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Rahimova Fakhriya Javanshir, Azerbaijan University of Languages E-mail: [email protected]
THE LOST SYMBOL
Abstract: "The Lost Symbol" raises questions about human nature such as the power of human mentality, the human capacity or imposibility ofbecoming God, the science integrating all this, etc. The human being is God, everyone's God is within himself/herself. But the main problem is related to seeing Him, that is, not everyone trusts in his/her own power and seeks it somewhere else, beyond himself/herself. Whereas, if a human being has a look inside himself/herself and realizes his/her own capacity, he/she could have discovered a mystery which mankind has not been able to decipher so far.
Keywords: Dan Brown, Christianity, symbol, secret, deist.
If it were not for Dan Brown's work "The Da Vin- following his ideas, logical and intuitive judgement chi Code", most probably his novel "The Lost Symbol" wouldn't have been so successful to be sold in 80 million copies. Given that in this work the author has touched upon many sciences, religions, movements, secret and open societies and so on, then such kind of work can't be but interesting. Alchemy, Astrology, Kabbalah, Christianity, Buddhism, Rosi-crucianism, Masonry, Astronomy, Physics, Noetic science - all these are the themes mentioned in "The Lost Symbol".
"In "The Lost Symbol" Dan Brown assembles different traditions under the banner of "Western mystery" or "esoteric traditions" [7, 35] Here intermingled are both the remote past and near future, both the mysterious sides of science unknown to anyone and modern discoveries, both religion and mysticism. Again the author has not deviated from stereotypes, and consequently, this novel has become somewhat the copy, or if it were possible to say so, the repetition of the previous ones: the same main character and the same plot, secret symbols, coded messages, pictures, ancient communities, interpretation of the tricky mixture of puzzles, persecutions, visits to real historical places, cruel criminal... However, all these similarities do not turn "The Lost Symbol" into an unexciting work; on the contrary, a re-encounter with the familiar character,
facilitate the reader's task of reading which is confusing from the informational perspective. Although the main idea of the work is finding "the lost symbol" and saving Peter Solomon as well as the entire world, the writer often deviates from the main plotline and deals with the issues not concerning the base-line which keeps the reader in extreme tension.
"The Lost Symbol" raises questions about human nature such as the power of human mind, the human capacity to become God or not, the science which brings all this together. A human being is God; everybody's God is inside him/her. The main problem is related to seeing it, i.e. not everyone believes in his/her power, but seeks the power in other places, beyond himself/herself. Whereas, if the human being simply looks into his/her inside and realizes his/ her own potentials, he/she can discover a secret not decoded so far by mankind.
Langdon, who is invited by his friend Peter Solomon to read a lecture in the Capitol (Washington D.C), encounters unexpected incidents. His plan to read a lecture fails, it turns out that he hasn't been invited by Peter Solomon at all. The developments are managed by a cruel criminal who tries to obtain the main secret of the Masonic order, and Langdon is to rescue Peter S olomon and the entire world within 12 hours. It is not difficult to guess from Dan Brown's
previous works that Langdon will manage it at the end; however, in this journey many interesting and exciting events, confusing plotline making an impression of the hero's stumbling are in store for the reader. The puzzles follow one another, and the answer is close at hand. The events are developing fast and dynamically. The main character is being followed not only by the criminal, but also security service of the CIS which is also interested in all these affairs.
The choice of time, space and character pertinent to the Dan Brown writing style finds its reflection in "The Lost Symbol" too.
