Why Now?

In my previous post I wrote about Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol a book that is already on Amazon's best seller list and it hasn't been released yet, at least not at the time of this posting. It's scheduled for release September 15th.

I was thinking about Dan Brown's books and their impact on the types of things those of us with an interest in the ancient mysteries think about. It got me wondering, do books like The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code add to our information or take away from it? Does expanding the ideas of esoteric thought and mysteries to reach a wider audience improve the information, or take away from it?

Dan Brown spins fictional stories around the legends of mysterious societies like the Masonic Lodge, and others, creating exciting, and informative stories. Informative if you know that the story has some basis in esoteric history. In other words, the plot, storyline and characters are fictional, but the ideas, facts and information are based on what many believe to be true. What does this do? Does it further the idea of many that these stories are just that, stories? Or does it create a sense of curiousity, prompting readers to search for more information about things like the Holy Grail, or the bloodline of Jesus etc?

Personally, I was interested in esoteric mystery before the advent of the Dan Brown phenonemon, especially after stumbling upon and reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln and Richard Leigh. That was the book that really caught my interest, prompting me to read more books on the same subject which not only expanded my knowledge, but increased my understanding of how much was out there on the topic of Masonic legend, The Illuminati, ancient mysteries, the holy bloodline and the search for the holy grail.

Dan Brown brings these ideas and thoughts to the masses, to people who might otherwise never read or learn anything about it. Folks who would never purchase a non-fiction book on the topic of the search for the holy grail for example, suddenly do, because of books like The DaVinci Code, which has turned their attention to these wonderful mysteries, and created a sense of curiousity.

So...why now? These stories and mysteries, like the search for the Holy Grail have existed for centuries and have always been popular in some circles. Now however, they have experienced a resurgence, and a serious following of folks who are engrossed with this facet of history, which until very recently was unknown by most, and not taught in schools. Is it because the world is now ready? Have these stories been kept on the back burner so to speak until everyday folks have reached a sophistication that allows them to read and understand? Or did they just turn up now purely by accident?

Since I have started on my own quest for the holy grail, I am learning, very little happens by accident.....