Hijos de la Viuda

En la tradicin simblica y fraternal hay otros hijos de la viuda mundialmente

identificados como tal, ya que ste es el distintivo por excelencia de los miembros
de la francmasonera. A los masones se les denomina como hijos de la viuda
en alusin, primordialmente, a Hiram Abif, arquitecto del templo del rey
Salomn. En la Biblia se indica que Hiram era: hijo de una viuda de la tribu
de Neftal y de un nativo de Tiro experto en trabajar el bronce. Hiram era muy
hbil e inteligente, y conoca la tcnica para realizar cualquier trabajo en bronce,
as que se present ante el rey Salomn y realiz todos sus trabajos. (1 Reyes
7:14) Son tambin hijos de viuda por alusin a la mujer en estado de viudez
del mismo libro bblico (17:1-24) cuyo hijo el profeta Elas vuelve a la vida, ya que
paralelamente a este hecho, en la ceremonia inicitica masnica se deja la vieja
vida para renacer como masn e iniciar desde cero el camino del crecimiento
espiritual. De igual modo, en las tangencias simblicas de la masonera con la
mitologa egipcia, encontramos a Isis, viuda de Osiris y representativa de la
luz, la bsqueda de cuyos restos esparcidos por todo el mundo representa la
bsqueda de unidad del masn, identificado con Horus, hijo de la Luz, y, por
tanto, hijo de la viuda.
No deja tambin de ser interesante el observar que Jess de Galilea fue
probablemente un hijo de viuda la mayor parte de su vida. Su padre, Jos
(hombre mayor), aparece muy poco en las narraciones bblicas y no se hace
mencin de l en la vida adulta de Jess. Mateo y Lucas, por ejemplo,
solamente mencionan a Jos durante el nacimiento y niez de Cristo. Juan
escasamente lo nombra y Marcos no hace alusin a l. Por ello, se asume que
Jos habra muerto antes de que Jess iniciara su vida pblica.
En el captulo 19 del Evangelio de San Juan, Jess, mirando a su Madre desde
la cruz, y a su discpulo amado, el apstol Juan, el futuro evangelista, les
dice: "Mujer, he ah a tu Hijo", y al discpulo le dice: "He ah a tu Madre". Y el
documento agrega que desde ese mismo momento Juan se llev a la Madre
de su Maestro a su casa.
As san Juan, el discpulo amado, se convirti en el Nuevo Hijo de la Viuda. Y,
naturalmente, todos los discpulos que Juan fue haciendo en su camino de
predicador, fueron adoptados por Mara como sus hijos, como Hijos de la
Viuda. Y, a travs de los siglos, todos aquellos que son como Juan, nacidos por
segunda vez, los iniciados, los nuevos Horus, se han convertido tambin en Hijos
de la Viuda trascendida.
Y para coronar esto, los francmasones, habiendo puesto el ojo de sus mentes en
la construccin del templo de Dios de Jerusaln, por mandato del Rey Salomn,

han descubierto que el maestro arquitecto que le envi el Rey Hiram de Tiro a
Salomn para ejecutar los trabajos, era hijo de una mujer viuda, israelita, de
la tribu de Dan, y de un padre de Tiro, ya fallecido.
Ese maestro arquitecto y fundidor de metales era llamado Adoniram o Hiram
Abi. Es decir, Seor Hiram o Padre Hiram. (Ver el segundo Libro de Crnicas cap.
2,13-14 y el primer libro de Reyes cap. 5,14).
Por lo tanto, los maestros masones, como hijos espirituales de Hiram Abi, el
arquitecto, un hijo de la viuda, y como vinculados a la Luz de Osiris-Horus, y al
Espritu gnstico-Jonico del Nuevo Testamento, se han llamado tambin Los
Hijos de la Viuda.
Masonera: orgenes y breve historia
Publicado: diciembre 7, 2006 de administrador en Masonera
100

Nadie sabe a ciencia cierta cundo y dnde se inici la masonera. La

tradicin afirma que la antigua masonera se inici en Egipto, entre los
maestros y arquitectos que dirigan la construccin de las grandes
Pirmides. Otros ubican sus orgenes en Israel, en la poca en que los judos
construan el Templo de Salomn, dado el recurrente simbolismo alusivo en
las logias actuales. El primer indicio de su existencia, sin embargo, aparece
en el siglo XIII, cuando grupo de albailes (en francs, maons) que queran
emanciparse de la tutela de los frailes, en especial los benedictinos,
constituyeron gremios que llegaron a monopolizar la construccin. Para
conservar los secretos y las tcnicas del gtico instituyeron tres grados:
aprendiz, compaero y maestro e implantaron ceremonias de iniciacin y de
fidelidad.
Se ha pretendido remontar el origen de la masonera en la construccin del
Templo de Salomn por Hiram de Tiro, supuesto primer masn. Constituira el
perodo mtico de la masonera. Aunque tal afirmacin figura en el rito de
iniciacin de los tres primeros grados, existe general unanimidad en sealar el
concreto origen histrico de la masonera: las Hermandades profesionales de
constructores de Catedrales y otros templos de la Edad Media (desde el
tallador de piedra al maestro albail), establecidas al servicio del bienestar

material y espiritual de sus miembros y que, a la vez, posean secretos de

orden tcnico y de orden ritual o de iniciacin.
Ya en el siglo XIII, estas Hermandades establecieron las primeras
constituciones gticas al servicio de sus miembros. Se tratara del perodo
antiguo u operativo. Dos textos de finales del siglo XIV y principios del XV se
refieren a los orgenes mticos: Regius (que relata un supuesto viaje de
Euclides a Egipto donde fundara una escuela de geometra y construccin) y
Cooke (la historia del arte de la construccin antes del Diluvio Universal). A
principios del siglo XIV algunos maestros alemanes viajaron a Inglaterra a
construir catedrales, pero los aprendices ingleses que trabajaban con ellos
organizaron talleres propios y de este modo redactaron la primera ley masnica
(La Constitucin de York) y la Orden de la Fraternidad de los Libres Masones. Cien
aos ms tarde se import a las islas britnicas el estilo renacentista italiano, por
cuya causa los talleres masnicos, dedicados exclusivamente al gtico, estuvieron
a punto de desintegrarse. Sin embargo, deseosos de conservar su organizacin,
estos grupos admitieron gente rica e influyente bajo la denominacin de hermanos
patronos, por lo cual cambi el nombre a Fraternidad de los Masones Libres y los
Aceptados.

