More on Truth and some other stuff

Guess who said the following:

"Truth has power, And if we all gravitate toward similar ideas, maybe we do so because those ideas are true...written deep within us. And when we hear the truth, even if we don't understand it, we feel that truth resonate within us...vibrating with out unconscious wisdom. Perhaps the truth is not learned by us, but with our unconscious wisdom. Perhaps the truth is not learned by us, but rather, the truth is re-called...re-membered...re-cogniazed...as that which is already inside us."

(..........)

Its a quote from a book I'm reading which I'm slightly embarrassed to admit is Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol (I'm not embarrassed to be reading it but I am embarrassed to be quoting it).

The reason why I brought it up is because I'm really interested in the idea of truth. In my head truth is something that people from all backgrounds, time, countries, religions agrees upon whether consciously or unconsciously.

One of the things I love about studying history is seeing the constants and patterns that occur. There are some things that exist in all civilizations. Everyone needs food, water, shelter etc. In every civilization there is love, fear, greed, pride etc. In every civilization there is a religious explanation for their existence. There is a plural or singular deity. Most have an explanation for what happens after death.

And although the details might be different, the time, language, and places are different the ideas are essentially the same. And its within those similarities that you find truth.

Like the quote above says; truth is not something learned but remembered. Its something that our spirit, that part of ourselves that most easily recalls God, knows and tries to tell us if we can be quiet enough.

I've read all three of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series (Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and The Lost Symbol) and while I think he's a great action packed, thriller writer he is not the religous expert people have given him the credit for being. He is first and foremost an entertainer. I think his style and purpose for writing are the same as Hollywood's. Its all about flashiness and shock and awe. When everyone was peeing their pants over the Da Vinci Code I couldn't believe the uproar that was caused within the Christian world. This guy wasn't an expert, he wasn't a religous leader or theologian. He's just a writer trying to sell some books. He has an interest in puzzles and riddles and an education in art history. That's it. So why did everyone freak out about the claims he made in his FICTIONAL NOVEL (spoiler alert: As a Mormon I think the idea of Christ having a wife makes total sense. I would never dare to venture that Mary was his wife on this earth and its an even bigger stretch to assume he has descendants but having the understanding I do about marriage and how it pertains to eternal life I don't understand how He couldn't be married.)

The thing that I like about reading Dan Brown's stuff is he gets so close to the truth and he always sets it up like its this incredible revelation. Like in the one I'm reading now he points out that all major religions teach that there is some point in the future where men will be more enlightened than they are now. He states that the apocolypse doesn't mean the end of the world it means the end of the world as we know it. Um, I hate to sound like a know it all but I already knew that. So many things he sets up as the this big scandalous thing like "apotheosis" which means the process by which man becomes like God. The characters in the book are so surprised that prominent men in history strived for such a thing but it seems like a pretty regular idea to me. Isn't the point of most (all?) religion to become more divine?

I also like that he writes characters that believe that science and religion can not only exist together but that they confirm each other.

I haven't finished Symbol yet so I can't weigh in on how I feel about it yet.

That's all really. Its a little scattered. Also I like that Langdon is a former water polo player.