tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13344062.post2759557279086727095..comments2024-02-18T17:35:25.382+00:00Comments on Bloggin fae the 'Burn: <i>Ulster-Scots thoughts</i>: The mathematics of genealogyMark Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820251983224121718noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13344062.post-37333445080239037032010-10-29T11:15:22.584+01:002010-10-29T11:15:22.584+01:00Mark, An old stone-carver in Kirkcubbin explained ...Mark, An old stone-carver in Kirkcubbin explained to me the meaning of the whorls on old gravestones here. It was the "mystery of life". The outer circle has no beginning and no end, and the whorl goes from this to a small circle or dot in the middle. "So what ever way you go in life, you go from eternity to eternity".<br />I was a bit puzzled (although it does make sense) so he felt obliged to put it another way:<br />"It's like this - we all started from Adam and Eve, and they had children, and then their children had twice as many and so on till we will eventually have an infinite number. But we each have 2 parents, and 4 grandparents, and 8 great-grandparents, so if we go backwards we have an infinite number of ancestors. It's just like the whorl, no matter which way you go, there's infinity - the mystery of life"Philip Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266929629062158843noreply@blogger.com