En el siglo XVIII varios intelectuales y cientficos crearon una orden

identificada con una rosa y una cruz (rosacruces), que incorpor principios
del agnosticismo, judasmo y maniquesmo, popularizaron los smbolos de la
escuadra y el comps, practicaron la alquimia y la teosofa. El 24 de junio de
1717 se fusionaron las cuatro logias de la Fraternidad con la Sociedad de
Alquimistas Rosacrucianos. Al conjunto se le llam Gran Logia de Inglaterra
y se adopt el nombre de francmasonera (de fran, que quiere decir
libre). En 1786 Federico de Prusia reorganiz las rdenes masnicas, las
reunific, reglament su funcionamiento, su liturgia y estructur sus grados.
Desde esas fechas la fraternidad, dividida en diversos ritos como el escocs,
el yorkino, el francs, el egipcio, el templario y el nacional mexicano, se ha
extendido por los 5 continentes y actualmente se encuentra presente en ms
de 200 pases, agrupando entre sus filas a varias decenas de millones de
masones. Con el transcurso del tiempo el reclutamiento dejar de hacerse sobre
la base profesional inicial, admitindose a personas de otras profesiones no
vinculadas a la construccin. Es en Inglaterra donde se da el paso de una
masonera operativa (la de los constructores que trabajaban la piedra con

sus manos y herramientas) a otra especulativa (perodo histrico) en la que

la construccin es slo simblica, trabajndose a la humanidad mediante el
modelado del propio ser. Ahora, por iniciacin hay que entender entrar, paso
introductorio de un hombre que desea cambiar su modo de conocer, de actuar,
de ser, que debe cultivar su alma. Ese paso se desarrolla en una iniciacin
simblica, mediante un rito que resume ese trance y que capacita al nefito para
ejecutarlo. El da 24 de junio de 1717 se funda la Gran Logia de Londres a
partir de 4 pequeas logias que la precedieron y, en 1726, se abre la primera
logia en Pars.
La primera constitucin moderna reguladora de la masonera especulativa es
la redactada por el pastor presbiteriano ingls James Anderson, quien
elabora en 1723 The Constitutions of the free-masons.. Estos textos tienen
cuatro partes: una historia legendaria de la orden y del arte masnico, los
llamados deberes, un reglamento para las logias y los cantos para los tres
grados iniciales. La parte ms importante es la relativa a los deberes, en la que
establece como pilar fundamental la creencia en el Gran Arquitecto del
Universo, aunque en otros artculos procura marcar distancias con el
cristianismo a travs de unas referencias al esoterismo, el secreto y al
relativismo, junto a un desmo iluminista. Esos componentes filosficos
ocasionaron, casi enseguida, la primera escisin: la Logia de York, de
carcter ms esotrico que la de Londres, ms racionalista. Pronto salta de
Inglaterra a Amrica. Ya en 1813 se fusionan ambas logias, dando lugar a la
Gran Logia Unida de Inglaterra. A la vez se redacta otro texto fundamental en
la masonera: los Antiguos lmites o Ancient Landmarks. Se trata del conjunto
de reglas tradicionales e inmutables, transmitidas de forma oral desde sus
orgenes hasta ese momento en que se plasman por escrito. Dicha Gran Logia
Unida de Inglaterra se constituy en la depositaria de la tradicin y de la
regularidad masnica, de carcter aristocrtico y puritano en sus orgenes.
Esa regularidad se determina, todava hoy, a partir de varios criterios:
regularidad de origen (slo una Logia regular puede fundar otra logia
regular), regularidad territorial (una Gran Logia por pas), regularidad
doctrinal (creencia en Dios, uso de un libro sagrado, exclusin de las
mujeres, interdiccin de las discusiones polticas). Conforme se extiende por
toda Europa y Amrica, la masonera acoge con entusiasmo las corrientes
del enciclopedismo del siglo XVII, del racionalismo y del liberalismo. De
forma paralela, los rituales se enriquecen y amplan con aportaciones
procedentes de grupos que cultivan la Alquimia, la Kabala, el llamado
neotemplarismo, la Teosofa, la moda por lo egipcio, etc. Y la
descristianizacin, con todo ello, se acenta.
La masonera se establece pronto en Francia, hacia 1721. De origen escocs
y estuardista, se vio favorecida por el espritu racionalista francs, adquiriendo un
carcter desta inspirado en el racionalismo naturalista. En Espaa, por iniciativa
inglesa, ya aparece en 1728, pero no ser hasta la invasin napolenica
cuando se produzca la eclosin de la orden. Una vez irrumpe en la historia, su

presencia, ms o menos oculta, se hace notar con fuerza. El mayor nmero de

masones se encuentra, actualmente, en Estados Unidos de Amrica.
La fractura de la masonera.
El ilustre masn Robert Amadou afirma que es hacia 1860 cuando el Gran
Oriente de Francia, la mayor organizacin masnica despus de la inglesa,
se desva de la iniciacin a la poltica partidista, al servicio de una filosofa
materialista y atea. Ello se plasma, jurdicamente hablando, en 1877 cuando
la Asamblea General de esa obediencia francesa, siendo Gran Maestre
Frderic Desmons, suprime de sus constituciones la frmula del Gran
Arquitecto del Universo, siendo por ello excomulgado por la Gran Logia
Unida de Inglaterra, al igual que el resto de obediencias que le siguieron en ese
paso. Esas obediencias constituyen la llamada masonera irregular (liberal, se
llaman a s mismas), dando lugar en muchos pases a una duplicidad de
obediencias. Desde entonces, casi toda la masonera francesa, espaola,
italiana y belga integra la mencionada masonera irregular o liberal.
Buena parte de esas obediencias irregulares se agrupan, a nivel
internacional, en el CLIPSAS (Centre de Liaison et dInformation des
Puissances maonniques signataries de lAppel de Strasbourg). Existe, por
otra parte, una federacin internacional de logias femenimas y mixtas: Le
droit humain. Existen otras mltiples organizaciones, de carcter sectario
muchas de ellas y de contenido ocultista, en el lmite de la masonera (ya
regular o irregular). Otras organizaciones, como el Club de los Leones o
los Rotarios, de finalidad filantrpica y humanitaria, adoptan algunas
caractersticas prximas en ciertos aspectos a la masonera. Incluso algunos
de sus miembros mantienen la doble pertenencia; pero conceptual e
histricamente se trata de organizaciones netamente diferenciadas. Despus de
la segunda guerra mundial se produjo un cierto movimiento de regreso a la
regularidad masnica, iniciado en Francia, y que en Espaa se concret en
la Gran Logia de Espaa. Pero, en general, los intentos de unificar ambas
ramas de la masonera, debe afirmarse, que han fracasado. Los propios
masones achacan a tal duplicidad la imagen desfigurada de la masonera que
existe en muchos ambientes. Para otros autores, por el contrario, esa duplicidad
sera un lavado de imagen, pues, a su juicio, ambas masoneras coinciden en lo
fundamental. En cualquier caso, esa duplicidad ha facilitado un complejo debate
dentro de la Iglesia catlica acerca de la naturaleza real de la masonera y las
relaciones de los catlicos con la misma.

