• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • What Is Freemasonry?
  • Who Are Freemasons?
  • What Does Freemasonry Do?
  • 2B1ask1
  • Family of Freemasonry
  • Masonic Symbols

Freemason Information

Masonic Education and Analysis

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Gregory B. Stewart
    • Frederic L. Milliken
    • Tim Bryce
  • Education
    • Masonic Symbols
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Freemasonry in General
    • Family of Freemasonry
    • Famous Freemasons
    • Books
    • Masonic Poetry
    • Anti-Freemasonry
    • Masonic History
    • Freemasonry in Cinema
    • Esoteric Freemasonry
    • Grand Lodges
  • Masonic Books
    • Masonic Books A-G
    • Masonic Books H-M
    • Masonic Books N-Z
    • Masonic Books for the New Mason
  • Masonic Central Podcast
  • Special Offers
    • Art
    • Masonic Top Hats
    • Masonic Rings
    • Past Master Rings
  • Contact
    • Submit a Guest Post
You are here: Home / The Bee Hive / The Lost Symbol: The Road Best Not Traveled

The Lost Symbol: The Road Best Not Traveled

October 27, 2009 by Fred Milliken 7 Comments

There’s nothing I like better than a good murder mystery. I cut my teeth on Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, Perry Mason, and Ellery Queen. Nowadays I turn to such luminaries as John Grisham, Scott Turow, Richard North Patterson, and William Bernhardt. And that is what Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol is a good murder mystery, at least superficially.

Actually, the storyline is a good carrier for philosophy—Masonic philosophy and Dan Brown’s philosophy which somehow become intertwined. Brown has more hidden meanings attributed to Masonry than all the members of any American Grand Lodge would have in a lifetime. But, without all the puzzels, Brown wouldn’t have had a good carrier for his philosophy which he tries to convince you is part of Masonry. The philosophy of Noetics is not part of Masonic thought, nor is a Gnostic religion endorsed by Masonry although you can find many Gnostic Masonic practitioners.

This is the first criticism of The Lost Symbol and the most telling. Millions of people unfamiliar with Masonry will pick up the book (or film) and go away believing that the gospel of Dan Brown is the real deal of what Freemasonry is all about. That the United States was founded by Masons who were predominately Deists is not a fact but a hotly debated hypothesis. The idea that Washington DC was modeled on ancient Rome has some merit but giving the impression that it was the totality of the city is just plain wrong. Not to provide any room for Christian/Jewish thought, Christian /Jewish philosophy and Christian/Jewish symbolism is to steer the discussion and the minds of readers into a mode of Masonic/Deists/Gnostic “God is within you and you are God” philosophy which is not generally representative of where most Masons were two hundred years ago nor where they are now.

Read: Freemasonry and the Hermetic Arts

The second criticism of The Lost Symbol is the constant mentioning of a special knowledge that 33rd degree Masons possess and a certain special inner circle within the secret society. Believe me when I tell you that many Evangelical Christians and “New World Order” conspiracy freaks have made these charges for years. Just ask Pat Robertson. I’ve had these people tell me personally, “Well, if you don’t see it, you just aren’t privy to the inner circle.” So we have the profane telling a Mason that they know more about the Freemasonry than a mason does. The Internet is full of these conspiracy theorists who will tell you how satanic and evil Masonry is. We need another supposedly intelligent and celebrated testimonial affirming this loony vision like we need another hole in our head.

And because Masons like things in threes, let me add a third criticism of the book. Why are we, as Masons, so quick to jump on the bandwagon of sensationalism? Why do we believe that this book will be our Savior; that it will bring us all kinds of new membership? Are we that desperate? Is sensationalizing Masonry not corrupting it? Has the message of Masonry and the true philosophy of who and what we are been somehow compromised for the sake of personal profit? And are we just a tad too willing to sacrifice our doctrine for the sake of popularity? If so why don’t we promote a few books with the hidden Masonic meaning of the phallic symbol? After all, sex sells everything from cars to soap.

Lest you think I have been too hard on the book, there is much to be said in its favor.

The science of Noetics that Brown talks about is a serious scientific investigation today. There is a whole school of Quantum Physics that brings science and religion together. There are tests being performed that show that the speed of light has been far surpassed and that the power of thought is energy, an energy that can be created by human beings. This line of inquiry is not far fetched. And it is a development which I feel is the next human frontier. That being said connecting it into Masonry is a stretch, but one that if you don’t take seriously and see Brown smiling all the way to the bank makes a good story.

