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Brother_TJ
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Posted 19/10/2009 22:29:38
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Is Dan Brown a speculative Freemason? I am sure that he is not and watching him on Dateline NBC last Sunday was laughable...embarassing. The man is a non-Mason discussing history and ritual in the 33rd Degree! Where is the credibility? The CIA/NSA and the Military Intelligence Section 5 doesn't even know what happens in the honorary degree of 33rd, let alone a individual who is not a member and who happens to write Masonic ficitional subject matter. Being a 3rd Degree Freemason and if I went on T.V. to discuss the 33rd Degree, I would be inquired and possibly suspended by the Grand Master, without a doubt. **Note: in our Order ((Obedience)) (which stems from International Co-Freemasonry Human Rights in Paris, France) to obtain 33rd Degree you may never have that Honor, depends on how much you have advanced and how much dedication you put into Work, etc..**
.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·. Amethyst Lodge No. 2, Orient of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Isis Lodge No. 3, Orient of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...A.F.H.R.
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Bob Ash
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Posted 17/11/2009 13:25:32
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Comfortably Numb (03/10/2009)
To think that the Ancient Masonic Secrets are somehow buried under monuments in D.C. is as about as far fetched as any book on Masonry can be. Yes, it is sold as a complete work of fiction though. Comfortably Numb (03/10/2009)
When will our cousins across the pond realise that in the grand history of the world the USA is an infant. Masonry was running long before the Boston tea party and I regularly go to a Lodge that is older than America! The book totally leaves out that Masonry was exported to America by the the English and tries to make the reader think that the center of the Masonic world is Washington DC. If Masonry does have an epecenter, (which it doesn't) it definatly isn't there. He'll be telling us next that the Tylers post is at 8th and I !!! It just adds to the great Hollywood lies of "Enigma" and Band of Brothers & Private Ryan". A shame really. They haven't got any history so they make it all up. Your patriotism is duly noted, but remember this novel was written by an American for an American audience. Calling Hollywood movies "lies" is a fundamental misunderstanding of the entertainment business...this stuff isn't being presented as fact. And saying we "don't have any history" is just silly.
Bob Ash
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA
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DHS
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Posted 17/11/2009 16:24:05
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Comfortably Numb (03/10/2009)
When will our cousins across the pond realise that in the grand history of the world the USA is an infant. Masonry was running long before the Boston tea party and Iregularly go to a Lodge that is older than America! The book totally leaves out that Masonry was exported to America by the English...
I rather suspect that the late 18th C Brn of St Andrew's Lodge might disagree with the last bit. I suspect further that many of the Freemasons present were in America because their fathers would otherwise have been executed by the English a la William, Earl of Kilmarnock :D
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Tom Cherup
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Posted 17/11/2009 22:46:28
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Comfortably Numb (03/10/2009)
When will our cousins across the pond realise that in the grand history of the world the USA is an infant. Masonry was running long before the Boston tea party and Iregularly go to a Lodge that is older than America! The book totally leaves out that Masonry was exported to America by the the English and tries to make the reader think that the center of the Masonic world is Washington DC.
This may be of interest. as taken From Michigan petition for masonic degrees from the GL.
While we cannot claim that Freemasonry came to the Great Lakes area on any
specifi c date, we know that it was first brought to the area by the French at a
time when it was Indian territory. The earliest documented Lodge west of the
Allegheny Mountains was warranted in Detroit on April 27, 1764, by George
Harison, Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York,
with Lt. John Christie of the 2nd Battalion, 60th Royal American Foot Regiment
(British), as Worshipful Master. By 1772, there were at least three Lodges
functioning at Detroit: Lodge No. 1 and two Irish Military Lodges, Nos. 299 and
378, warranted to Masons of the 10th Regiment, then stationed at Detroit. The
next three Lodges warranted for work in Michigan were also started by members
of the visiting military. These were Harmony Lodge in Detroit, St. Johns Lodge
No. 15 on the island of Mackinac and Zion Lodge No. 10 (now No. 1) warranted
in 1794 for work in Detroit.
Many events are recorded in the well-kept Minutes of Zion Lodge, but perhaps
the most momentous occurred in September of 1817, when the Lodge provided
much needed support for the newly-created University of Michigan. The idea first
took shape in the minds of Augustus Woodward, a Mason and the fi rst Judge
of the Territorial Supreme Court; the Reverend John Monteith, a Presbyterian
clergyman and Father Gabriel Richard, a Roman Catholic Priest. On September
15, Zion Lodge met and subscribed the sum of $250 in aid of the University of
Michigan, payable in the sum of $50 per year. Of the total amount subscribed to
start the University, two-thirds came from Zion Lodge and its members.
The members of Zion Lodge sponsored and supported additional Lodges in Upper
Canada and Michigan, including Detroit Lodge No. 337 (now No. 2), Oakland
Lodge No. 343 in Pontiac, Menomenie Lodge No. 374 in Green Bay (then a part
of the Territory) and Monroe Lodge No. 375 in Monroe. These five Lodges laid
plans for a Grand Lodge in the Territory to handle the growing plans form Masonry
in the area, and in June of 1826 a Grand Lodge for the Territory of Michigan was
established in Detroit.