Masonera en Espaa
La primera logia fundada en Espaa es La Matritense, establecida por Lord
Wharton, aunque ya funcionaba desde un ao antes una logia en Gibraltar.
Las primeras logias son de obediencia inglesa, manteniendo el carcter
inicial, ingresando en ellas buena parte de la minora ilustrada espaola de la

poca, aristocrtica e intelectual. Con la invasin francesa se inicia la influencia

de la masonera gala, que favoreci la implantacin de numerosas logias en las
que ingresaron muchos afrancesados, en contraste con las de obediencia inglesa,
cuyos integrantes eran patriotas liberales contrarios a la ocupacin francesa. Con
los aos, la masonera adquiri en Espaa peculiaridades propias: carcter
conspirador, extrema politizacin e implicacin en muchos sucesos
revolucionarios del siglo XIX, reducto de los militares liberales,
anticlericalismo extremo. Algunos de sus hombres llegan al poder en el llamado
Trienio constitucional (1820 1823). Se mezcla con otros fenmenos, como los
de las sociedades secretas de los Comuneros y los carbonarios. En 1824 es
prohibida. De 1854 a 1868 participa en medios polticos, militares e
intelectuales. En 1868 adquiere nuevo protagonismo, con ocasin de la
revolucin producida ese mismo ao. Con la Restauracin es prohibida, de
nuevo, en 1874. A raz de la proclamacin de la Segunda Repblica espaola
alcanza su mayor esplendor, al menos en su expresin poltica, pese a sus
mltiples escisiones y obediencias. La relacin de masones ilustres en este
periodo de la historia de Espaa es abultadsima. Como dato significativo
recordaremos que de los 470 diputados de la Cortes Constituyentes de la
Repblica, 183 eran masones. Sin embargo el nmero total de masones en
Espaa no parece superara los 5.000 por entonces. Otro sector en el que
exista un importante nmero de masones era el del ejrcito. Sealemos
algunos nombres importantes de la poltica espaola de aquellos aos, masones
todos ellos: Diego Martnez Barrio, Alejandro Lerroux, Fernando de los Ros,
Casares Quiroga, Largo Caballero, Manuel Azaa, Marcelino Domingo, Nicolau
dOlwer, Abad Conde, Luis Jimnez de Asa, Emiliano Iglesias, Ricardo Samper,
lvarez del Vayo, Pedro Rico, Belarmino Toms, Luis Araquistin, Llopis,
Domingo Barns, Portela Valladares. Presentes, todo ellos, especialmente en el
PSOE, Partido Radical, Partido Radical Socialista, Accin Republicana, Esquerra
Republicana de Catalua y Federacin Republicana Gallega. Es prohibida, por
ltima vez, con la consolidacin del rgimen surgido de la guerra civil, hasta
su legalizacin a finales de los aos 70. La masonera espaola actual retoma
algunas de sus constantes histricas: la fragmentacin y su escaso nmero en
comparacin al de otros pases. Veamos cuales son las principales obediencias en
la actualidad:

Gran Logia de Espaa. Mayoritaria. Su nmero oscila entre 1.500 y

3.000 miembros. Forma parte de la masonera regular. Est reconocida
por la Gran Logia Unida de Inglaterra. No acepta mujeres.

Gran Logia Simblica de Espaa. Unos 500 miembros. Es una

obediencia irregular. Sus logias son slo masculinas, slo femeninas
o mixtas. Est afiliada al CLIPSAS. Masonera liberal. Ha alcanzado
cierta notoriedad en los medios de informacin al tratarse de la primera
obediencia espaola que eligi a una mujer como Gran Maestra,
hecho acaecido en Zaragoza a mediados del 2000.

Gran Logia Federal de Espaa. Escisin de la Gran Logia de Espaa.

Tiene en torno a los 400 miembros. De orientacin regular.

Gran Logia de Canarias. Unos 200 miembros. Orientacin irregular y

de mbito territorial.

Gran Logia de Catalua. De similares caractersticas de la anterior.

Unos 200 miembros.

Gran Oriente de Catalua. Unos 100 miembros. Similar a las dos

anteriores.

Logia del Derecho Humano. Masonera irregular, mixta. Unos 100

miembros.

Gran Logia Femenina Francesa. Slo mujeres. Irregular. Unas 40

integrantes.

Gran Oriente de Francia. Varias logias levantinas pertenecen a esta

obediencia irregular y liberal.

Recopilacin y revisin de textos de diversos autores: O.C.I.R.O.

To separate Freemason fact from Lost Symbol-style myth, National Geographic

News went inside the centuries-old order with two Masons and a historian of
the ancient Christian order from which some claim the Masons sprang in the
17th or 18th century.
FREEMASON MYTH 1.
Masonic Symbols Are Everywhere
It's true that Masonic symbols are anything but lost, said Freemason and historian
Jay Kinney, author of the newly released Masonic Myth.
(See "LOST SYMBOL PICTURES: Masonic Symbols Decoded.")
Freemasonry is rich in symbols, and many are ubiquitousthink of the
pentagram, or five-pointed star, or the "all-seeing eye" in the Great Seal of
the United States.
But most Masonic symbols aren't unique to Freemasonry, Kinney said.

"I view the Masonic use of symbols as a grab bag taken from here, there, and
everywhere," he said. "Masonry employs them in its own fashion."
The pentagram, for example, is much older than Freemasonry and acquired its
occult overtones only in the 19th and 20th centuries, hundreds of years after the
Masons had adopted the symbol.
Likewise, the all-seeing eye saw its way to the Great Sealand the U.S. dollar
billby way of artist Pierre Du Simitiere, a non-Mason.
The eye represents divine guidance of the U.S. ship of state, or as Secretary
of the U.S. Congress Charles Thompson put it in 1782, it alludes "to the many
signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause."
There was one known Mason on the committee to design the seal, Benjamin
Franklin. His proposed design was eyeless, and rejected.
FREEMASON MYTH 2.
Masons Descend From the Knights Templar
Much has been made of the Freemasons purported lineage to the Knights
Templar. The powerful military and religious order was established to protect
medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land and dissolved by Pope Clement V, under
pressure of King Phillip IV of France, in 1312.
After modern Masonry appeared in the 17th- or 18th-century Britain, some
Freemasons claimed to have acquired the secrets of the Templars and
adopted Templar symbols and terminologynaming certain levels of
Masonic hierarchy after Templar "degrees," for example.
"But those [Knights Templar] degrees and Masonic orders had no historic
connection with the original Knights Templar," Kinney explained.
"These are myths or symbolic figures that were used by the Masons. But because
the association had been made with these degrees, and the degrees had
perpetuated themselves, after a time it began to look like there had been a
connection."
Helen Nicholson, author of The Knights Templar: A New History, agrees that
there is no possibility that Freemasons are somehow descended from the
Knights Templar.

