Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Da Vinci Code...

When I travel, I like to put Tuesdays aside to watch a movie. Why not? CSI is still two nights away, and the buzz I get from mowing the lawn on Sunday has worn off, leaving me feeling empty and angry inside. Movies fix that.

Pushing my atheism aside, I decided to stretch my mind and consider a film that put into question all I knew about the last two thousand years of history and religion. Unfortunately, Cars was sold out so I bought a ticket for The DaVinci Code instead.

The film was good. Not great, but good enough that I only thought of McRib eight times. During the normal course of the two or three hours this film ran, I would have thought of McRib as many as thirty-two times. This film held me. In fact, I was only consumed by McRib Compulsive Disorder once during the movie, at which time I left the theatre, drove to McDonalds, and was reminded that McRib has not been on the menu for many years. I drove back to the theatre but I think I was out when they were talking about religion or something, so I felt lost for quite awhile.

By the end of the film, I was filled with such hope and awe that, within forty minutes, I had given some of my money to a stripper named Mary. Or Lexus. She was speaking French, so I’m not sure what she was saying.

Everyone should see this movie.

- Art Lane

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that blog posting, Art. I intend to go to Da Vinci Code for sure, now that I have read your review. Marianne also recommended it.

McRibs? My barometer for a good movie is that red licorice, which makes me sick when I eat too much ... if the movie is good, I don't over-indulge. If it's bad, I eat the whole bag and have a stomach ache at the end.

At least you can't GET McRibs at the movies? Or can you? I don't get out much, can you tell?

Seven Star Hand said...

Hello Writers,
Here's some detailed insight into the backstory and subplot of the DaVinci Code and related books and texts. Hope this inspires you to write something good for the sake of the future of humanity. I know you have it in you, if you look really deep...

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...

Larry Keiler said...

Larry sez, "Who was that verbose masked man?"

Anonymous said...

We seem to be obsessed by trying to proof things. We seem obsessed by trying to disproof things. Believers as well as unbelievers are ready to wager wars to convince others to come around to their point of view.

If there is a truth to life being continuous and that there are old, in between, and baby souls, how can we expect to understand our world the same way?

Maybe if we weren't so down on others who do see life in a more childish, simpler way, maybe if such souls didn't have to feel threatend and judged, maybe they wouldn't get angry.

There is an aspect of bullying to religious (or scientific)dictatorship.

Symbolism is alive. Stories come and have come for as far as we can think back, from our deepest psyches. The same truth comes dressed in different outfits. The more elaborately dressed the harder to recognise that kernel of truth. And yet, as sure as biologically we all are composed from the same rudimental cells, be it mammal, fish or insect, (humans included), we all live the same story.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could learn to truly listen. Listen to each other with open mind. Listen and learn. Know that everyone at each stage of life has something important to tell. Instead of destroy, build bridges. Bridges so we can cross over to each other, be intrigued and laugh and learn?

Sometimes, I think, it is less important what we believe then how we act on those believes. Every symbolic story can be translated in many ways. Probably as many ways as there are thinking people. If someone believes in a god with a beard on a throne in the clouds, and is at peace with that and therefore a loving person, what's wrong with that?

What happened to popcorn at the movies? When I was a kid there was no such thing as food in a cinema. No choice but to bite your nails or pull your hair out if it got too nerve wracking. But then when you got outside, there was icecream to be obtained or french fries.(patat friet, as we called it.) But mostly I didn't have money for them.)

Anonymous said...

That long comment sounds like it came out of a book. If so, would be interested to know what book? Sure showed me up, red licorice versus the history of religion... all I can say is that any Blog posting with the word obfuscate in it is sure to be impressive. And to think that things in organised religion could be symbolic, not literal. Who knew?

Mea culpa, I'm guilty of being a simple, mundane movie-goer. Maybe I'm just a baby soul.

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify, my previous comment refers to Seven Star Hand's lengthy comment, not to W.T's comment which comes right before mine.

Interesting dialogue...

Larry Keiler said...

Larry sez, "Farm out! Right arm! wt." Tolerance seems to be in short supply these days. Most people would rather be right than happy. Larry knows this because he is usually right.

Re: Da Vinci Code. Who read the book? Larry read it. From page to page. Couldn't stop. Great cliffhanger! Not so well written, really, except for his ability to make you turn the page. A teaser at the end of every chapter. And short chapters too! Like a book for beginning readers. Larry's first chapter book! He finally graduated from picture books!

