas” – she is rising in the east, following the path of the sun…evocative, poetical.
Aesthetically we find ancient structures beautiful; Greek temples, Pyramids, Newgrange art work etc. Amazingly all these
structures have what we now call sacred geometry used in their construct. It is based on naturally derived harmonious
proportions, something akin to our musical scale. Compare this to something like the Ballymun tower blocks which do not
contain sacred geometry.
I mention this mind set as it is obvious that the stone age people who built places like the Fourknocks were operating
from a more right brained perspective on life, thus to appreciate the work we should alter our perceptions and attempt
to see as they saw.
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