By the time of the first Masons, the Cardiff University historian said, "there
were no more Templars."
FREEMASON MYTH 3.
Masons Are Hiding Templar Treasure
One of the Templar-Mason theory's many veins suggests that some Templars
survived the order's 14th-century destruction by taking refuge in Scotland,
where they hid a fabulous treasure beneath Rosslyn Chapel (as seen in The
Da Vinci Code).
The treasure, and the Templar tradition, were eventually passed down to the
founders of Freemasonry, the story goes.
In fact, there was Templar treasure, Nicholson said, but it ended up in other
hands long ago.
"The most likely reason [the Templars were dissolved] is that the king wanted
their money. The King of France was bankrupt, and the Templars had lots of
ready cash."
FREEMASON MYTH 4.
Washington, D.C.'s Streets Form Giant Masonic Symbols
It's long been suggested that powerful Freemasons embedded Masonic
symbols in the Washington, D.C., street plan designed mainly by Frenchman
Pierre L'Enfant in 1791.
The Lost Symbol is expected to prominently feature "Masonic mapping," detecting
pentagrams and other symbols by connecting the dots among landmarks. Prerelease clues released by author Dan Brown, for example, include GPS
coordinates for Washington landmarks.
"Individually, Masons had a role in building the White House, in building and
designing Washington, D.C.," said Mark Tabbert, director of collections at the
George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. "And [small
scale] Masonic symbols can be found throughout the city, as they can in
most U.S. cities."

But there's no Masonic message in the city's street plan, Tabbert said. For
starters, Pierre L'Enfant wasn't a Mason.
And, Tabbert asked, why would Masons go to the trouble of laying out a
street grid to match their symbols?
"There has to be a [reason] for doing such a thing," said Tabbert, himself a
Mason. "Dan Brown will find one, because he writes fiction. But there isn't
one."
FREEMASON MYTH 5.
Freemasons Rule the World
Maybe it's the impressive list of prominent Freemasonsfrom Napoleon to
F.D.R. to King Kamehameha (IV and V!)that's led some to suggest the
group is a small cabal running the globe. But Kinney, the Masonic historian,
paints a picture of a largely decentralized group that might have trouble
running anything with much efficiency.
"I think the ideals that Masonry embodies, which have to do with universal
brotherhood, are shared by Masons around the world [regardless of]
religious, political, or national differences," he said.
"But having shared ideals is one thinghaving some sort of shared
hierarchy is something else altogether."
Kinney noted that the U.S. alone has 51 grand lodges, one for each state and
the District of Columbia. Each of these largely independent organizations
oversees its many local blue (or beginner) lodges and has little real
coordination with other grand lodges.
Internationally, Masonic lodges not only don't speak with a single voice but
sometimes refuse to even recognize each other's existence.
Also, many Masons are independent minded and tend to resist edicts from above,
Kinney said. "There is no way that they could be run by a single hierarchy.
There is no such entity."
FREEMASON MYTH 6.
Freemasonry Is a ReligionOr a Cult

But Masons stress that their organization is not a religion, that is it has no
unique theology and does not represent a path for believers to salvation or
other divine rewards.
Even so, to be accepted into Freemasonry, initiates must believe in a god
any god. Christians may be in the majority, but Jews, Muslims, and others
are well represented in Masonic circles. At lodge meetings religious
discussion is traditionally taboo, Kinney and Tabbert said.
But some religious leaders believe that Masonic rituals and beliefswith its
temples, altars, and oathsdo constitute an opposing faith. And the Masonic
refusal to rank one religion above the others hasn't always been popular.
A 1983 Catholic declaration approved by Pope John Paul II, for example, said
that "Catholics enrolled in Masonic associations are involved in serious sin
and may not approach Holy Communion."
FREEMASON MYTH 7.
Freemasons Started the American Revolution
Prominent Freemasons like Ben Franklin and George Washington played
essential roles in the American Revolution. And among the ranks of
Freemasons are 9 signers of the Declaration of Independence and 13 signers
of the Constitution.
But Freemasonryborn in Britain, after allhad adherents on both sides of
the conflict. Tabbert, of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, said
Masonic groups allowed men on both sides of the revolution to come
together as brothersnot to promote a political view, which would be
against Masonic tradition.
"For many years [Masons] claimed in their own quasi-scholarship that all of these
revolutionaries and Founding Fathers were Freemasons," Tabbert said. "A fair
number of them were, but they weren't doing these things because they were
Freemasons."
FREEMASON MYTH 8.
Membership Requires Shadowy Connections

Contrary to The Lost Symbol, you don't have to drink wine from a skull to
become a ranking Freemason. In fact, tradition dictates that Masons don't
recruit members but simply accept those who approach them of their own
free will.
When Freemasonry hit its peak in the U.S. during the late 1950s, Kinney, the
Masonic historian, said, almost one of every ten eligible adult males was a
membera total of some four million and hardly a tiny elite.
Today membership numbers, like those of other fraternal organizations, have
declined dramatically, and only about 1.5 million U.S. men are Masons.
Interview:
Dan Brown: America wasn't founded a Christian country. It became a
Christian country.
Or this:
Dan Brown: The human mind really does have the ability to affect matter.
The Lost Symbol raises provocative questions about the beliefs of the man on the
dollar bill, about the power of the human mind, about whether people can become
gods.
Dan Brown: It doesn't matter to me if someone agrees or disagrees with what I
say. But I'd like them to at least think about it.
The book is a thriller, a headlong chase through some of Washington's most
famous landmarks, and also through puzzles, secret codes, and dark corners of
history, starting with the secretive group at the center of "The Lost Symbol": the
Freemasons, a worldwide brotherhood that's centuries old, and still active.
George Washington was a Mason, along with 13 other presidents and numerous
Supreme Court Justices. Benjamin Franklin published a book about Freemasonry
on his own printing press. Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were
Freemasons, including the man with the biggest signature: John Hancock.
Freemasonry still has millions of members worldwide, and they still conduct rituals
like this one performed for our cameras:
Reaper: If curiosity spurred you towards us, go away. Do not proceed. If you are
capable of deception, tremble. Because you will be found out.

