Have you ever thought-- somewhere there is a magic symbol, which if you find it will unlock the secrets of life? Or if not all of life, at least those of your own? Do you make it a practice to look for symbols? A rose bloomed and it was the anniversary of some special event and therefore it had significance beyond any other rose? Or a dragonfly stayed beside you and dragonflies always show up with certain events in your life?
This week-end I finally saw The DaVinci Code which I enjoyed. The strongest feeling I came away with was the importance for each of us of understanding symbols in the world and our personal lives.
The week before, I had glanced through a book by a woman who claims to contact the souls of people on the other side of the veil. There is a television show about her. She, like many others who claim the same thing, believes most often when a spirit attempts to communicate, it's through the use of meaningful symbols.
Whether we have any interest in reaching someone who has died (or even believe we should), the importance of understanding our own personal symbols is important in dream work. Yes, you can use a book that interprets general dream meanings; but it might say a black bird in a dream is an omen of death and for you it's a nursery rhyme that was always sung to you.
There are certain universal symbols, which the beginning of The Da Vinci Code pointed out are often interpreted differently in different cultures. So a swastika is a sign of Hitler but it also shows up in Native American petroglyph sites with an entirely different significance.
As a creative person, symbols have meaning to me and I try to incorporate them into my work when I can. Some years ago, I was told by a psychic that someday my sculpture would use sacred geometry, which would be used for healing work. After that, I studied sacred geometry off and on, found it interesting, used some of it in a manuscript I wrote (as yet unpublished), but it has never flowed for me in my sculpture.
Whenever I have the opportunity to visit a Native American petroglyph site, such as the Anasazi one above in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, I feel I am touching on sacred ground. I try to think what the meaning might be or was intended to be. I wonder at the one who created it and what they felt, what they hoped to accomplish through their symbols.
The Da Vinci Code mainly raised questions for people to consider. I did not see it as putting down the foundation of Christianity but suggesting people question what they know for themselves (in relationships, religion and anything else).
There was one element in the movie that was stronger, to me, than in the book. It has been a few years since I read the book; so maybe I am wrong. It explored how people can believe by punishing themselves for God, they are pleasing him and attaining spiritual perfection. Beat the body and you perfect the soul, prove the strength of your character, or atone for sin. This idea is in many spiritual traditions-- not just Christianity.
Incidentally, I was surprised to find I liked Tom Hanks in the lead role. After having read the book, I didn't see him as Robert Langdon, but the characters were mostly vehicles in both book and film for moving from one symbol to another. They were where events could unfold as well as be digested. With lots of fast-paced action, there was limited time for interaction between them.
The film left me wondering what personal symbols should I be more aware of? Am I walking around missing too much? I believe, we can all go through life on different levels of awareness from just living to what some call enlightened living. Although now and again things will nudge us or even give us a shove, in the end, it is our choice.
5 comments:
I finished the book a couple of weeks ago so now am ready to go see the film. I wanted to finish the book before seeing the film although some others have told me they have done a good job of getting most of the details from the book into the movie.
This weekend I did go see the movie, "Cars," and it is good. It is animation but the new technology so is very good. There are no people in the film. I'd say anyone who, like me, loves the old road system with Route 66, etc. will probably enjoy this one. Plus, it is G rated so you can take the grandkids!
I'm back from the remote Owyhee Canyon where I visited some petroglyphs. Some of the rocks had nearly understandable symbols like snakes, dots, and circles. One looks to me like a crane with two straight lines. I am wondering if I copy these symbols in my paintings, in some mystical way I will come closer to understanding their meaning and the peoples who made them. Personal symbols are important to my art and I will read the Da Vinci Code someday. You have made me curious.
Hello Rain and all, (Enjoying our sunshine...?)
Here's some detailed insight into the backstory and subplot of the DaVinci Code and related books and texts.
Most have totally missed the point that the Gnostic texts and others are making. First, they refer to symbolic males and females, hence the philosophical masculine and feminine nature and character. All the Gnostic texts are philosophical and symbolic treatises, not literal narratives. When you try to interpret any of these ancient texts (including the Bible) as literal, you will always come to the wrong conclusions.
You may not initially agree with everything I reveal, but please be a little patient with my long-winded presentation of what I have waited a very long time to be able to say. I promise to amaze and enlighten.
Contrary to those who strive to assert that the DaVinci Code created the term, symbology is an ancient philosophical technology and I am a real life symbologist. Likewise, the upper-level members of secret societies such as Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Illumanti, and the Vatican are symbologists. Keeping their "craft" secretive and misunderstood is a purposeful ploy designed to hide the truth about ancient wisdom and the symbology used to model, encapsulate, and encode it. The title "mason" is itself a symbolic allusion to those who work with the "Philosophers' Stone" which is the symbolic name given to an ancient body of symbology, hence "Masons" are workers of "stone."
Read Proverbs 9:1 below to better understand this allusion.
Wisdom has built Her house. She has carved out Her seven pillars.
Notice that "wisdom" is referred to as "Her" and "She", as in Sophia and Miriam (the Magdala), and that "She" has "hewn" "Her" "seven pillars" (of stone)? Read my Home Page to see what those seven pillars of "stone" have always referred to, contrary to what religions and mysticism have said for millennia.
Here is the key to understanding what the Vatican and Papacy truly fear...
Pay close attention, profundity knocks at the door, listen for the key. Be Aware! Scoffing causes blindness...
Here's a real hot potato! Eat it up, digest it, and then feed it's bones to the hungry...
