The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown (PHI, pentacle, etc.)

[imported_Tomato]

Has anyone else read it?

If so, what did you think?

Here's an excerpt from the text:

"The number PHI, 1.618, is considered a very important number in art. PHI is generally considered the most beautiful number in the universe.

...Langdon explained that the number PHI was derived from the Fibonacci sequence-a progression famous not only because the sum of adjacent terms equaled the next term, but because the quotients of adjacent terms possessed the astonishing property of approaching the number 1.618-PHI!

Despite PHI's seemingly mystical mathematical origins, the truly mind-boggling aspect of PHI was its role as a fundamental building block in nature. Plants, animals, and even human beings all possessed dimensional properties that adhered with eerie exactitude to the ratio of PHI to 1.

Examples of the "Divine Propertion" in Nature:

-If you divide the number of female bees by the number of male bees in any behive in the world, you always get the same number... 1.618.

-The ratio of each nautilus spiral's diameter to the next is 1.618.

-Sunflower seeds grow in opposing spirals. The ratio of each rotation's diameter to the next is 1.618.

-Nobody understood better than Leonardo da Vinci the divine structure of the human body. Da Vinci actually exhumed corpses to measure the exact proportions of human boen structure. He was the first to show that the human body is literally made of building blocks whose proportional values always equal PHI.

Next time you're in the shower, take a tape measure. Measure the distance from the tip of your head to the floor. Then divide that by the distance from your belly button to the floor. Guess what number you get?

That's right. 1.618. PHI.

Another example? Meausre the distance from your shoulder to your fingertips, and then divide it by the distance from your elbow to your fingertips. PHI again. Another? Hip to floor divided by knee to floor. PHI again. Finger joints. Toes. Spinal divisions. PHI. PHI. PHI. Each of us is a walking tribute to PHI, the Divine Propoertion.

The chaos of the world has an underlying order. When the ancients discovered PHI, they were certain they had stumbled across God's building blocks for the world, and they worshipped Nature because of that. And one can understand why. God's hand is evident in Nature, and even to this day there exist pagan, Mother Earth-revering religions. Many of us celebrate nature the way the pagans did, and don't even know it.

PHI can be found in the architectural dimensions of the Greek Parthenon, the pyramids of Egypt, the United Nations Building in New York, the organizational structures of Mozart's sonatas, Beethovan's Fifth Symphony, as well as the works of Bartok, Debussy, and Schubert.

Five intersecting lines that form a pointed star... the symbol of a pentagram, is one of the most powerful images you will ever see. ALso known as a pentacle, as the ancients called it, this symbol is considered both divine and magical by many cultures. The ratio of line segments in a pentacle all equal PHI, making this symbol the ultimate expression of the Divine Proportion. FOr this reason, the five-pointed star has always been the symbol for beauty and perfection assocated with the goddess and the sacred feminine."

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Good book. I meant to do some research into how much could be accurate, but never got around to it...

 

[xEDIT409]

I finished it in one night.

amazing book...

but my all time fav is Enders Game.

 

[Lorax]

average book, overhyped by the media.

i found the author's tone to be condescending too.

an OK read from the library, glad i didn't buy it.

 

[imported_Tomato]

I was left wondering how much of the book was accurate, too. All in all, I enjoyed it... a light, interesting read and definite page-turner.

Another excerpt:

"Nowadays, the term pagan has become almost synonymous with devil worship-a gross misconception. The word's roots actually reach back to the Latin paganus, meaning country-dwellers. "Pagans" were literally unindoctrinated country-folk who clubg to the old, rural religions of Nature worship. In fact, so strong was the Church's fear of those who lives int he rural villes that the once innocuous word for "villager"-vilain-came to mean a wicked soul.

The pentacle is a pre-Christian symbol that relates to Nature worship. The ancients envisioned their world in two halves-masculine and feminine. Their gods and goddesses worked to keep a balance of power. Yin and yang. When male and female were balanced, there was harmony in the world. When they were unbalanced, there was chaos. The pentacle is representative of the female half of all things--a concept religious historians call the 'sared feminine' or the 'divine goddess.' In its most specific interpretation, the pentacle symbolizes Venus-the goddess of female sexual love and beauty.

Early religion was based on the divine order of Nature. The goddess Venus and the planet Venus were one and the same. The goddess had a place in the nighttime sky and was known by many names-Venus, the Eastern Star, Ishtar, Astarte-all of them powerful female concepts with ties to Nature and Mother Earth.

The planet Venus traces a perfect pentacle across the ecliptic sky every eight years. So astonished were the ancients to observe this phenomenon, that Venus and her pentacle became symbols of perfection, beauty, and the cyclic qualities of sexual love. As a tribute to the magic of Venus, the Greeks used her eight-year cycle to organize their Olympic Games. Nowadays, few people realized that the four-year schedule of modern Olympics still followed the half-cycles of Venus. Even fewer people knew that the five-pointed star had almost become the official Olympic seal but was modified at the last moment-its five points exchanged for five intersecting rings to better reflect the games' spirit of inclusion and harmony.

Despite what you see in Satanic serial killer movies, the pentacle's true origins were actually quite godly. The symbolism of the pentacle has been distorted over the millennia-in this case, through bloodshed.