Most of you probably know Da Vinci Code derived from ideas presented in The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail. Mainstream commentators (and the Catholic hoi polloi) dismiss this book as nonsense. But Larry's not entirely convinced. You have to work to get through the book because there are a lot of names, places, dates not presented in chronological or geographical order...but the authors' thesis is fascinating, if somewhat stretched by "could-be's" and "perhapses" and "what-ifs". On the other hand, their argument that Jesus must have been married with kids because he was in fact a rabbi and therefore subject to social norms of the time (which dictated that rabbis should be married with kids) strikes Larry as quite strong.

This is another "should read" book. Forget what Larry said about Henry Miller. Read Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Immerse yourself in the conspiracy of the ages. Bargain your immortal soul for the delights of speculative treasure-hunting. Question authority! Tempt fate! Learn why the Knights Templar wear sheepskin rugs around their nether parts!

As for McRibs! Sorry Art, McRibs were the sorriest excuse for food the McDonald's ever came up with, and that's saying a lot! Larry tried em once and still gags at the memory.

Larry Keiler said...

Larry sez, believe it or not, Filet-o-Fish is the only thing he can eat from McDonald's without ending up on the porcelain throne for half an hour. He doesn't know why. Probably some cosmic joke.

Larry Keiler said...

Larry sez, his favourite slogan from the movie emporium is New York Fries: An Excellent Source of Gravy.

Anonymous said...

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."

Just wanted to share this quote of one unknown. Nothing to do with The Da Vinci Code.

I am starting to think that maybe I should read the book. See for myself what everyone is talking, arguing and being analictic about. By Larry's explanation, it doesn't seem such a work of labour to get through. Like the Bible. I never read a whole lot of Bible. Nor Shakespeare. OK, where did that come from? How did Shakespeare wriggle into my brain? Just I guess because it belongs to difficult reading. I wonder if the Da Vinci Code will have me read up on Bible passages to make sense of the arguments? So there is significance to Mary. Mary, Mary, quite contrary... Did you know that in St. Mary's church in Kitchener there is a statue of Mary where she stands on a shell? Well, who came in from the sea on a shell? Zeus's daughter Venus, right? If that doesn't count as symbolism and myth, what does? Any of those people worshipping in that church may never see that. To them she is only that perfect girl pictured in blue gown, Virgin Mother of the Son of God. And maybe that doesn't matter.

We all g.e. read books or hear stories that mean one thing to us as we are children and show us different insights at each stage of growing up. In the line of baby, young, and old souls that makes sense for the whole human race through eons of time. A combination of people at different stages of growth with different understanding and different views. There is no right or wrong to it. Just different stages of imperfection. None of us, no matter how learned, know all of it.

I used to love Big Macs.When I cut out meat from my diet, except fish, I graduated, or degressed, depending on your point of view, to the "Fishy Burger",as I liked to call them. I even asked for them that way and they always knew what I meant. Then one day they drowned my Fishy burger in that sauce that comes with it. It was discusting. And that turned me off Fishy Burgers for good. The only reason you may find me at McDonald' now is for a strawberry milkshake. Once in a blue moon. For I by far prefer to make my own milkshakes. And sip them with stolen wide straws from Mac. I guess milk shakes can be sipped in the cinema too, watching a movie? Do they sell those, or only pop with your pop corn? You think the food at the cinema is a bigger money maker than the movies?

"Gnostic texts with symbolic males and females" mentioned by seven star hand made me also think of Alchemy. A secret art. Like a secret society? The language of alchemy is nothing what it seems at face value. Almost every word has a deeper symbolic meaning. A cosmic meaning, best understood as a means of achieving one-ness with the universe.

"Thou shalt separate the Earth from the Fire,
The subtle from the gross, softly with great ingenuity,
It rises from the Earth to the sky and again descends into the Earth,
And recieves the force of things superior and inferior.
Thou shalt have by this means the glory of all the world.

OK, that's the way I can talk about secret societies, symbolic meanings, etc. Just not read up on the Da Vinci Code, but I seem to perceive that from what I did read and did research in, that it comes down to the same internal meaning.

Well here you have my two cents worth to the discussion started by Art, the art of dicussion, suggested from artefacts? the facts of Art. Hardly arteficial. Tell me to shut up!

Anonymous said...

w.t. has hit the nail on the head...or one of the nails...probably the nail in Da Vinci's coffin...because much of this speculation raised in the Code revolves around Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, their connections, their relationship with other esoteric practises, which include indubitably Alchemy. As in, Da Vinci practised Alchemy. And Isaac Newton...a Freemason. And also both o them Grand Masters (Larry thinks) of the Priory of Sion...the secret society which stands at the core of The Da Vinci Code.