All the events, in accordance with the author's writing manner, take place within a certain time span - 12 hours, in the period of highly-developed computer technologies and mass management of information. While reading the work one is impressed as if the events did not take place within several hours. It seems as if the deciphering of all the labyrinth-shaped mysteries requiring considerable physical and mental labour took not a day but lasted for days. Its reason is associated with the journey to the past of the main and other characters, the lengthy explanation of the measures to be taken, different ideas, arguments and discussions and especially the detailed description of everything related to the masons' customs and mysteries, efforts to elucidate them. One of the curious points is the space where the events take place. "The Lost Symbol" can also be called a new vision of the American history. Washington D. C., which is well-known to the readers, is presented to them in quite a new and distinct manner full of mysteries. The author tries to reveal the mysteries of the monuments which many people simply pass by. However, these are not the issues we've heard about Washington D. C. so far or encountered at accidental places. Washington D. C. turns out to conceal a secret which mankind has failed to reveal for centuries. All this is revealed in Dan Brown's work "The Lost Symbol". Washington D. C. is the key city where the events take place and has been selected not by accident. The founding
fathers of America have created the capital Washington D. C. somewhat in the style of a new Rome, and that is why, each monument, each building, each street, even each stone has its own special meaning. Earlier the capital of the country was called Rome and its river - the Tiber, and on its banks they built temples and pantheons, and the city was decorated with the descriptions of the Roman Gods - Appollo, Minevra, Venus, Helios, Vulcan, and Yupiter. As a sign of eternal respect to the ancient wise, the Egyptian obelisque was erected in the centre of the city like in the centre of many antique cities. Standing five hundred fifty feet high, it is even taller than the obelisques of Cairo and Alexandria. Now after several centuries, despite the construction of considerable number of churches in the USA as a Christian country, the US Capitol Rotunda hall rich in the antique religious symbols has so far maintained its extraordi-nariness [5, 56]. "The Temple of Vesta was circular, with a gaping hole in the floor, through which the sacred fire of enlightenment could be tended to ensure the flame never went out" [2, 123].
The Rotunda is also circular and once there used to be a hole where a sacred fire was placed like in the Temple of Vesta. Now Peter's severed hand with his two fingers pointing towards the ceiling - towards "the Apotheosis of Washington" is set in the place where the hole used to be. The Apotheosis - the theme of elevation of the human being to divine status constitutes the key element of Rotunda symbols ("apotheosis" is the ancient Greek word derived from "apo" meaning "to turn" and "theos" - "God") [11]. In the Capitol "the Apotheosis of Washington" is the hugest description which depicts George Washington's elevation to divine status. "The Apotheosis of Washington" was painted by the Italian artist Constantino Brumidi who was called "the Michelangelo of the Capitol". Exchanging Rome, one of the most ancient sacred places of the world for the New World, Brumido emigrated to America in 1852 and decorated the entire Capitol with ancient religious symbols [6, 78].
As for the characters of the work, here again one can encounter a group of characters common to the manner of Brown. Certainly, the main character - Professor Langdon, his antogonist - cruel man named Malakh, who tries to get the ancient secret and is scared of nothing in this process, also the hero who has nothing in common with the novel at the beginning, yet is being described in parallel with the events and later j oins the base-line of the work -Katherine Solomon.
In the book Brown raises a number of quesions related to the human being, his/her place and role in the world, his/her intellectual and physical abilities, speaks of the Noetic science which is the symbiosis of Philosophy, Physics and Esoterics (the term "Esoterics" is used to denote the idea, theory intended only for the educated and to be understood only by the specialists). Its main idea is that the human intellect is capable of everything. There is also mention of the term "Apocalypsis" in the novel, and the term is introduced in a new sense. Owing to this sense, the date 21 December 2012 does not seem so dreadful. The author notes that apocalypsis is not the end of the world, but means recreation, renewal.
It is no secret to anyone that the US capital enjoys a rich history associated with masons. George Washington did lay the foundation stone of the Capitol building in accordance with the mason customs and traditions, the plan of the entire city was developed by three "volunteer masons" - George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Pierre L'Enfant, the new capital was sufficiently decorated with the mason symbols which turned into mysteries and were concealed from the public. Although in Brown's work these symbols are openly described, there is only a hint at the existence of the mason secrets which remain to be secrets at our present time like in all the periods, "our nation is overflowing with secrets and hidden history. And exactly as in Europe, all of the best secrets are hidden in plain view" [2, 52].
"The Lost Symbol" opens to a horrible scene. Being deceived, Dan Brown's hero Langdon is called
to the US capital - Washington D. C. The professor is supposed to deliver a lecture in the Capitol. Although everything seems usual at first sight, as soon as he arrives in the Capitol, it turns out that nothing is in order, and the unknown call increases Lang-don's confusion more. The screams coming from the Rotunda hall of the Capitol induce the professor to hurry there. And here it is: a severed human hand in the centre of the Rotunda! The professor has been mistaken to think that the hand is of plastic material. That is a genuine human hand, and it is his close friend Peter Solomon's hand! Hence starts the introduction of the events.
