kilts, horseback riding and genetic memory

[starbkjrus]

i'm a newbie, so i hope folks will cut me some slack at the naivety of my questions. i mean, i'm not generally a joiner, but i enlisted in X Marks the Spot because i have a few questions that i figured experts might have some perspective i can learn from.

the first is, is there an acceptable/practical way of wearing a kilt while riding a horse?

i can hear the laughs or scoffs now. so on to the next.

do others have the same reaction i do to wearing the kilt? it resonates with me.

for instance, looking at a sporran when i was buying my first kilt this fall at Geoffrey (Tailor) some memory sparked. it reminded me of a small leather pouch my dad had given me when i was 12 in which to put money while i was collecting from customers of my newspaper route. it's a pouch i have kept for 43 years and which dad had been given as a boy and so had to have kept himself for a good number of years before handing it to me. a simple leather pouch which we both kept for so many decades, long after its utility was exhausted, suggests that it tapped into something wordlessly felt, somehow remembered, that leather pouch , same shape in leather, to be worn from the waist, as a sporran. maybe it was someone else's memory, an ancient greater grandfather's, but that memory had been handed down to me like the leather pouch from my father. and so the sporran of my new kilt outfit felt not so much bought as reclaimed.

wearing the kilt feels just as natural. ok, maybe i'm nuts, but what say others?

Ok, I have nothing to say about horseback riding (as i"m not good at it) and the kilt does not resonate with me as it does with others.

On the subject of Genetic Memory I will weigh in .

When I was a kid growing up in a relatively flat place I used to go to an area that was rolling hills and pasture land. Very steep hills covered with cow pastures. I had no idea at the time why I was so attracted to the area (it was near my childhood home with relatives living nearby). It just was.

My first trip to Dumfries last January when I was on the train "chuntering" through the countryside between Glasgow and Dumfries I was astounded to find that the countryside we were rolling through was EXACTLY like the few acres back home that I had loved for years.

I have been laughed at and ridiculed (not that it makes a difference) on this board for mentioning it before but yes, I believe in genetic memory and no matter what anyone else says, I've experienced it.

You just can't tell me that all the Scottish descendants around the world who have a longing for Scotland and all things Scottish are not a bit experiencing the same thing.

Ok, well I'll just for now.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

On the subject of Genetic Memory I will weigh in .

I believe in genetic memory and no matter what anyone else says, I've experienced it.

You just can't tell me that all the Scottish descendants around the world who have a longing for Scotland and all things Scottish are not a bit experiencing the same thing.

There are those who scoff and poo-poo the idea of genetic memory, but who quite readily accept the idea of animal instinct. The more we learn about ourselves, and DNA research may just be scratching the surface, the more likely it becomes that human instincts will be more fully understood. If a people can inherit physical characteristics, who can say with any certainty that it is not possible for them to also inherit memory traces as well?

I won't laugh at you.

[Bellfree]

[QUOTE=starbkjrus;475243]
On the subject of Genetic Memory I will weigh in .

When I was a kid growing up in a relatively flat place I used to go to an area that was rolling hills and pasture land. Very steep hills covered with cow pastures. I had no idea at the time why I was so attracted to the area (it was near my childhood home with relatives living nearby). It just was.

My first trip to Dumfries last January when I was on the train "chuntering" through the countryside between Glasgow and Dumfries I was astounded to find that the countryside we were rolling through was EXACTLY like the few acres back home that I had loved for years.

I have been laughed at and ridiculed (not that it makes a difference) on this board for mentioning it before but yes, I believe in genetic memory and no matter what anyone else says, I've experienced it.

You just can't tell me that all the Scottish descendants around the world who have a longing for Scotland and all things Scottish are not a bit experiencing the same thing.


Amen to that! it amazes me how our living choices reflect genetic memory. i retired to a section of the North Carolina mountains that has lots of exposed rock and old growth forest, and i've loved hiking over balds. sure, i have family around here, but the land had significance of its own, which i felt as an "A-HA" when i traveled to Scotland.

glad to hear of someone else's recognition of genetic memory.

[Kid Cossack]

Ok, I have nothing to say about horseback riding (as i"m not good at it) and the kilt does not resonate with me as it does with others.

On the subject of Genetic Memory I will weigh in .

When I was a kid growing up in a relatively flat place I used to go to an area that was rolling hills and pasture land. Very steep hills covered with cow pastures. I had no idea at the time why I was so attracted to the area (it was near my childhood home with relatives living nearby). It just was.