Freemasons have been accused of everything from murder to devil worship

to secretly controlling the U.S. government. Take a dollar bill, turn it over,
look at the great seal of the United States on the back. Now draw a star of
David. One point will match up with the all-seeing eye: a common Masonic
symbol. Now look at the letters at the other points of the star:
M... A... S... O... N.
Coincidence? Video: M-A-S-O-N on the dollar bill
Matt Lauer: Freemasons have been accused of being involved in some rather
strange conspiracies. A lot of that the result of the fact that you had powerful men,
in this case, meeting behind closed doors and not discussing what they were
doing?
Dan Brown: Of course. I mean, any time you have powerful people who aren't
telling you what They're doing-- you're going to assume the worst.
In Brown's book, the Freemasons are infiltrated by a man who believes they hold a
great secret to mystical power. He's a larger than life villain named "Mal'akh"
whose entire body is covered with tattoos of occult symbols.
Dan Brown: And there is an animal quality about him. He has feather tattoos on
his legs. He's got giant double-headed phoenix on his chest.
Matt Lauer: He saves one square inch of his flesh-Dan Brown: Yes.
Matt Lauer: --for something that he is coveting. What is that?
Dan Brown: That is the lost word. The last piece of the puzzle. This word that at
least in his twisted mind will be the-- the coup d'etat. The cherry on top of the
sundae that will be his transformation. That will give him power.
Mal'akh thinks the Masons' secret word will make him an all-powerful agent of evil,
and he thinks that he can bring down the government with proof that some of its
highest ranking officials are Freemasons. The man who must prevent all that from
happening is, of course, Harvard professor Robert Langdon, the hero of "The Da
Vinci Code," played by Tom Hanks in the movies. Langdon must find the lost
symbol before Mal'akh does in order to save an old friend- and possibly the world from Mal'akh's evil scheme. We'll hear from Dan Brown about the mysteries of

freemasonry, and from the Freemasons themselves about the secrets they've kept
for centuries.
We'll take a tour of Washington, D.C. unlike any you've taken before, uncovering
secret places with Dan Brown as our guide. And we'll go to the fringes of science
and the depths of prehistory in search of what Brown calls the true meaning of his
latest book- and why, he says, it actually changed his beliefs.
Dan Brown: I spent a lot of time researching and really had to get to the point
where I realized, "You know what? The world's a stranger place then we
thought."
The Lost Symbol" starts with a gruesome discovery. Dan Brown's hero, Robert
Langdon, is lured to Washington, D.C. to the U.S. Capitol, where, at the center of
the rotunda, he finds a severed hand, tattooed to resemble an ancient mystical
symbol: the hand of the mysteries.
It beckons him on a dangerous journey. The hand belongs to an old friend of
Langdon's who's been kidnapped by the villain, Mal'akh: a man named Peter
Solomon. Solomon runs the Smithsonian Institution. But he's also a thirty-third
degree Freemason of the Scottish rite. This is the headquarters of the Scottish Rite
Freemasons in Washington, D.C. They call it the house of the temple, and it's
where we talked with Dan Brown, who wove the secrets of the Masons into the taut
rope of his story.
Matt Lauer: One character is being elevated to the 33rd degree of the Scottish
Rite. It's a rather intense ritual. He he drinks wine, which is to represent blood out
of a skull how much of that is fact and how much of that is fiction?
Dan Brown: Well, this is a real ceremony. The ceremony is described accurately.
The fiction comes in as to whether or not it still happens at this moment in history in
this room.
Brown's villain, Mal'akh, is the man drinking the wine. He's journeyed deep into
Freemasonry to find out its secrets - and so will we. Mal'akh is fiction, but how
much of the ritual is real?
Arturo de Hoyos: Dan Brown's book is very exciting. And like any good work of
fiction, it has to involve both truth and error to make it believable.
Arturo de Hoyos is the grand archivist and grand historian of the supreme
council of the Scottish rite and himself a 33rd-degree Mason.

Arturo de Hoyos: One of the things that's wrong is on the very first page. We don't
perform the 33rd Degree in this building. We don't confer it at night. The
candidates to the members are dressed wrong. And the ceremony's wrong.
Maybe they don't do the ceremony in this building, but there's evidence
Freemasons have done it. Brown can quote multiple historical sources. What is
the truth? To find out, we have to delve into the distant past.
Mitch Horowitz: Masonry in many respects is a historic mystery.
Mitch Horowitz is the author of the new book, "Occult America." He's a
scholar of esoteric religions and secret societies.
Mitch Horowitz: Masons themselves cannot agree on the nature of their own
origins and background. Masonry may be the only modern organization for
which that's true.
The origins of the Freemasons are shrouded in mystery. Art de Hoyos
outlines the simplest theory:
Arturo de Hoyos: Freemasonry developed primarily in medieval Scotland and
England with the Stonemasons guilds and societies.
In other words, the first Masons were literally that: stonecutters, the men
who built the great cathedrals of Europe, and who wanted to guard their
trade secrets.
Arturo de Hoyos: So they developed a system of secret signs and secret
passwords.
De Hoyos says the tradesmen started another system associated with
Freemasonry-- the so-called "three degrees:" apprentice, fellow of the craft,
and master mason, still used in Freemasonry today. So is the symbol of a
square and compass, mason's tools with the letter "g", signifying both
"geometry" and "God." At meetings masons wear elaborately decorated
aprons, symbolic representations of the ones worn by working
stonemasons. But some say there's much more to Freemasonry: a deeper,
older, more mystical side.
Mitch Horowitz: Freemasonry has been a vessel, a channel, for some very
ancient ideas.

In fact, some masons say the group originated in the holy land, in biblical
times, with the builders of Solomon's temple. Many Masonic symbols are
even older than that.
Mitch Horowitz: The all seeing eye, the pyramid, the obelisk. It drew very deeply
upon the symbols of pre-Christian religion because it believed that it was part of a
chain of a spiritual search for truth that was older than any modern or
contemporary religion.
In the novel, Mal'akh believes the masons know mystical secrets that will make him
an all powerful demon. He infiltrates the group, kidnaps its leader, and uses
blackmail to try to get what he wants. That's fiction. But in fact, their freethinking
about religion once caused the Vatican to denounce the masons as Satanic. And in
the 1800's Masons in upstate New York were accused of murdering a man named
William Morgan, who threatened to expose their secret rituals.
Today the web is full of anti-Masonic material.
Arturo de Hoyos: I frequently run into people who have heard of a couple of
things about Freemasonry and no more. We killed William Morgan and we worship
the devil, and that's about all they've heard of us.
Those people might be surprised to hear this:
Arturo de Hoyos: The father of our country was a Freemason. There's no
question of this.
And historians agree that some principles of Freemasonry became cherished
principles of the United States.
Arturo de Hoyos: Freemasonry was one of the earliest societies to advocate
self-rule. We elected our own leaders. We had a secret ballot. We had a
separation of powers. We were governed by a constitution. All these
elements were very familiar to the founding fathers.
But remember Freemasons also had some radical ideas about religion. And as
Dan Brown's hero, Robert Langdon, races Mal'akh through Washington, D.C. to
find the secrets of Freemasonry, he reveals little-known facts about the founding
fathers that might shock some readers.
Dan Brown: There was a statue that sat in the Capitol.
Washington as a god.