The severed hand not only heralds of the cruelty of the criminal, but also anticipates unusual events yet to come. Since, it is not simply a severed hand, but a mystic invitation, the invitation to decode some ancient and secret mystery. Langdon recognizes the mason ring round the finger of the hand: the ring with a double-headed eagle and number 33 inscribed on it. This is his friend Peter Solomon's hand. The thumb and point finger of the hand are open and point towards the ceiling, and the remaining three fingers are clenched in his palm, and the hand is placed on the wooden support. And each finger of the hand has tattoos on it: a crown, star, the Sun, torch and key. All this is not just a view; it implies "The Hand of Symbols". "The Hand of Symbols" is one of the most ancient magic symbols. Though rarely encountered now, in the ancient times it used to be of a very great importance and sense, was accepted as an important challenge to perform some task, an invitation to reveal great secrets [7, 98]. "In ancient times, the Hand of the Mysteries actually served as the most coveted invitation on earth. To receive this icon was a sacred summons to join an elite group - those who were said to guard the secret wisdom of all the ages" [2, 81]. The hand of the master is extended towards his disciple. The master passes the secret to his disciple. The honour of being such a disciple is bestowed upon Robert Langdon. Although "the Hand of Mysteries" is usually
made of stone or wood, this time a live human hand has been chosen as a material. "Langdon had never heard of the Hand of Mysteries being fashioned from actual flesh" [2, 81].
"The Hand of Mysteries" is a talisman reflecting the symbols of apotheosis or the elevation of the human being to divine status. "The Hand of Mysteries" is engulfed in symbols. It is also used as "The Hand of the Philosopher" or "The Hand of the Master Mason". This "Hand" implies the revelation of different aspects of the human being's existence by himself. This symbolic hand maintains the key to becoming divine, a person with a special skill can open its secret. It is a challenge to wisdom [10, 150]. The Hand of the Mysteries is a formal invitation to pass through a mystical gateway and acquire ancient secret knowledge - powerful wisdom known as the Ancient Mysteries... or the lost wisdom of all the ages" [2, 116].
The Ancient Mysteries are the sum of mysterious knowledge coming through long times. The point is that this knowledge is of divine power, and thus, it is dangerous, and is kept in secret from people. Since, this power can be used both for good and evil deeds. This knowledge is like a match: in skillful hands it produces light, in unskillful hands it causes a fire. The reason for the protection of the Ancient Mysteries for centuries in a very confidential manner by all means is associated with the disasters it can inflict on mankind. Any mystic cult is based on the idea of the existence of some mysterious wisdom capable of giving the human being a divine force and exalting him to the level of a deity [9, 150].
It is also pointed out that the Hand of Mysteries also has had a part in the formation of the USA. As, "the Great Seal" is said to have been formed on the basis of the symbols of "the Hand of Mysteries". The Great Seal of the United States proves the truth of the documents adopted by the United States of America. The main side of the Seal is most often called "the US coat of arms". Despite the importance of the existence of only one side of the seals, "the
Great Seal" has two sides which is the main characteristic feature distinguishing it from the other seals. And this is the next sign of the US masonry [7, 240].
The criminal is well aware of all the information. That is why, at the sight of Peter's severed hand, Langdon says, "It seems the man we are dealing with, in addition to being mentally unstable, is also highly educated. This hand is proof that he is well versed in the Mysteries as well as their code of secrecy. the Hand of the Mysteries is a sacred invitation" [2, 26].
In the novel Malakh believes that the masons are protecting some very ancient secret and if he learns it, this mystic secret will then turn him into a very strong, all-mighty creature - God. No matter how strange it seems, the masons are also of this opinion. That is, almost all of the US founding fathers including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams were deists. And the masons resort to the doctrine of deism. Further, there arise curious questions: can the USA be a Christian country once the founders of the USA were masons, and as deists, the masons accept neither Judaism, nor Islam or Christianity? Despite being an official Christian country, which religion does the USA serve? What is their goal?