My first trip to Dumfries last January when I was on the train "chuntering" through the countryside between Glasgow and Dumfries I was astounded to find that the countryside we were rolling through was EXACTLY like the few acres back home that I had loved for years.

I have been laughed at and ridiculed (not that it makes a difference) on this board for mentioning it before but yes, I believe in genetic memory and no matter what anyone else says, I've experienced it.

You just can't tell me that all the Scottish descendants around the world who have a longing for Scotland and all things Scottish are not a bit experiencing the same thing.

Ok, well I'll just for now.

Slight hijack . . .

Dee--today we think we know so much about everything, and we mock those ignorant fools who used to think they knew so much about everything. If you ask a doctor if, 200 years ago, doctors thought they really understood the human body, he will say, "Yes, but they were wrong!" Then ask him if he really understands the human body. Watch the crestfallen look on his face, if he's honest.

Like the poster on Mulder's office wall said, "I want to believe."

I know there's a whole lot of things we don't understand.

[Troy]

Dee--today we think we know so much about everything, and we mock those ignorant fools who used to think they knew so much about everything. If you ask a doctor if, 200 years ago, doctors thought they really understood the human body, he will say, "Yes, but they were wrong!" Then ask him if he really understands the human body. Watch the crestfallen look on his face, if he's honest.

Indeed, I recently watched a documentary about heart transplant patients who begin to experience 'memories' of the heart donor (developing a liking for the foods the donor liked, suddenly taking an interest in the instrument the donor played etc.).

I really don't think it is such a stretch to believe that within our DNA there are memories of likes, dislikes, or even the emotional responses to various events, that we have inherited from our forebears. Is this not what we would call "instinct" in the animal kingdom?

Regards,

Troy

[berserkbishop]

This "genetic memory" sounds a lot like Pavlov's archetypes theory. We started studying this in my Mythology seminar and I thought it sounded like a bunch of crap. Upon further thinking about it and applying it to myself I find that I believe in a genetic memory more and more. Before finding out much about my Scottish heritage, I was studying Celtic music in a music class. The teacher put on a CD with a solo piper playing Amazing Grace. To me, the music was beautiful, almost put me in a trance and I LITERALLY got goosebumps. Many of my class mates thought it sounded like a lot of racket. Also, as much as I loathe the cold weather, every time I see a picture of Scotland, especially in Alex's posts, I yearn to go there. To me, this is proof enough, but it is not really proof to anyone else.

Bishop

[BoldHighlander]

This "genetic memory" sounds a lot like Pavlov's archetypes theory. We started studying this in my Mythology seminar and I thought it sounded like a bunch of crap. Upon further thinking about it and applying it to myself I find that I believe in a genetic memory more and more. Before finding out much about my Scottish heritage, I was studying Celtic music in a music class. The teacher put on a CD with a solo piper playing Amazing Grace. To me, the music was beautiful, almost put me in a trance and I LITERALLY got goosebumps. Many of my class mates thought it sounded like a lot of racket. Also, as much as I loathe the cold weather, every time I see a picture of Scotland, especially in Alex's posts, I yearn to go there. To me, this is proof enough, but it is not really proof to anyone else.

Bishop

Bishop,

I understand exactly what your saying / feeling. I've felt this way since I first heard the pipes as a child, loooong before I knew about my Scots heritage.

Speaking of 'genetic memory' I had an episode in my life that I am reluctant to usually bring up, except around trusted friends or family, for fear of being called a crackpot. I'm sure there will be those here who will read it & think what a load of rubbish, but I have found that as a whole, rather you agree or disagree, this group is made up by & large of honorable individuals who respect each others views, thoughts & experiences.

Thus I will relate my experience here (for good or ill)...

Many moons ago, before I really knew about my Scots heritage & was in truth more about my "Irishness", I was at a local highland games, just taking it all in, standing there listening to the pipes etc, soaking it up.
It was during this moment, as I listened to the pipes, that I thought "this must have been what it was like back in Scotland back in the day" (not so much the games, but the feeling the pipes were stirring within me).
As I thought this, and looking upon the crowd, it was as if I could clearly see armed men (with pike & sword) wearing tartan, all heading in one direction with a purpose, passing un-noticed by the massed modern day crowd picking their way thru vendor row.
(I also felt at that moment that I needed to pick up a sword & join these men).
As I focused my eyes upon these men it was as if they disappeared like the mist before my eyes! I even blinked & shook my head a couple times as if to say "did that really just happen"?

To this day I do not know what it was I experienced. A genetic memory to some event in my family's past? Or something else?
I do not know, all I know is it (seemed) real enough & still makes my hair stand up a bit on my neck!