It was George

Hidden away on the lower level of the Masonic house of the temple, in
Washington, D.C., there's a remarkable painting not many people have seen.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, wears the
decorated apron of Freemasonry. Nearby are the square and the compass,
traditional symbols of Freemasonry. The painting is described in Dan
Brown's best-selling novel "The Lost Symbol."
Dan Brown: It's a cornerstone laying ritual. And essentially, a date is chosen-- that
is auspicious from an astrological standpoint. And there will be certain blessings
that are given when this cornerstone is laid. And the idea is that whatever is to
take place in that building will have a solid and auspicious beginning.
And what building is George Washington, Freemason, laying the cornerstone
for? The United States Capitol.
Matt Lauer: And-- and it's not just the Capitol. Those ceremonies, those rituals
were used in-- in the building of the Washington Monument and the White House.
Dan Brown: They were. As-- as well as many, many other buildings.
The lore of Freemasonry marks Washington in other hidden ways as well.
Consider, for example, the number 33, cherished by the Masons.
Dan Brown: Thirty-three is a very important number-- in ancient mysticism.
There's a reason that Jesus Christ was said to be 33. There is a reason that
there are 33 vertebrae in our spine and that much of Freemasonry has to do
with the concept of the body as a temple.
Thirty-three repeats throughout the Masonic house of the temple.
Matt Lauer: There are 33 columns or-- or pillars.
Dan Brown: Sure.
Matt Lauer: Each one 33 feet tall.
Dan Brown: Yes, sir.
And the same number is built into one of D.C.'s most famous sights.
Matt Lauer: Is it coincidence that the cap on the Washington Monument--

Dan Brown: There is-- there is no such thing as coincidence-Matt Lauer: --weighs-Dan Brown: --when-- when you're dealing with the number 33.
Matt Lauer: --weighs exactly 300-- 3,300 pounds?
Dan Brown: Yeah. 3,300 pounds.
That's right. The capstone matches that mystical number. Brown says the
Freemasons influenced the founding of America in profound ways, and what he
has to say may change what you think about how this country came to be.
Dan Brown: If you have a group of men who are Masons and simultaneously
founding fathers and part of their Masonic ideal is that all men are equal, of
course that will be of-- an underlying theme in the founding of a country.
Another important aspect of Freemasonry is this idea of freedom of religion.
We talked about these books on the altar.
Matt Lauer: It's inclusive. It's not exclusive?
Dan Brown: Exactly. That couldn't have said it better.
Freemasons assumed members believed in a supreme being. But that's as far as
it went. Masons could worship Yahweh, Jesus, Allah-- or another god of their
own choosing. Religious freedom was built into freemasonry... And, many
scholars say the Freemasons built it into the U.S. Constitution. One-third of
the signers were known to be Freemasons.
Brown says his research led him to a conclusion that might shock some people.
Dan Brown: America wasn't founded a Christian country. It became a Christian
country. Important thing to remember with the masons and the founding fathers is
that many of the founding fathers were deists.
Deists believe that a supreme being created the universe but that being is
impersonal. It won't answer your prayers or even hear them.
Dan Brown: The concepts behind deism, where man is powerful and man is
responsible are the underlying, core beliefs of Freemasonry.

Matt Lauer: So, when you talk about the founding fathers, who believe in deism as
opposed to theism?
Dan Brown: Almost all of them.
Matt Lauer: Give me names.
Dan Brown: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams.
Matt Lauer: there are a lot of people who say there is no proof, for example, that
Thomas Jefferson was a Freemason.
Dan Brown: That is true.
Matt Lauer: Okay.
Dan Brown: But certainly a deist. Thomas Jefferson went so far as to take the
Holy Bible and remove all of the-- all of the references to anything miraculous-- to
the resurrection, to the virgin birth. Jefferson himself said that the idea of the virgin
birth, Christ springing from a virgin would one day seem as much like myth as the
idea of Minerva springing from the head of Jupiter.
The Founding Fathers, Brown says, didn't just read The Bible. They also read
Roman and Egyptian mythology. And they read the stars.
Matt Lauer: This reliance on astrology, what does it tell you? What does it suggest
about our founding fathers?
Dan Brown: I think that they had a respect for what they did not understand, a
respect for the heavens. The foundations of astrology really have a deep, mystical
and spiritual underpinning that that the Masons were very in tune with.
Matt Lauer: it would be hard to imagine Barack Obama, taking a trip or or doing
the groundbreaking on a major monument or something and using-Dan Brown: Sure.
Matt Lauer: --astrology as a basis for the time and the place, he'd be ridiculed.
Dan Brown: And rightly so, I believe. The thing-Matt Lauer: But why was it okay then and is it not okay now?

Dan Brown: Well, for the same reason it was okay to believe that-- if you threw a
virgin into the ocean, a storm wouldn't hit you. You know-Matt Lauer: That's not okay now? (laughter)
Dan Brown: So that's not okay, either? (laughter) You know, science progresses.
In The Lost Symbol, Mal'akh thinks that by learning the secrets of the
Freemasons, he can become something like a god. You might be surprised to
learn the founders had a similar idea.
Matt Lauer: There is a painting in the Capitol-Dan Brown: Yes.
Matt Lauer: Tell me about it.
Dan Brown: Well it's a painting that I was shocked to find was there. I said, "There
is a painting called the Apotheosis of Washington," apotheosis meaning, "The godmaking of Washington--"
Matt Lauer: George Washington becoming a god.
Dan Brown: It seemed almost irreverential. It was like, "How can a man become a
god?" And you start looking at this painting and you realize just how strange it is.
But it really, to my eye, and to other historians' eye, catches this concept of the
power of man.
Matt Lauer: Again, can you imagine anyone putting forth that notion of politicians
as gods?
Dan Brown: Right.
Matt Lauer: Here we are in the 21st century-Dan Brown: Well-Matt Lauer: --you'd be run out of town.
Dan Brown: You'd be run out of town. There was a statue of George Washington
that sat in the Capitol. He was unclothed-- he had a model of a statue of Zeus. It
was George Washington as a god.

Matt Lauer: Right.