The masons reassure that masonry is not against religion. In order to become "a volunteer mason" one should believe in the great Supreme Creator, otherwise, one cannot become a mason. According to Brown, masonry displays respect and tolerance to different religious traditions and religious diversity. (No doubt, Brown has over-idealized it" [3, 7]. The difference between masonry and religion is that the masons do not give a precise definition and name to the Supreme Creator like Deity, Allah, Buddha, Jesus. There is one name for them - the Supreme Creator. "The Masons use more general terms like Supreme Being or Great Architect of the Universe. This enables Masons of different faiths to gather together" [2, 56]. This is Dan Brown's opinion about masonry. Not everyone admits the positive attit-ide of the masons to religion. One can encounter
a number of interesting ideas about it in the writer Harun Yahya's book "Kabbalah and Masonry", "Like in all other issues, in order to eliminate the trust in God, the masons make use of the degree system and implement it slowly. When reviewing the masonic books one can see the expression "The Great Architect of the Universe" instead of God. This expression is actually the initial stage of the transfer to atheism. "The Old Architect of the Universe will further be assessed as "energy" [21, 80].
For the Masons, the Supreme Creator is manifested in the example of real persons. Although the masons do not openly admit it, their theory, the rituals they perform, the confidentiality they are maintaining by all means and indirectly Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" hint at the human being's revelation to divine status.
And this turns out to be almost what Dan Brown meant. The Apotheosis of Washington describing George Washington as the deity proves the abovestated. Another proof is the semi-naked sculpture of George Washington preserved in the National Museum of the American history and described as the Greek God Zeus. The term "The Great Architect of the Universe" turns slowly into an unknown concept. Its goal becomes clear from the following expression given in the mason journal, "If we study our temple, we go into ourselves, and if we study ourselves, we'll go to "The Great Architect of the Universe, and we'll see that "The Great Architect of the Universe is inside us" (Mason Dergisi, number 27-28, p.40). As it is known, the expression "the Great Architect of the Universe" is aimed to ring the changes. The religious beliefs gradually disappear and in the end the human being - mason turns into the Great Architect of the Universe [21, 80].
Well aware of all this, for that reason the criminal has brought the hand of the mason Peter Solomon to the Capitol, the centre of Rotunda hall symbolically. These events induce Langdon to set on a dangerous journey. And the severed hand is the hand of Lang-don's old friend Peter Solomon, who has been kid-
napped by the criminal named Malakh. Solomon is the head of the Smithsonian Institution. He is also the mason of 33 degree of the Scottish Rite. Like the other masons, he also follows all the masonic customs.
The main goal of the criminal Malakh is to possess the divine power and become a deity through the talisman which is in the sealed box he once gave to Peter Langdon. Jesus also has been both the human being and God. Once George Washington can be divine, why should Malakh not be? Peter's severed hand is supposed to guide Langdon who is to find the ancient portal and open it with the talisman given to him by Peter and inform Malakh on the secret.
The novel introduces the mystery of the masonic pyramid. The pyramid symbolizes the ability of the human being to rise from the Earth to the skies and the golden Sun, and reach the genuine source ofwis-dom in the end.
The gold caption of the pyramid is heated at 33 degrees by the Newton scale, and new letters are revealed: Franklin Square Eight. When these words are taken together with the words in the upper part of the pyramid, it results in the address "The secret is concealed in Franklin Square Eight". Although the professor considers his task to be accomplished, the reverse is the case, the most horrible is yet to come. Langdon is taken a hostage by the criminal. Faced with death, Langdon deciphers the 64 mixed symbols in the bottom part of the pyramid. Franklin Square Eight turns out to be not an address. Here the word "square" is introduced in its original sense, which means a quadrangle. And the word "Franklin" implies the 8x8 quadrangle developed by Benjamin Franklin. Owing to the Franklin quadrangle, the 64 symbols are put in order and the place of the lost symbol becomes known.
