December 24th, 2009 by admin

For the sake of presenting an idea, let’s postulate that there is in the world, an elite. Relax; I’m not going to start expounding on yet another conspiracy theory. Let’s just suppose that the existence of such an elite is inevitable and a natural part of the human experience.

The ability to perceive such communications, and thereby of belonging to this ”elite”, has nothing to do with fame, money, power, heritage or any of the criteria normally associated with being part of an elite. The only requirement for belonging in fact, odd as it may sound, is the ability to communicate at a subtle level. To do this, it would be necessary first to perceive the nuances behind the obvious in the world around us.

These subtle nuances which can be interpreted and therefore can be considered a form of communication would have two possible forms, accidental (or natural) and intentional (or artificial.) The easiest to approach would be the natural form; you could call it a byproduct of events or human nature. Examples can readily be found in history or in the case of our example, in genealogy.

A well educated, prosperous clan in 17^th century Lorraine which is today a part of France, obtains from the ruler of that land, the title of nobility. For several generations, the family had bred and trained war horses for the duke. That service was highly valued and resulted in the title. Because documents attesting to the family’s story are vulnerable to decay and loss, tracing it from the perspective of several centuries later can be a difficult thing. However, the record can still be found in other forms.

In this case, it was a name that was taken as a nom-de-guerre or “war name” which passed from father to son for five generations. These nom-de-guerre’s came from a wide variety of sources but could also be chosen by a soldier himself. The name in this case was “Lafantaisie“. It turned out that this was a term used in dressage. A horse that, momentarily, would not obey his master (as though making a break for freedom) was said to be having “a fantasy”.

The profession that had been carried down for so many years in the family led to the adopting of a name that preserved the memory of the family’s history. The realization of the possibilities in following the name led to uncovering other evidence such as given names that repeated themselves through generations. This set up a trail to follow that eventually established the family’s pedigree back to the duchy of Lorraine at the time of the Duke Charles IV.

It’s not exactly original to say that a family’s name can give an indication of some part of its history. In fact, its a common and natural way to research a past through a family’s name; but in this case we’re talking about a nom-de-guerre, something usually overlooked. The reason for looking closely at the name was that it demanded to be considered more closely. It’s as though that was the original intention of choosing it. Its unusual and unique character demanded attention.

Further investigation led to uncovering the story and breathing life back into those ancestors. The name could easily have been overlooked; taken for granted. This is only an elementary example of what I’m trying to get at, but it does set the foundation for defining this “elite communication” that I think is largely overlooked by our modern minds.