Dan Brown: And that did get run out of the Capitol building.
When they thought of becoming godlike, the founders were probably thinking about
perfecting their minds through science and learning. In Brown's novel, however,
the villain Mal'akh believes something much more profound and potentially sinister:
that the Freemasons, from ancient times, through the time of George Washington
to the present day, guarded secrets that could transform matter, transform a
person, unleash incredible psychic and spiritual power. Most modern-day Masons
say the brotherhood is not nearly so mysterious.
Arturo de Hoyos: There is no deep, dark, intimate and ultimate secret of
Freemasonry which will transform the world in the way that The Lost Symbol
portrays. It would be exciting if it were true, but such is not the case.
That's what most Freemasons say, but not all.
Cliff Porter: Sometimes it is said we have no secrets. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
We'll learn some of their secrets next.
In Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol," the hero Robert Langdon races through
Washington, D.C., trying to unravel a secret Masonic message. He's forced to do it,
by Mal'akh. He threatens to kill a man who's both a dear friend of Langdon's, and a
thirty-third degree Freemason. Mal'akh also uses blackmail with evidence that
some of Washington's most powerful men engage in Masonic rituals so bizarre,
revealing them would bring down the government. Could the rituals of freemasonry
be that shocking?
You decide.
Cliff Porter: Masonry is a transformative art. It can be extraordinary in a man's life.
It's-- speculative and alchemical and all those things.
Cliff Porter is senior warden of "enlightenment lodge 198" in Colorado. Brothers
here say they are seeking eternal truths, learning ancient mysteries.
Cliff Porter: What I take offense to is the fact that sometimes it is said we have no
secrets, or that what can be known about us can be Googled. Nothing could be
further from the truth.

Somewhat reluctantly, they opened a few of their doors to our cameras. They
practice alchemy here, the ancient art that sought to turn lead into gold. You might
think of alchemy as pseudo-science. But it's also been used through the centuries
as a metaphor of personal transformation.
Tim: This process of removing impurities to elevate it something greater, and more
special, and more potent is very much what we also do within Freemasonry. Take
good men, and make them grow into something more special.
Initiates go through a ritual that's meant to be intense and startling. First, the
subject's vision is taken away with a "hoodwink" placed over his head. Then a
master Mason-- dressed as the grim reaper - issues a warning.
If you persevere you will be purified, you will overcome darkness, you will be
enlightened. But if your soul is fearful, do not proceed.
Shawn Beyer, Freemason: If you're not comfortable with what's going on, if you're
nervous, if you think maybe you have approached the craft for the wrong reasons,
you're given a chance to say I'm no longer okay with this.
Shawn Beyer joined the Freemasons recently and went through the initiation.
Those who elect to continue are led into a place the masons would not let us show
you...a "chamber of reflection."
Shawn Beyer: You go into the chamber of reflection, and you remove the
hoodwink. And you're presented with what is a very interesting image. And Dan
Brown described it pretty well in his book.
As Brown describes it, the chamber includes a human skull and bones, elements
used in alchemy, and a pen and paper where the initiate can write a last will and
testament.
Shawn Beyer: the symbols are meant to help you think about the fact that your life
isn't gonna go on forever. And frankly, it causes a very profound experience.
In one of the most striking scenes in "The Lost Symbol," Robert Langdon discovers
a Masonic chamber of reflection at the center of American power.
Matt Lauer: You described it as being located in the bowels of the Capitol. Did it
exist?
Dan Brown: No, these-- chambers of reflection can exist anywhere.

Matt Lauer: Right.

Dan Brown: Many Masonic lodges have them. There are Masons who have them
in their homes.
This kind of macabre symbolism has driven conspiracy theorists through the
centuries to think the Freemasons practice some kind of black magic. Brown says
Masonic rituals are no stranger than some other, more familiar ones.
Dan Brown: If a Catholic church, for example, pulled the shades and you heard
through the grapevine that people were kneeling under a crucifix, an instrument of
torture and consuming blood and flesh, ritualistically-- you might say, "What a
terrible organization."
The Masons in Colorado say they embrace their symbolism and mysticism. But in
many lodges across the country, the scene is a little different.
Mitch Horowitz: I often tell people that if you like bake sales join Freemasonry
because that's what you're going to be doing.
Mitch Horowitz, author of the book "Occult America," says most Freemasons are
far from mystical.
Mitch Horowitz: They run a wonderful network of free children's hospitals around
the nation. They raise money for charity locally and nationally. They do continue to
use occult and esoteric symbols. But to a very great extent these things are
museum pieces in Freemasonry today.
You've probably seen the Shriners-- an offshoot of the Masons-- riding go-karts
and raising money for charity. Freemasons even had the honor of being satirized
on "The Simpsons."
Grand Master to Homer: Welcome to the club number 9-0-8. Now let's all get
drunk and play ping-pong!
The Masons have also lost some clout since George Washington's day. The last
master Mason to serve as president was Gerald Ford. But Brown says whether
they know it or not, the Freemasons' secret rituals still connect them to a rich,
powerful, mystical tradition.
Dan Brown: I intended this book as a reverential look at their philosophy.

Matt Lauer: And isn't there possibly another side of the coin here, in this day,
where it's become a little more humdrum with the bake sales and the charitable
drives, you've created a little more mystery. You've given some of their mystery
back to them. And they might like that.
Dan Brown: I hope so. As with any organization, there are some who understand
the core and some who are on the periphery. I'm hoping it starts to pull people in
the direction of the ancient mysteries.
The ancient mysteries. They're the key to the plot of The Lost Symbol. But are they
the key to much more?
Dan Brown: All of these texts from all of these different authors tend in a same
direction. This idea of the power of the human mind and the ability of thought to
actually transform the world in which we live.
The villain of the lost symbol, Mal'akh, is a giant who has covered himself with
tattoos he thinks will give him mystical powers: a double-headed phoenix, the
pillars from the temple of Solomon, a snake consuming itself.
You might think the symbols came from from Mal'akh's twisted mind. They came
instead from a mysterious book called "The Secret Teachings Of All Ages," a
favorite of Mal'akh's creator, Dan Brown.
Dan Brown: And that really is a core book for a lot of what I research and a lot
of what I believe.
"The Secret Teachings" was written in the 1920s by a Canadian-American
named Manly P. Hall who founded the Philosophical Research Society in Los
Angeles. It carries on his work, studying the wisdom of the ancients. Its director is
Obadiah Harris:
Obadiah Harris: The ancient mysteries are about the divination of man, how it is
that you can become more fully human and achieve a level of consciousness
beyond the reasoning mind.
Mal'akh believes the Freemasons have guarded the ancient mysteries for
centuries. He forces Robert Langdon to race through Washington, trying to decode
messages the masons engraved on a stone pyramid, messages Mal'akh is
convinced will lead him to the lost symbol of the ancient mysteries - and to
unspeakable power.