This is what makes Holy Blood, Holy Grail so intriguing and so maddening. The authors drag in every bit of esoterica they can lay their hands on. And then try to tie it all together. It's just barely possible, but after all...esoterica is a small world, relatively speaking.

Anonymous said...

You got me going, Larry. Would you believe I didn't know the word 'esoterica?' So I looked it up. So I got into my literature on secret societies/practices. Man, I have a wealth of literature pertaining to those subjects, one piece of reading leading to another. Too, too much to read in a short time.

A neat reverence I came upon in reading about alchemy is that the word "Gibberish" was derived from a medieval alchemist named Jabir Ibb Hayan, generally known as Geber, (c.721-815) whose writings were largely unintelligable.

So, I have texts on alchemy, which was of special interest to Jung, who believed alchemy had its origin in Gnosticism, and who did lots of research and writing on it. In gnosticism we find The Godess Sophia/Wisdom. (I believe also mention in certain places in the Bible.) I have texts on the Kabballah, the mystic believes of the jews, who fight among each other, the ones who think that is gibberish and heresay, and the ones that believe that's IT. Kabbalah dates back to Solomon, who initiated certain people in this secret philosophy. Then I have texts on Masonry, the divine quest to open the gate to the REAL world of divine knowledge which leads to divine attainment, and the believed connection to the Mayans. I have a text in verse form on Hermetica, the lost wisdom of the pharaos. In it writings tributed to Thoth-a mythical ancient Egyptian sage, who's wisdomt is said to have transformed
him into a god. There is the Holy Graal (Grail) finding its parallel in the Welsh cauldron from the Mabinogian, Math the magigian, like the Arthurian Merlin, and jumping to China, The Secret of the golden flower, the mystical alchemical texts of the Chinese, brought to the attention of Jung by Richard Wilhelm. Swedenborgh's philosophies are believed to have come from Freemasonry. Dreams of people anywhere in the world, no matter what culture, Jung found,
often have their foundation in known Fairy Tales.

Phew, eh? Where am I going with this? Trying to put the finger on the common denominator. It seems to me that all philosophies, all believes, all stories, have a common root. What is it that we, as humans, remember, what lies hidden in our unconcious, what is it that keeps on popping up, and what we highlight with what we know in our own little corner of life,from our own culture and experiences?

It's like that folktale where an elephant has been spotted and no one knows what it is. there are seven philosophers, each sent out in turn to find out what that thing is. Some from their vantage only see a leg, maybe get kicked by accident and describe that beast as vicious. So seven different stories come in, seven ways of having seen only part of the elephant. No one of them knows the whole elephant, no one knows the whole story.

Maybe our beginnings are in Atlantis, maybe on Mars? The Bushmen in Africa were believed the oldest folks on earth. They do not know where their beginnings lie.

I could've started another blog with this. But I didn't want to take the top away from Art.

Please forgive any left typos. I ran into overtype again and correcting is a murderous, time consuming activity. The tips you gave me Matthew seemed to work at first and then not anymore.

Anonymous said...

Whew. That was some conversation! I just read the whole thing, having emerged from the true and only reality of woodland leprechauns and irish faeries and other such delights... into this other BLOG world.

A few comments. If you turn the Big M symbol of the McDonald's logo upside down, you get a double-grail... at every corner there is a Holy Grail symbol hidden as a McDonald's sign.

As for Fishy sandwiches, we all know the fish is a early Christian symbol... so when you are eating fishburgers from McDonald's, you are actually participating in an ancient communion service. Become ye fishers of men (and women).

As for gnosticism, my last novel referred an awful lot to the gnostics and the Gospel of Thomas in particular. You'll have to read it (the novel) to get the secret message hidden in the gospel, the secret words Jesus whispered to his favoured disciple (ah, there is even jealousy among the original 12 - who is the favourite?). The Gospel of Thomas contains all those "mustard seed" and "the Kingdom of God is inside you" gnostic references, but the big secret in my mind has something to do with Jesus's words "Become Passersby."

Okay, the gnostics - yes, gnosticism is all about the symbolic and the interior world BUT the early gnostics at the time of Jesus and a bit later were frightening when it came to the physical form - the BODY. They starved it, denied it, cut off body parts, encouraged rich patrons to leave all of their earthly goods behind (probably donating it to the cause) and starve themselves too. I've read some really sad stories about some very famous "saints" and what they encouraged their followers to do...

I live in the world of symbols - I'm a poet (yeah, I admit it) - but the world of the physical is the medium we are moving through in this incarnation and needs to be valued. A favourite NT verse of mine is the one where the stones themselves sing... the physical world rejoices too.