There's much more to the story of the Vatican's recent machinations than meets the eye. It's not the DaVinci Code or Gospel of Judas per se, but the fact that people have now been motivated to seek out the unequivocal truth about an age of deception, exactly when they expect me to appear. These recent controversies are spurring people to reevaluate the Vatican/Papacy and the religions that Rome spawned, at the worst possible time for them.
Remember, "I come as a thief..." ?
Read verse twelve of the Gospel of Thomas to understand who I am...
The DaVinci Code novel and movie are no more inaccurate as literal versions of history than the New Testament. The primary sub-plot involved purposeful symbology being used to encode hidden meanings, exactly like the Bible and related texts. In other words, none of these stories represent the literal truth. This is the common and pivotal fact of all such narratives about ancient Hebrew and Christian history. Debating whether the DaVinci Code, Gnostic texts, or the Bible are accurate history is a purposeful ploy designed to hide the truth by directing your inquiry away from the heart of the matter.
There is a foolproof way to verify the truth and expose centuries-old religious deceptions. It also proves why we can no longer let the Vatican tell us what to think about ancient history or much else. It is the common thread connecting why the ancient Hebrews, Yahad/Essene, Jews, Gnostics, Cathars, Templars, Dead Sea Scrolls, DaVinci Code, and others have been targets of Rome’s ire and evil machinations. The Vatican and its secret society cohorts don’t want you to understand that the ancient Hebrew symbology in all of these texts purposely encodes and exposes the truth about them. Furthermore, the structure of ancient wisdom symbology verifiably encodes the rules to decode messages built with it. This is what they most fear you will discover.
If the Bible represented the literal truth or even accurate history, there would be no need for faith in the assertions of deceptive and duplicitous clergy and their ilk. It is undeniable the New Testament is awash with ancient Hebrew symbolism and allegory. The same is evidenced in the Old Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic texts, biblical apocrypha, Quran, DaVinci Code, and other related sources. All ancient religious, mystical, and wisdom texts have been shrouded in mystery for millennia for one primary reason: The ability to understand their widely evidenced symbology was lost in antiquity. How do we finally solve these ages-old mysteries? To recast an often-used political adage: It’s [the] symbology, stupid!
It is beyond amazing that the Vatican still tries to insist the Gospels are the literal truth. Every miracle purported for Jesus has multiple direct symbolic parallels in the Old Testament, Apocalypse, Dead Sea Scrolls, and other symbolic narratives and traditions. Recasting the symbolism of earlier Hebrew texts as literal events in the New Testament is one of the central deceptions associated with Christianity. This is part of the secret knowledge held by the ancient Gnostics, Templars, Cathars, and others, which is presented with dramatic effect in the DaVinci Code. None of these narratives or stories were ever intended as the literal truth. This fact is the key to unraveling many ages-old mysteries and exposing the truth about the Vatican's long-term deceptions.
Moreover, the following Washington Post article (The Book of Bart) describes how many changes and embellishments were made to New Testament texts over the centuries, unequivocally demonstrating they are not original, infallible, or truthful. When you combine proof that the New Testament Gospels are not wholly literal with proof that these texts were heavily reworked in the early years of Christianity, you are left with only one possible conclusion. The Vatican has long lied to everyone about the central tenets and history of Christianity. This revelation also proves they are not the Creator’s representatives but Her long-time opponents. The recent hoopla over the Gospel of Judas and DaVinci Code demonstrates they are still desperately trying to deceive the world and obfuscate their true nature and activities.
It's no wonder the Vatican fears the truth more than anything else. As further proof of these assertions, seek to understand the symbolic significance of my name (Seven Star Hand) and you will have proof beyond disproof that Jews, Christians, and Muslims have long been duped by the great deceivers I warned humanity about over the millennia. What then is the purpose of "faith" but to keep good people from seeking to understand the truth?
Now comes justice, hot on its heels... (symbolism...)
Not only do I talk the talk, I walk the walk...
Here is Wisdom!!
Revelations from the Apocalypse
Peace...
Symbols have brought me closer to my dead grandfather. He often expressed his opinions through symbols such as the bottle turned to candle holder with the cascade of drippings of all the candles he burnt. He selected a paper watermarked with the cresent of the moon and the word "COSMOS" for his holiday greeting cards. His photo album of early twentieth century China focused on symbolic views of bridges, pagodas, modes of transportation and artifacts. During World War II he removed the covers from his treasured books and ripped them almost apart at important pages he wanted to be noticed. He did not write about his observations but the symbols speak very strongly although they need interpretation. Symbols are wonderful to people who dare not speak out freely.
Very thought provoking post, Rain. I read the DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, most of Steve Berry's work, Gerry McLaughlin's The Parchment, and a spate of other fiction loosely based in truth and legend. All are clearly fiction and it is clearly stated. It's predominately the conservative side of the Catholic Church and the fundamentalist Protestant Church that are willing to go to battle over this. The irony is that instead of deterring people from thinking, it has made people who haven't already done so, willing to do so.
My spirituality is one of mysticism, symbolism, and like you, Rain, I've long followed the symbols that speak to me repetitively. That's a story for another time, I think. Seven Star Hand surely states her point clearly and I can buy that. I haven't thought about the Bible as being literal for more than 30 years and we all know that the texts were added and deleted during one of the Church Councils. More antiquities are still being found that will raise more questions--and perhaps even prove or disprove parts of the Bible.
What I find in all the great religious texts of the world is that truth resides there, often beneath the symbols. It's like myth itself--the story may not be historically true, but the archetypes and symbols are universal and true.
Hope this thread keeps going. It fascinates me.
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