Finally, the lost symbol is found. The lost symbol is the lost "word" which is maintained by our wise in the books. And it turns out that the lost symbol is the Bible. Although all through the work there are ideas such as the great ancient mysteries, wisdom, the loss of wisdom, the regain of wisdom, etc., the outcome
obtained from the book remains to be rather mysterious.
Taking all this into consideration we can say that the Bible and the Ancient Mysteries much spoken of in "The Lost Symbol" contradict each other in all the cases. The Mysteries try to convince that God is within us. The human being is his own God, whereas the Bible leaves the human being as the guilty and raises God to the skies. Nevertheless, stating that these two distinct views are identical, but simply possess different ways of expression, Brown introduces his following ideas, "The moment mankind separated himself from God, the true meaning of the Word was lost. The voices of the ancient masters have now been drowned out, lost in the chaotic din of self-proclaimed practitioners shouting that they alone understand the Word... that the Word is written in their language and none other" [2, 646]. Thus, Brown wants to emphasize that the Bible has a more important implicit meaning along with its explicit meaning. However, the human beings do not understand the former meaning. The human being does not know his own potentials. This secret is known only to the masons, and they protect this secret by all means, because as soon as the human being is aware of his physical and intellectual potentials, this will lead to something devastating rather than benefitting mankind (as in the case of Malakh), because devastating is easier than creating, and the human being is always inclined towards the easy.
It is clear that Dan Brown's work deals with not a simple love, but a global problem concerning the entire world, and the writer presents the idea of saving the world by attaining wisdom as the baseline of his work. Here the author hints at the possible disasters and the processes that can end mankind. And the secret Biblical code - "the Lost Symbol" is "the Lost Trust". The trust in God begins with self-trust. God is inside of everyone, and this, i.e. the elevation of the human being to divine status constitutes the main idea of the book. Kabbalah is a mystic Jewish tradition, doctrine trying to understand the essence
of the deity and understand the reason for the existence of the creatures in the world including the human being. This doctrine has tried to penetrate into the depth of the divine essence. Kabbalah has attached great importance to the names of the deity and angels and made attempts to decode the mystery of the creation and divine orders. That is why, this doctrine has treated the words and letters of the Gospel as a mystic code bearing some secret meaning. Kabbalah has offered the ways of understanding the deity through sacred names, divine numbers and ardent prayers [11]. Such statements can be encountered in Azerbaijani literature as well. The baseline of our great poet Nasimi's literary works passes through the idea of identification of the human being with Allah and the divine nature of the human being. Na-simi also said, "I'm the Truth". The Bible presents these statements similarly, "The power of God is inside you" [2, 590]. "Newton who tried to study the codes of the Bible, was convinced that the prophecy of the human being constitutes the essence of the Bible" [4, 189].
At present time, in the period ofhighly-developed science and technology, human beings have lost their trust in everything which leads mankind to destruction. We mentioned the development of science and technology not in vain. On the one side, the great scientists' invention of the weapons, a-bombs capable of destroying thousands of people at the wink of an eye rather than targeting their intellect and knowledge at benefitting the society and on the other, the ordinary people's attachment to the internet as a malady, no doubt, mean a clear-cut destruction. Certainly, the advantages of modern technology are many, we are far from criticizing new discoveries and inventions, simply, in our opinion, the misled modern technology will be more harmful than good as if manipulating the human brain. Most probably Nitsche was aware ofwhat might happen when he said back in the previous century, "God is dead". When treating this famous expression of Nitsche with attention, it turns out that this expression somewhat formulated the entire Eu-
ropean Renaissance culture. (If something is dead, it ing our trust in God, it might be possible to prevent means it has existed earlier). If not the destruction of our destruction. Hope dies last; we have some hope at
the most supreme truth, what does then the alienation least. The English poet and playwright Thomas Elliot
of Him, i.e. God from the thoughts, shutting the doors points out in his play "The Family Reunion", "You do
to the house of soul at Him mean? [11] The novel not know what hope is until You have lost it". And we
manifests a desire and hope to return this trust, the have no other choice but hope. We hope that our lost
trust in God. It must be because of this that the author faith and trust will return and our world will survive
ends his work with the word "hope". That is, by return- and prosper.
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12. URL: http://kayzen.az/
