The Da Vinci Code.

[Venus]

I find the book quite interesting. What are you views on it? (If you read it that is...)

[scameter]

I'm sorry, I've never read it. ALOT of my friends have and they liked it, but when they told me it has alot to do with Christianity it almost immediately turned me off from it; it seems everything is based on Christianity, and are all hypocritically so. To me, Da Vinci was merely a rather intelligence renaissance scientist and inventor who was beyond his time; that's it. He didn't devise any secret, mystical Christian code meant to be uncovered and documented as metaphysical. He just was. He was intelligent yes, but not mystical.

[Venus]

I agree with you. Though anybody could be anything. I was very cynical of the book- assuming it was a waste of time. I read and really nothing was that new or brilliant. It was good, yes, very much so in fact. It is very interesting and it was something I could relate to.
It was recommended to me.

[scameter]

Well it probably was a good story. It does sound rather inventive; just not practically real. :)

[Kether]

Dan Brown is fairly good as a purely entertaining author, and although his style is very predictable, he is perfectly readable. However, since most of the conspiracy theories expounded in his books are probably false, they get in the way of one's enjoyment. I admit that excitingly outlandish plotlines make for fun reading, but their pretence of truth means plenty of people end up believing them.

Personally, I've never understood why people want to believe that the human race is under siege by freemasons from the planet Xyzzyl whose evil plans are secretly encoded in Das Kapital, but experience has shown us that people are perfectly willing to. Many people still believe that an alien autopsy really did occur at Rosswell, even after the pranksters who created the video (in a barn, complete with a random farmer as President Truman) admitted to it.

[scameter]

Sounds similar to the incident of Scientology, where a man wrote about the philosophy in one or more of his sci-fi books, and people make it into an actual followable philosophy, wether the author meant for it to be taken that way is irrelevent; that would be lik me watching the Terminator movie then thinking that I can actually live like that. lol

[Kether]

I think the authors (maybe not the sci-fi guy, but certainly Dan Brown) are partly responsible for people believing their fiction if they claim that it is 'based on' fact.

[Venus]

I agree with what you both said. He made his money though...
But if I'm honest about Mary Magdalene and the Holy grail, I couldn't care less...

[Juliet61]

I read the book, and I'll probably see the movie, but purely for entertainment value. You really have to suspend logic to get past some of the items in the book. And I'm not even talking about the "mystic/religious" stuff. For instance, could someone tell me how a test tube son of a pope who has spent most of his life in churches could just instantly find an obscure occult assassin? Do they have them listed in the yellow pages in Rome? (Hmmmmm. was that the Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons???? I might have gotten the plots mixed up) What I found really interesting was the fact that the first book had you seeing phallic symbolism everywhere (Angels and Demons) while the second, huge best seller(Da Vinci Code) had everything revolving around the sacred feminine. I guess sex really does sell. I have to agree that it's truly frightening that a lot of people read this stuff and suddenly think they've been handed holy writ.

[Kether]

The plots do indeed have many holes in them, and one does need to suspend disbelief when reading them - the trouble is, very few people do. It's probably an indicator of how relatively easy and comfortable our lives are in the West, that people enjoy believing arcane, illogical and frightening things for the sake of their own enjoyment. People's capacity for swallowing rubbish could form the basis of much interesting psychological study - I wonder if any such studies have been made?

[locomotive]

hehe again with the studies. Why are such studies not available on the net?! I have these suspisions that I am missing allot of the good stuff.

ow and the book was cool. When people present such theories you might think that there is some hidden message in it asif you are close to revealing the biggest secret. I guess those people are struggling with themselfs and the world and getting an increasing perversion to find revelation out of nothing.

[locomotive]

great! I don't like it when only the conclusion of the studie is adressed.

[sonrisa]

to get back on topic, I don't know if all the cloak & dagger stuff in The Da Vinci Code is true or fiction, but the Sacred Marriage has been around for a long time click here (http://www.llewellynjournal.com/article/659a) to read about it.

[lenin32]

I didnt like the book too much. The only reason it was so hyped was because of the subject matter that it tackled.

[Kether]

It's pretty second- or third-rate as a book; you're probably right, Lenin.

[sonrisa]

maybe the movie will be better

Mary Magdalene was never a hooker. The early church fathers turned her into one becuz they couldn't stand it that she was actually a great preacher in the church, & even had a say in its directon. So they turned her into a hooker & minimized her influence in the early church.

[tropicoolcat]

Has anyone noticed the disembodied hand with the nife ? :blink:

[TruthSeeker]

The Da Vinci Code., What are your views on the bestseller?
Silly. We are way too material nowadays.

I don't think there is a hidden code. And the whole thing is way overrated. The book is only successful because people need to fill their voids and to feel special. It's like "oh my God! I read "The Da Vinci Code". I'm so cool!"..... :rolleyes:

[TruthSeeker]

Mary Magdalene was never a hooker. The early church fathers turned her into one becuz they couldn't stand it that she was actually a great preacher in the church, & even had a say in its directon. So they turned her into a hooker & minimized her influence in the early church.
Maybe. But what's wrong with hookers?

[Kether]

It is not so much that there is something wrong with them; most are forced into it by circumstances. But prostitution as an institution demeans women - for the precise reasons described above - and helps to spread venereal diseases.

[sonrisa]

not necessarily Kether. Especially nowadays with AIDS running rampant, those girls have to get regular medical check-ups, in many places it's mandated by law. So as a rule, hookers are cleaner than women who aren't hookers.