The pentacle was altered by the early Roman Catholic Church. As part of the Vatican's campaign to eradicate pagan religions and convert the masses to Christianity, the Church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and goddesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil.

This is very common in all times of turmoil. A newly emerging power will take over the existing symbols and degrade them over time in an attempt to erase their meaning. In the battle between the pagan symbols and Christian symbols, the pagans lost; Poseidon's trident became the devil's pitchfork, the wise crone's pointed hat became the symbol of a witch, and Venus's pentacle became a sign of the devil. Unfortunately, the United States military has also perverted the pentacle; it's now our foremost symbol of war. We paint it on all our fighter jets and hang it on the shoulders of all our generals."

 

[TuffGuy]

Originally posted by: Lorax
average book, overhyped by the media.

yup.

quite a bit of the stuff was familiar too, either from HS or from the history channel.

 

[Liviathan]

I liked the book....wonder if it will ever be turned into a movie.

Who would you cast??

 

[Lorax]

Originally posted by: TuffGuy

Originally posted by: Lorax
average book, overhyped by the media.

yup.

quite a bit of the stuff was familiar too, either from HS or from the history channel.

btw, this is probably the only time i will ever say that a book was overhyped by... the media.

 

[TuffGuy]

Originally posted by: Lorax

Originally posted by: TuffGuy

Originally posted by: Lorax
average book, overhyped by the media.

yup.

quite a bit of the stuff was familiar too, either from HS or from the history channel.

btw, this is probably the only time i will ever say that a book was overhyped by... the media.

yeah, it one of those books meant to make you feel more knowledgeable and empowered by feeding you pre-digested information.

there were a few times when i found myself thinking "no sh!t" to his points.

 

[AgentEL]

I always recommend this book to people whenever they ask. It's an entertaining read.

As a Catholic, it really challenged some of the beliefs I have held. I can't say I buy into everything it says (due to some doubts about accuracy). But, I think it takes a pretty good book to make you re-think some things that you always believed to be automatic.

 

[PatboyX]

i agree that it was over-hyped. maybe not the media...but certainly all the people going nuts over it.
it was decent work but...eh, i wasnt impressed by the story nor the theories behind it.

 

[Michael]

Holy Blood, Holy Grail is basically the same background story, and it was written well before.

There is a sprinkling of real history and tons of speculative history and just plain fiction.

It uses the normal conspiracy theory way of arguing points. Present three dumb speculations on a historical event. Disprove 2 of the dumb ones. Aha! The third dumb one must be the correct one! Ignore the fact that there are many more plausible answers.

Once you build the false base, expand on it and refer back to it.

Michael

ps - one of my favourite dumb explanations - the templars fought for Robert Bruce.

 

[alkemyst]

I haven't read DaVinci Code....I think it's based on truth but fiction right?

I have Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Hiram Key, Templar Revelation....all these sort of tie together and were what the other book was based on.

Much of the stuff you here about Skull and Bones, Oak Island, King Arthur, etc all originate back to these storys.

Another interesting study is Le Serpent Rouge.

Å

 

[Lorax]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I haven't read DaVinci Code....I think it's based on truth but fiction right?

I have Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Hiram Key, Templar Revelation....all these sort of tie together and were what the other book was based on.

Much of the stuff you here about Skull and Bones, Oak Island, King Arthur, etc all originate back to these storys.

Another interesting study is Le Serpent Rouge.

Å

i think the author wants to believe it's true, but until proven otherwise it's fiction (despite the little disclaimer in the title pages)

 

[Greyd]

From what I've heard its as accurate as teh whole Jesus seminar fiasco.

 

[Flyermax2k3]

Interesting stuff there. The last paragraph was hilarious. Silly Satan thinking to counterfeit G-d. Pi is the true universal number and can be found in most everything in creation. If you understand Pi, you understand the true nature of the universe and can see G-d's hand at work.
People have known for millenia that Pi is equal to 22/7 (approximately). If you understand what these numbers represent, you can clearly see the hand of the Creator in the universe. "Out of nothing; order from chaos".

 

[n0cmonkey]

I haven't finished it, but if it wasn't for my obsessive nature I wouldn't. Angels & Demons was better. PHI should be known by everyone by now anyways. I won't be reading this thread because I think I already saw a spoiler (not going to confirm)

 

[Chaotic42]

Chuck Colson hates this book, which is enough reason to read it, in my opinion.

 

[JoeKing]

obvious was my impression of the book after reading it. Almost every aspect of the book was predictable. As I've said before not bad for pop fiction.

 

[0roo0roo]

pretty good, but end is a cop out..

 

[schizoid]

pics?

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
pretty good, but end is a cop out..

Aye.

I loved it, but I guess I was expecting something more at the end.

 

[Kraeji]

i thought the answer was 42?

 

[dquan97]

I'll pass on the book...seems like a bunch of made-up fiction, sprinkled with some historical truths. Kind of like sprinking bacon bits on a poo...still won't be delicious enough to eat.

 

[azazyel]

Haven't read it but the people I know that have seem to think they are theologians all of a sudden. It's really sad.