Formulaic but fun! That's how I'd put it in a nutshell. Dan Brown's books, including his best-seller, The Da Vinci Code, often follow a certain enjoyable but predictable outline. There's a scholarly person who can unravel clues; there is a villainous person who has a bit of the demonic about them, insofar as what they are dedicating their lives and energies to, or their demeanor or appearance; there's urgency to solve the riddle before something dreadful happens; and there's usually wise elders who help the heroic scholar to save the world.

Anyhow, this one's lots of fun. The Lost Symbol brings into a smoothly woven plot everything from Egyptology, Freemasons' rituals, alchemical and astrological symbols, important monuments and sites in Washington D.C., and cutting-edge science, especially quantum physics and noetic science (which is the scientific study of consciousness). The fun in this terrific author's writing is how the structure unfolds wherein the urgency to save the world is layered and presented each piece at a time as hidden mysteries are uncovered and explained. It's definitely like solving a puzzle, while being chased and threatened with dire consequences, moving rapidly from place to place as each new clue is uncovered. So we follow these symbols into existing buildings in D.C., through existing agencies, using references to existing cybernetic technology, all the while each new piece of the puzzle is explained.

This takes us through a world of wealth, philanthropy, dedication, and intellectual heights as we follow our hero to learn why a certain family has been targeted for harm and even murder, and what all of this has to do with arcane symbols. Rather than give away the plot, I can say that the CIA, the Library of Congress, the Capital Rotunda, the Smithsonian, the Washington Obelisk, the Masonic Temple, and many other sites, agencies, and the like are featured in the quest. A hidden code is gradually uncovered while people are maimed and some killed, and in the end, a special phrase is finally revealed that made it all worthwhile.

I have some issues with the type of fiction. (I know, I'm a curmudgeon, and always do. I can enjoy brain candy, but can't just leave it at that!) In my opinion, the quest for hidden knowledge and final revelation of man's true godlike powers doesn't rest in symbols or in special hidden coded phrases. Instead, I see it as an interior journey through more and more expansive levels of awareness so that it isn't a written symbol that you find but an interior realization. This realization can never truly be accessed by the rational, intellectual mind, no matter how many rituals it performs, no matter how many costumes it wears, no matter how many Herculean challenges it poses to itself or riddles it solves. It's hidden because it's so interior that it can't be seen or explained. Only its effects can be radiated outwards in terms of loving energy and very wise choices. Also, in terms of the person's usage of energy from then on. These reveal the interior revelation.

So, these fun fictional stories of the quest and the eventual attainment and success to me fall short and are disappointingly shallow. Only the realized being - the master - can give the guidance to reach this attainment, and the master unfortunately rarely writes pop fiction. Well, that having been said, there's no reason not to enjoy this book if you like that genre. And I certainly enjoyed the few hours it took to read through, and learned quite a bit about arcane mysteries along the way.

We do not see the world as grim, nor your individual situation as hopeless... which is, with a broad brush, the way many are feeling as of now. While it is true that there is a darkness spreading as though a brush that paints shadow has been overlaying all the sunlight of life, it is also true that there is purpose in the usage and application of this darkness.

If lightworkers, whose very purpose is to shine a beacon or utilize a healing warmth, have been dimmed and overcast, how must those who are not blessed with some illumination be feeling? Even the brightness of the season has been tempered, colder than normal and heavier than usual. What, then, can be purposeful about darkness? What use is such a device, and what purpose can it serve?

Always, and behind every planetary event, remember that the cosmic purpose is towards the good. The cosmic intention is to bring nature and its self-aware offspring upwards to potential heights, to latent powers and abilities. Darkness therefore creates dissatisfaction, pain, and driving motivation, for the yearning is for spirit and light. To get away from suffering as well as from despair.

Some will always succumb. This will be evident in behavior patterns and in sickness (lack of health), but others will swim harder, thrash around more desperately, and ultimately break through, for whenever there is a shroud or a heavy curtain, there is brightness on the other side, and the entity must find the way to pierce it. It is said that, of all the bird kingdom, when storms arrive and most seek shelter, only the eagle flies above the storm, out of the darkness, waiting until calmness and light return.

Whether you can be the eagle or just the survivor, do what is necessary and look for the opening. Wait for the shaft of light, grab hold of it, and pull yourself upwards, past darkness, into hope, inspiration, and illumination.

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