The way The Lost Symbol is written is a very effective way to get a message across if that is your intent. That is if you have an agenda or a definite message which you want to put forth, wrapping it within a powerful fictional story is always more effective than a dry recitation of philosophical thought written in the manner of a documentary or nonfiction work. Those who have read Atlas Shrugged will recognize this same technique employed by Ayn Rand. John Galt’s long soliloquy at the end of Atlas Shrugged matches the same dissertations of Peter & Katherine Solomon in chapters 131 AND 133 of The Lost Symbol.

The Lost Symbol is a great read and a book that will bring many newcomers to Masonry. I enjoyed reading it. But I have to ask if going down this road and becoming dependent on the growth of the Craft welded to sensationalism is not a corrupting influence, the road best not traveled.

Share this:

Related

  • The Lost Symbol – A Review
  • September 20, 2009
  • In "Featured"
  • A Deadly Deception?
  • April 21, 2011
  • In "Sojourners"
  • Dan Brown’s New Book is Coming Out-So What?
  • September 13, 2009
  • In "The Euphrates"

Filed Under: The Bee Hive Tagged With: fiction, review

Sponsored Links

About Fred Milliken

Fred is a Past Master of Plymouth Lodge, Plymouth Massachusetts, and Past Master of Paul Revere Lodge, Brockton, Massachusetts. Presently, he is a member of Pride of Mt. Pisgah No. 135, Prince Hall Texas, where is he is also a Prince Hall Knight Templar . Fred is a Fellow of the Phylaxis Society and Executive Director of the Phoenix Masonry website and museum.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mike Clevenger – Worthington Ohio – Coach, Trainer & Speaker - I challenge people to step off their well-worn path, use their imagination to “Think Outside the Blah,” and leave a trail of inspirational leadership.
    Mike Clevenger says

    October 28, 2009 at 1:46 am

    Your rhetorical questions of “Why are we, as Masons, so quick to jump on the bandwagon of sensationalism? Why do we believe that this book is our Savior; will bring us all kinds of new membership?” are good ones.

    I believe that as an organization we seem to jump to anything that we believe may create more Masons quickly. It is real easy to let something else do your promotion for you and if it gets positive results say, “hey, that’s who we are!” instead of working diligently every day to live and promote the principles of Freemasonry.

    Dan Brown’s book may help us get our foot in the door, but we still need to focus on a constant, deliberate path of telling our own story and more importantly; living it.

    Mike Clevenger, PM
    New England Lodge #4
    Worthington Ohio
    http://www.masonicleader.com

  2. The Secret Life of Math – I can illustrate the second approach with the same image of a nut to be opened. The first analogy that came to my mind is of immersing the nut in some softening liquid, and why not simply water? From time to time you rub so the liquid penetrates better, and otherwise you let time pass. The shell becomes more flexible through weeks and months—when the time is ripe, hand pressure is enough, the shell opens like a perfectly ripened avocado! A different image came to me a few weeks ago. The unknown thing to be known appeared to me as same stretch of earth or hard marl, resisting penetration . .. the sea advances insensibly in silence, nothing seems to happen, nothing moves, the water is so far off you hardly hear it ... yet it finally surrounds the resistant substance. Alexander Grothendieck, Récoltes et Semailles.
    47th Problem of Euclid says

    October 28, 2009 at 3:00 am

    Dan Brown makes the classic mistake of confusing Blue Lodge Masonry with Scottish Rite Masonry, as if they were the same thing. Many, but not all, of the themes he ascribes to masonry in general are explored in the Scottish Rite degrees as practiced by the Southern Jurisdiction. They are not subjects explored in the first three degrees, and a Master Mason is the highest degree in masonry.

    I did a Scottish Rite one-day-class four months after I was raised, and was given the 32nd degree. I had non-mason friends and relatives express their astonishment that I was able to rise that high in masonry so quickly. The public does not understand that all degrees after the third do not outrank the third degree (with the possible exception of the degree for a new Worshipful Master).

  3. jimbarr
    Jim says

    October 28, 2009 at 5:14 am

    @47th: You nailed it. And that’s the problem with so many anti-Masons–they equate some esoteric writing or a specific branch of Freemasonry with the Blue Lodge. Unfortunately, anti-Masons and the public at large latch onto a single misguided or misinterpreted phrase or word, and then assume that’s what the whole of Freemasonry is about. It’s ignorance in its purest form.