Okay, back to the DaVinci Code. I knew a woman (who is now dead), a good friend of mine (but definitely strange in a wonderful but also frightening sense) who told me about eight years ago that she was the direct descendant of Mary and Jesus. She spoke about the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, etc. I almost fell of my seat when the movie mentioned the St Clair connection. That was this woman's last name. She truly believed the story of her lineage -but the point I am making is that the "Da Vinci Code" story is well documented and has been around for a long time. I heard it from a woman who saw herself as partly divine. I read it too - in my own quest for holy answers - the grail story is just wonderful as a symbol, whether you read about Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table, or other sources.... and in the end, the grail is a vessel - empty. What is lovelier than that? All existence consists of zero and the number one... and THAT theory was around a lot longer than computers...

Anonymous said...

I agree with that. We are here on this earth. Earth is beautiful. We live in eartly bodies. Our bodies are amazing. We have a wealth of plantlife, animal life. seasons, stars above us... How dare we deny it? Seems to me , if God created us and gave us all those riches to enjoy, to mutulate and deny those gifts in favour of what is spirit or soul, that is insult and pure sin. Body and soul should be one. The body should be treasured.

Through the physical we learn about the spiritual. Seems to me that's what's meant to be.

I have the book "Beyond Believe", the secret gospel of Thomas, by Elaine Pagels. I know I've read it, but do not remember enough to quote from it. I know that there are passages mentioned from scripture, where Jesus is angry that some saints and his own diciples even, teach te wrong thing, deceive people. They are ignorant of the real meaning.

Thomas and James have much in common. Seems that James' (brother of Jesus,) gospel is very like The earlier one from Thomas.

So many people are working on trying to put the puzzles together. No end of books on the market. Maybe we really don't see the woods from the trees?

Man I don't get to do community at all then. Not going to church and not even to MacDonald's anymore. Milkshakes don't count. How heathen can one get?

MacDonald's and the Holy Grail? Mmmmm! Once when Hans and I almost flooded MacDonalds when the wheelchair split a waterline in the washroom, we fantasised after the event, that if I hadn't had the common sense to turn off that
tap ficture, ('s that a word?) MacDonalds would've been floating away like the Ark of Noah with two of everything: hamburgers, chicken-nuggets, fishy burgers, pizzas (they had those then) muffins, milkshakes, etc. etc. No room on the ark for the architect who came up with such a poor design.

Just in case youall forget what w.t. stand for, I sign in full this time.

Anonymous said...

"How could we forget w.t.?" asks X.

Larry Keiler said...

Xena, that St. Clair woman and all those others got their stories muddled, Larry thinks, because the point of that alternate history is that Christ was not divine, except in the sense that we are all divine. Christ was a very political man (in his public life) aiming to grab the gold ring of kingship. So the Grail was an earthly vessel, not quite achieved, but kept alive through the millennia by descendants of the bloodline.

This leaves out of account the Gnostic part (which is the best part in a lot of ways) but every Messiah needs a hook, eh? Pat Robertson has his "message". Christ had his "message". And a good one it was. But it may have served a purpose other than the strictly spiritual.

After all, what would have happened if, even with the support of prominent and rich Jews of the day, Jesus came out of his workshop one sunny afternoon and said, "Hey everybody! I really am the King of the Jews. Here's my pedigree."

Larry's guess is the response would have been, "Here's a padded cell for you buddy..."

However, combine religious fervor with political machinations and the Romans took him seriously enough to crucify him.

Anonymous said...

The study of the historical Jesus is fascinating too. The fervor of the times and the Roman occupation meant the Jews were looking for their Messiah. One interesting theoretical document is the "Q" source - where scholars try to analyze the gospels and compare them to find the earlier source the gospels writers used to write their own version - and therefore the statements most likely to have originated with the historical Jesus. But what happened later is another thing - that's when people identify and work through the symbols, create doctrine and belief.

Re: Jesus's divinity - if we put aside the historical Jesus and look at the symbol, the whole point (well, that's quite the claim- maybe not the WHOLE point) is that Jesus has this dual nature - man and God. The divine chose to reside in the human and in that act, brought the created and creator closer together. The eternal experienced life and death - sorrow and happiness - all those things that make us "not eternal." It is a beautiful and bittersweet story - as is all life.

Okay, what do you think - Jesus with Kids - sounds like a good premise for a situation comedy TV show for sure....

Anonymous said...

How many? 12? 5 Boys and seven girls? Papa Jesus, Mama Maria Magdalena? (What do you think the names of the kids should be?) Grandma Mary, and Grandpa Joseph. Uncle James. Aunt Miriam, (who plays the harp,) A carpentry shop, some oxes and asses... What can you do with this, BB script writer?