Tom Cherup 32°
Olive Branch Lodge #542
Dearborn, Michigan
Scottish Rite - Valley of Detroit
Detroit Masonic Temple - It''s bigger than yours!
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AUDE VIDE TACE
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Posted 20/11/2009 13:55:41
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HiI will lie if I say I was not excited (or curious I suppose) to read a bit of Masonic fiction from one of the best selling authors in our time. All my non-masonic friends asked me about it, so I thought I would take the plunge. I was the same day of The Lost Symbols' launch at UGLE HQ for another book's launch, and found the newspaper articles nicely distributed in the Grand rooms - Very interesting I thought... This would be the first Dan Brown book I read, his first book's message was not to my liking, so I didn't even bother with the Angels and Demons one. (I saw the movie last week and it was actually ok, I think his tone changed after the first book) Anyway, back to The Lost Symbol: I found it an interesting read. The book's pace slowed considerable down from a certain point and as many mentioned previously, it was difficult to get to the end. Good thing about al the chapters and printing size, the Book's size looked quite daunting at first, but when I got to the third chapter, I saw the light and thought I could actually finish it. As a Mason I was shocked/surprised by some of the things I read, but realised that the non_Mason would probably miss it. As another Brother mentioned on another Forum - Remember his books are 10% fact with 90% fiction, very cleverly intertwined. I even skipped a couple of pages at a certain point, not to spoil my Mason experience to follow - I know it's weird, but that's me. Overall I think it was a good read and did the Craft good by raising our profile.:D AVT a Proud mason!!
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lauderdale
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Posted 20/11/2009 16:15:16
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The only bits that shocked me in way way was the nastiness of the villain in the story. That apart the rest was acceptable to me and I read it all, only speed-reading the more boring bits which were only scene setting. All in all I think this book did Freemasonry a lot more good than harm, in the same way that "National Treasure" was beneficial to The Craft.
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cuthbert
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Posted 24/11/2009 23:32:17
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Lauderdale (20/11/2009)
The only bits that shocked me in way way was the nastiness of the villain in the story. That apart therest was acceptable to me and I read it all, only speed-reading the more boring bits which were only scene setting. All in all I think this bookdid Freemasonry a lotmore good than harm, in the same way that "National Treasure" was beneficial to The Craft.
National treasure was serious fun, I had to give a lot of explanations to my non masonic friends. Unfortunately I also disappointed them in a certain way.
An interesting question would be: can these books/movies create false expectations? I mean, some people may join and find that the masonic every day life is not about ancient treasures and hidden mysteries...I know that some people are very concerned about that.
SW, Kensington Lodge 1767ASJ Chapter Forum 4423
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Carlos
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Posted 10/12/2009 08:25:55
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I found the book very entertaining but a little long winded towards the end. I got the sense that Brown was trying to build anticipation by deliberately stalling with some random detail that wasn't really required. Effectively I feel several chunks towards the end had no major impact on the main storyline and could have been missed out either by the author or by the reader!
It does have a real sense of drama to it but to pick up a point made earlier in the thread, there are people out there who will assume that because Freemasons have no major objection to the story that it is therefore largely based on fact albeit glittery, Hollywood glitzed fact. And I know that makes these people badly researched but how much of what we so often hear presented to us by non Masons as historic fact on the craft is actually accurate? The best selling novel or blockbuster Movie is merely the modern vehicle of delivery for such rumours and myths to begin.
The Taxil hoax is a great example of a myth that has even been exposed as a myth by its own author and yet still it gets thrown up by those who profess to know the real secrets as absolute fact.
I look forward to watching the film but am slightly cautious of the repercussions of some of the plot lines in this book being taken a bit too seriously by those who can't be bothered to research beyond some web page with a black background that professes to reveal the true secrets of the Craft.
Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worth wile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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Tom Cherup
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Posted 14/12/2009 16:37:36
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DHS
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Posted 28/12/2009 21:45:57
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Just finished the book which was a very nice Christmas Present. The "formula" was much more blatant in this one than in his other books and I did find that it spoiled my enjoyment from time to time - towards the end a series of miraculous escapes from certain death pushed credibility to near breaking point - but overall I would have to say it is a very entertaining romp through an identifiable landscape.
With regards to Freemasonry I am sure there are many members of this forum who will be somewhat irritated by the ease with which he denies the existence of feminine freemasonry in the same paragraph in which he elevates OES to a par with the Craft by describing it as a "branch" of Freemasonry.
Dan Brown is clearly VERY pro-freemason and is clearly VERY well informed about our rituals. In general I think that his masonic references will be beneficial to Freemasonry and offer little, if anything, for the anti-brigade to use against us. However, I do think there is a danger in combining so much fact in a book which is primarily fiction and I was particularly annoyed early on (Chapter 6) when he stated that slaves were used for one of the constructions. I do not believe that they were.
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