  4. Tom Accuosti says

    October 28, 2009 at 6:15 am

    Why are we, as Masons, so quick to jump on the bandwagon of sensationalism?

    Don’t get too worked up, BH. I think that it’s perfectly reasonable to find Masons rejoicing over a book — a very popular book, mind you — in which Masons are not depicted as deranged killers (From Hell), or plotting world domination (LXG), or as out-dated, reactionary old men (:ahem:).

  5. flmiii
    BeeHive says

    October 28, 2009 at 8:47 am

    Don’t misunderstand me. I have no quarrel with the Masonic portrayal here. Rather it is the historic revisionism and the blending of Masonic Philosophy with personal philosophy that concerns me.

  6. Stephen A. McKim says

    October 28, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    The book is an excellent piece of literature and fiction. It’s intent is to entertain and if it gets one thinking along the way? so much the better. The only thing wrong with the book….. is everyone thinking it needs to be “Deciphered”. It needs no explanation, it is fiction as claimed by its author, it is for personal entertaining enjoyment and I view those who are selling books claiming to know what Dan Brown “really meant” as “leeching” off of Dan Brown to pad their own pockets with no genuine intention of educating or enlightening the readers. We as Masons pride ourselves in being able to think for ourselves. Is that not one of the objectives of Freemasonry?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US ONLINE

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

THE FIRST DEGREE OF FREEMASONRY

The Apprentice

The Apprentice

The Apprentice is a book about becoming a Freemasons. This work explores the secrets and symbolism of becoming a Freemason.

Learn More about The Apprentice

THE SECOND DEGREE OF FREEMASONRY

Fellow of the Craft

Fellow of the Craft

Drawing from the rich collection of masonic lore, Fellow of the Craft continues the masonic path of the Apprentice through the middle chamber in becoming a Freemason.

Learn More about Fellow of the Craft

THE THIRD DEGREE OF FREEMASONRY

The Master Mason

The Master Mason

Completing the journey into the symbolic lodge The Master Mason is a formal exploration of the symbolism and allegory at work in becoming a third degree of Freemason.

Learn More about The Master Mason

Symbols and Symbolism

Carl H. Claudy

Raised to a Master Mason in 1908, at Harmony Lodge No. 17 in Washington, DC, Carl H. Claudy  served as the Master and eventually as Grand Master of Masons … [Read More...] about Carl H. Claudy

Charity in Freemasonry

In this final installment of the Faith Hope and Charity series, we consider the symbolism of charity, or perhaps better called love. It is this attribute that … [Read More...] about Charity in Freemasonry

Hope in Freemasonry

In this installment of the Symbols and Symbolism of Freemasonry, we examine the text of Albert Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry on the symbolism of … [Read More...] about Hope in Freemasonry

Faith in Freemasonry

In this installment of the Symbols and Symbolism of Freemasonry, we consider a reading of Albert Mackey's text on the subject of Faith as it pertains to … [Read More...] about Faith in Freemasonry

More Symbols and Symbolism

Footer

Family of Freemasonry

  • Allied Masonic Degrees
  • Amaranth
  • Daughters of the Nile
  • DeMolay
  • George Washington Union Freemasonry
  • Grand Lodge Freemasonry
  • Grotto
  • High Twelve
  • International Freemasonic Order DELPHI
  • Job’s Daughters
  • Le Droit Humain
  • Memphis Misraim
  • Mixed Gender Masonry
  • Order of the Eastern Star
  • Prince Hall Freemasonry
  • Rainbow for Girls
  • Royal Order of Jesters
  • Scottish Rite
  • Shriners
  • S.C.I.O.T.S.
  • Sojourners
  • S.R.I.C.F.
  • Tall Cedars
  • White Shrine of Jerusalem
  • York Rite

You Might Like

  • Masonic Books
  • Famous Freemasons in History
  • Masonic Astronauts
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Masonic Poetry
  • The Letter G
  • Masonic Top Hats

Categories

  • Featured
  • Leadership
  • Masonic Traveler
    • Masonic Central
  • Misc
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Sojourners
  • Symbolism
    • Authors
    • What is Freemasonry
  • The Bee Hive
  • The Euphrates
  • Tim Bryce
  • Video

Subscribe

Receive new posts by email

Join 23,146 other subscribers

Send Us a Message

Do you have a question, comment, or concern? Do you have a paper, a presentation or a project you would like to publish?
Email it to us at: masonictraveler@gmail.com

Copyright © 2022