Larry Keiler said...

Seems to Larry, what JC was trying to tell us, well maybe not the whole point, is that we all have this dual nature, the divine residing within the human, and, Gnostically speaking, shut up long enough to experience this. Something like that...

Titles for the sitcom...
Eight is Enough
Married With Children
Mary Hartmann, Mary Hartmann
Da Vinci's Inquest
Leave It To Beaveleh
Oy Veh, Yahweh!
(The theme song is Extreme Unction, sung to the melody of Petticoat Junction, of course...And there's Grandpa Joe he's a movin' kinda slow...Extreme Unction...)

Larry wonders about the historical Jesus. Is there anything in the NT that is really factual? Seems to Larry it's mostly fabulous and parabulous.

OK Herod existed. Pontius Pilate existed. But still not necessarily in the way the Bible portrays them, no?

God will surley slap Larry down for blasphemy. Larry pleads ignorance. Rejected by the school of Divinity, he chose the Law of Man and flunked out there too.

Anonymous said...

How could you separate fact from fiction/myth? Even if you did read all of the N.T. How can you know? Even ourselves, in telling our stories, we convey our perception of what we see/hear. Jesus was a common name in those days, in that part of the world. Jesus of Nazareth.Chances are that he wasn't the only Jesus in Nazareth? What was so special about him that he still lives today in everyone's imagination?

I haven't even been brought up in a religious athmosphere. Haven't been baptized. Am a heathen in Christian perception. Still Jesus has appeared in several of my dreams and visions.

What are dreams exactly? Some just repeat your daily experiences in a weird way. Others have distinct symbolism. Symbolism, it seems we all have in common, springing up unexpectantly, even if before the dreamer was ignorant of that dream story.

I know a little boy who nightly has terrifying dreams of a wolf being after him and wanting to devour him. He is a well adjusted little fellow, much loved, not presented with fear stories. (although who knows what t.v. and vidios do.) Why a wolf? Mythology and fairy tales have many wolf stories, the wolf always being the evil one.

Does that come from times when people lived by Dark forests and the only source of light after daylight was gone, being fire? But wild boars were frightful creatures. We don't dream of killer pigs. Pigs play a part in Welsh mythology, but as far as I know they play no evil role.

I read this quote at a cover page to a novel: "There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before." (Willa Cather).

Sometimes dreams keep on coming back until we get it.

Philosophy, myths, scriptures, relating something essential, dressed up many different ways. Maybe it is the rule of the universe that we have to get it. Stories will keep on repeating themselves until us humans see the inner lining?

I like your theory of the divine residing within the human, Larry. that rings true to me.

Good sitcom title suggestions.

My fierce 'wolf' Simon is barking up a storm. Gonna see what's up with him.









I've had dreams that threw me for a loop. Seemed to come from total inexperience. Yet later I found the foundation in scriptures or myths, ones I was unfamiliar with before the dream.

Anonymous said...

OK something weird happened. That last paragraph of my comment jumped. It should be the third paragraph. No clue how that happened.

Anonymous said...

This is my second attempt.
The Da Vinci Code and the desire for McRib.
Hmmm, seems like symbololism on the big screen equates to subliminal messages opportunties to advisters.
McDonalds behind the biggest con perpetrated upon man.
Let us review.
Catholic church seeks to cover-up and destroy thing connected to Mary - the sacred feminine.
McDonalds introduces the McRib, mankind is consumed by the quest for McRib. McRib is pulled from the menu.
In modern terms is not a man considered a "pig" and a woman referred to a "rib" from the original man.
So the sacred feminine is represented in the McRib.
Opeus Dei behind destroying the sacred feminine ... were they responsible for loss of the McRib from the McDonald's menu?
Now there is a movie centred around the destruction of the sacred feminine via the Catholic church. Maybe this was McDonald's opportunity to bring back into consciousness the McRib and woo customers back to the restaurant. Notice that both McRib and Mary were presented in the blog. Everyone commented on the McRib and the relevance of Mary to the evening was dismissed.
Was this not a powerful act to keep the Catholic church on edge, bring back consumers to McDonalds but still leave Mary out of the equation.
The greatest advertising compaign on man and the golden arches were never in view.

Anonymous said...

Welcome J. Lo!

Well, I learned one thing for sure - I didn't know the McRib was no longer offered at McDonalds!

As for the sacred feminine, and the destruction of female-based religions at the hands of the patriarchy, two interesting books on the subject - "When God was a Woman," and "The Goddess and the Alphabet."

Mmmm... better not get me going on that....

As for movies, anyone seen Superman yet?