Da Vinci Code Your Life -- Morford

[Khephra]

Da Vinci Code Your Life
Can the blasphemous bestseller help you see the mystical world anew, or is it just another doorstop?


Everything is interwoven. Jesus tongue kissed Mary Magdalene, a lot. Potent juicy mystical secrets are everywhere, if you know where to look. Organized religion is the worst possible answer.

What supposedly sacred truths are available to us are all relative to those who hold the power. Often, just behind the facade of things is a huge hunk of gorgeous convoluted magic you would do well to lick. Meanwhile, the divine feminine is right there, winking, sighing heavily, waiting for you. Like, duh.

And oh yes, there are so many repressed buried burned crushed or otherwise flayed secrets of the true nature of divinity floating in the air like a mad delicious perfume, mysteries that have been rather nauseatingly overpowered by the rank dank cologne of the patriarchal church -- it's all you can do to breathe deeply anymore without gagging on all the repressed sexuality and stale machismo. This much we know.

Simple truths, all of them. And all so nicely mapped out in Dan Brown's deliciously well-researched (if rather flawed), still red-hot best-seller "The Da Vinci Code," that incendiary little page-turner packed like a hot sausage with combustible and wonderfully damning religious fact and insinuation and researched tidbit that all serve to make the church and its more uptight sects cringe and recoil and deny deny deny. So you know it must be true.

more.........................

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/03/03/notes030304.DTL&nl=fix

[Richardo]

1. Sorry, but the characters are such idiots that the story suffers...

<spoilers>

...they don't recognize anagrams when they see them (twice) or expect Davinci to write backwards? Doesn't EVERYBODY know that? It was such a great plot idea too. Sucky execution. Could have been SO much better.

God I hate that book. And not because I'm Catholic. Because I'm a moderately intelligent reader. PS: "Digital Fortress" is also peopled by code expert idiots that don't recognize anagrams for 200+ pages. :eyes:

[Khephra]

2. That's not the point of the article

Did you read it or just the snip?

[Richardo]

3. Just the snip - but I just had to rant on the book.

Sorry. ;-)

[Richardo]

6. OK I read the column,

and Morford's giving it a lot more credit than it deserves. Maybe it's because I've always been a critical thinker, but reading 100+ 3-page chapters about morons who are completely baffled by "Where's Waldo" style clues did not inspire me in the least.

As I said, I did enjoy the plot and did learn some stuff (notably the lecture on "phi"). But the book COULD have been what Morford asserts it is...an inspiration to question much that is taken for granted...if only it had been more credibly written.

[Stuckinthebush]

4. I must disagree with you...

While there are points when you want to scream at the characters to tell them what the hidden codes mean, the importance of the book is just as Morford points out. The vast majority of Americans like their fast food, their fast food religion, and their fast food literature.

To purchase the book was the last thing I planned on doing. I hate reading best seller fiction garbage. The majority of the stuff is formula popular literature that gives one very little (if any) satisfaction upon ending.

I was in an airport this past week with a long delay ahead of me and nothing to occupy my mind. As I sat looking into the airport book store, the book jumped out at me. I thought, "What the hell", and I bought it.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. I didn't particularly enjoy the mystery aspect of it because that is not my type of literature. I did enjoy seeing how Brown wove these ideas into a pop-consumable product. I had been privy to these ideas for a long time, but then I like to read meaty (some would say boring) academic non-fiction books. To have Brown lay out the case of historical power struggles between the Church of Peter and the Church of the Gnostic's was a breath of fresh air. To see people all over reading this stuff and having a light bulb go off was magnificent. Thank goodness for a writer like Brown who knows how to develop a book for popular consumption, but also pack it with relevant, historically supported, thought provoking ideas on an otherwise taboo subject in our society.

I give it two thumbs up for that alone.

[donhakman]

7. !

[Stuckinthebush]

8. I know a number of thumpers who need to read Brown's book

Their faith in the historical accuracy of the Bible is amazing in its simplicity and lack of concern with Gospel inconsistencies.

Nice picture.... :D

[DavidDvorkin]

5. One of the worst books I've ever read

Managed to make my way through it only because it was a gift from a friend and I felt I ought to.

[October]

9. Well, I for one

love the idea of the divine Goddess being mainstreamed...