The DaVinci Code: A Big Disappointment

Having finally taken the time to read the book, I have to say, although it was good, it wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped and expected. Maybe it just didn't live up to the hype in my mind. Or maybe it was because parts of it were just too stupid to be believable. For example, when the initial murder occurs, the man somehow knows he has about fifteen minutes to live. So instead of leaving sensible letters identifying the killer (a large albino wearing the cassock of a catholic monk) and maybe a letter to his granddaughter telling her to go to a certain church in Scotland and to ask to speak to a certain person (who she would then learn was her long thought dead grandmother, living there with her likewise long thought dead brother) this dying man goes through a series of incredibly bizarre physical contortions and cryptic clues (which themselves are so well hidden it would take a monumental work of genius to find them) designed to send his granddaughter on an old fashioned treasure hunt. He in effect makes a great leap of faith that she will even realize where or what the clues are, let alone whether she can solve them.

It was just a dumb, dumb, dumb concept. I have this feeling that it was the reaction, and overreaction, and controversy, that made the book an overnight success and international best-seller, and soon to be a major motion picture. I still say it wasn't that good. I did, however, learn one important detail from reading the book. Christians took it far more seriously than it deserved to be taken, and made complete asses out of themselves in deeming it fitting to spend time refuting the allegations in the book. Yet, the book itself treats traditional Christianity, and Catholicism, and for that matter even Opus Dei, in a fair and respectful manner, making it clear that it was fringe elements that were responsible for the crimes being committed.

As for the matter of Mary Magdalene, and the prospect that members of the old Merovingian dynasty of France were descendants of her and Jesus Christ, and that Magdalene was meant to be the feminine counterpart of Christ-"The Divine Feminine"-although this was presented as an intriguing theory, with potentially explosive evidence to support it, this was in no way presented as hard proof, by any stretch of the imagination. Just another belief system, when you get right down to it, that may well have been believed by certain sects and secret societies stemming from the Renaissance Age. But that is all.

So what is the problem? Simply put, The DaVinci Code dares to question Biblical authority, the authority of the Catholic Church in particular, and in general raises serious questions about the history of Christianity, Christian beliefs, and the Church. In other words, The DaVinci Code commits the ultimate sin, that in daring to question Christian authority and supremacy. And in urging that people might possibly want to think for themselves, instead of blindly following and believing Catholic and Christian dogma. For that reason and that reason alone, The Da Vinci Code has turned out to be an important work, important in fact in a way that extends well beyond it's literary merit.

Bush And Hubble

I am madder than hell about the plans, or lack thereof, as regards the Hubble telescope. It seems that it has been decided to just let the telescope decay into total disuse, become a random piece of floating space debris, perhaps one day to come burning through the atmosphere and crash upon the earth, or the ocean, a useless, worthless wreck. The thought of it is to me worthy of criminal indictments.

Hubble has brought us closer to an understanding of the creation of the universe than had previously been thought possible, or even imaginable. We have seen images that first transpired billions of years in the past, through the magic of light speed travel, as we have captured these images, the light of which has taken billions of years to reach our range of vision. Almost like a movie recording of eternity. How could they possibly let it just decay into worthlessness?

Apparently, someone has decided it would be far too dangerous to the astronauts involved to fly to the Telescope to make the needed repairs. Well, maybe, and I could accept this, albeit grudgingly, if this were the case. But I think there is an untold story here. And I think it might have something to do with the Bush administration and more to the point, their blind obeisance to the Far Right, Evangelical, Christian Conservative supporters of the Administration, who are out for blood in the course of the on going so-called "culture wars". One of their obvious goals is to ensure the teaching of the fallacious theory of "Creationism" as a counter balance to the Theory of Evolution in public schools across the country, as the predominant belief as to the nature of how the Universe came into being. They want God to be taught as the master of this "Intelligent Design" concept, and will stop at nothing in order to assure this. If the truth were known, if they had their way, Creationism would be the only thing taught in schools, Evolution would at most be pointed to as an example of godless atheistic secular humanism, something to be ridiculed and despised.

One has to consider the prospects of Hubbles continuing and potentially improving or improved in order to retrieve further enhanced images, from further back in time than has of yet been the case. What images would Hubble then retrieve?

Would they see The Big Bang, or something similar to this? Or would they see a long bearded, robed figure holding out his hands, as we read his lips saying "Let there be light" immediately before the entire universe suddenly springs into being, as angels fly around him, seeming to be singing as they play harps? I honestly believe people such as James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, in addition to certain politicians such as Rick Santorum and Tom DeLay, had to have given this some thought. Seeing as how most conservative Christians have traditionally held that the world was created in a relatively short span of time, and only a few thousand years ago at that, I would imagine they are not too pleased with Hubble's track record so far.