Matt Lauer: And you draw a pretty straight line from the ancient mysteries to the
Freemasons and to another subject that we haven't quite discussed yet. Is it an
imaginary line or is it a real line?
Dan Brown: No, it's absolutely a real line. The ancient mysteries deal in the
concept of the power of the human mind. The Masons celebrate mankind and the
power of the human mind. In fact in the second degree ritual there's actually a line
where they say, "Here you will learn the mysteries of human science."
There's a form of "human science" that Mal'akh wants to hijack for his own ends. It
sounds like fiction... But it's not.
Dan Brown: Noetic science really is the reason this book took me so long to write.
I've said before I'm a skeptic. And I hear about these experiments that are being
done that categorically and scientifically prove that the human mind has power
over matter.
Matt Lauer: The physical world?
Dan Brown: Power over the physical world.
The term "Noetic" derives from the Greek word for "mind." Noetic scientists
study whether age old ideas like faith healing ESP, mind over matter
actually have a scientific basis. In Dan Brown's novel, there's a secret lab at the
Smithsonian doing cutting-edge research to prove the human mind has such
power. Mal'akh breaks in, murders one scientist and tries to kidnap another. The
secret lab is fiction. But there's a real one similar to it in Petaluma, California's
Institute Of Noetic Sciences. Its director is Marilyn Schlitz.
Marilyn Schlitz: I would say Noetic is equivalent to intuition, that sense of
feeling that isn't rational. "I just had a gut feeling about something." The
science part of it is really bringing that lens of discernment, of rigor, of critical
thinking to what is a non-rational process.
Schlitz showed us an experiment in which one subject, using her thoughts
alone, tries to alter the vital signs of a second subject in a sealed room.
Another experiment seeks to determine if people, again, through thought
alone, can affect the formation of ice crystals. A third experiment involves
machines called random event generators-- which Noetics researchers have
placed on almost every continent.

Marilyn Schlitz: They are essentially electronic coin flippers. So if you imagine
flipping a coin 100 times, you would expect, based on a normal probability
distribution, that you'd get an equal number of heads and tails.
In some experiments, she says, human thought alone has affected these
machines, changing the ratio of heads to tails.
Matt Lauer: And it's the power of of the human mind? The power of group
thought? The power of group focus?
Dan Brown: I don't know. That's the -Matt Lauer: But how can you this be so central to the book if we don't know? I
mean that's a it's a very difficult concept to get your arms around.
Dan Brown: Well-Matt Lauer: And there are some, let's be honest, who think it's a hoax.
Dan Brown: Sure.
You don't have to look far to find them. Ray Hyman, a former professor of
psychology at the University Of Oregon, has made a mission of exposing
what he considers scientific fraud-- and Noetic science is on his hit list.
Ray Hyman: Noetic science is not the science that we know of as physics
and chemistry and even psychology. There's very little science there, as far
as I'm concerned.
Nevertheless, the Institute of Noetic Sciences has received a grant from the
federal government to study "distance healing"-- what you might call prayer.
Dan Brown: I spent a lot of time researching Noetic science and really had to get
to the point where I realized, "You know what? The world's a stranger place
then we thought." And the human mind really does have the ability to affect
matter.
He says his new belief led to an old fear.
Dan Brown: Every single scientific breakthrough in human development,
whether it was fire or nuclear power, has been turned into a weapon. My fear

is that we start to learn how to use our minds and that our innate dark sides
will use it for evil.
Which, of course, is exactly Mal'akh's goal, one he's willing to kidnap, torture, and
kill for.
Matt Lauer: and what you've set up in the book is the people who think about,
"Boy, we can change the world in a positive way." Your villain in this book, Mal'akh,
says, "Wait a minute. I don't want that renaissance."
Dan Brown: Right.
Matt Lauer: I want this to be a source of evil.
Dan Brown: Mal'akh is the reminder that with knowledge comes responsibility.
It may sound heavy for a beach read. But Brown doesn't seem worried.
Dan Brown: I think my books contain a lot of meat but it tastes like dessert
somehow.
He manages that by folding the big ideas into a book-length, high-speed chase, all
the while revealing the secrets of a city that seems familiar.
What other secrets does Washington hold? Brown himself will show us next.
"The Lost Symbol" takes you on a high-speed journey to uncover secrets in
Washington, D.C. Dan Brown helped us retrace the steps of his fictional hero,
Robert Langdon.
Dan Brown: One thing I love to do is to get people to see things through a slightly
different lens.
Brown showed us the nation's capital through his eyes-- and it does look different.
Dan Brown: This city has all the intrigue of Rome or Paris when it comes to
architecture.
The Capitol Rotunda-- where the fictional Langdon makes a gruesome discovery
has a real-life secret, stumps of iron in the floor that used to be part of a railing. In
the 1820's, there was a hole in the floor-- leading down to a lower level, the
"Capitol Crypt."

Matt Lauer: You also found this labyrinth of rooms in the basement areas and subbasement of the capital?
Dan Brown: Right. The under stories of the U.S. Capitol are filled with these tiny
room. The blueprint of the Capitol building is an astonishing document. It-- it looks
like-- it looks like a-- right out of a labyrinth of ancient Greece.
Landgon flees through that labyrinth and emerges across the street, in the Library
Of Congress, which has its own treasures-- hidden in plain sight.
Dan Brown: you've got this astonishing staircase with an anachronistic sort of
feature one of these little cherubs, these putti. You've got one up here: It's holding
a telephone.
Matt Lauer: It's right-- yeah, right there.
Dan Brown: I mean, you've got-- and you've got one down here. Over here, you've
got an entomologist. He's catching butterflies.
With this bizarre fusion of these little religious figures with with scientific concepts.
And, of course-- we had to check out the main reading room, where Brown's hero
narrowly escapes his pursuers by riding a conveyor belt meant for books.
Dan Brown: it's my favorite room in all of D.C.
Matt Lauer: Is it really?
Dan Brown: Without a doubt. It's been called the most beautiful room in the
world. It's an octagon lit in eight different directions so there are no
shadows, no shadows anywhere. The room-- room really seems to-- to radiate.
Langdon needs a place to hide out - a sanctuary - but to get there he has to solve
a riddle: "A refuge containing ten stones from Mount Sinai, one from heaven itself,
and one with the visage of Luke's dark father."
The answer really does reside at the National Cathedral... With stones from Mount
Sinai in the altar steps ... A moon rock set in a stained glass window, and a
gargoyle in the form of Darth Vader. As for the Smithsonian laboratory where
Mal'akh commits a terrible murder, it really exists. Video: Secrets of the National
Cathedral

Matt Lauer: Almost everyone that's come to Washington knows of the

Smithsonian.
Dan Brown: Sure.
Matt Lauer: Very few people know of a facility located just outside of Washington
that is the support center for the Smithsonian. Why did it fascinate you?
Dan Brown: What's not to be fascinated? This place has got a giant squid.
There's an enormous series of labs that will study everything from fleas to-- the
baleen from whales.
One of "The Lost Symbol's" greatest puzzles is also the last stop on Dan Brown's
mystery tour.
Matt Lauer: At the CIA, there is a sculpture that I don't think a lot of people
know.
Dan Brown: There is a-- an American sculptor, James Sanborn, and he has
created a sculpture that-- fascinates me and-- and a lot of cryptologists that
has-- an enormous series of letters on them that appear random but are
actually-- a code.
Matt Lauer: And-- and who knows the meaning of that code?
Dan Brown: Only W.W.
Matt Lauer: That's it?
Dan Brown: That's it.
W.W. is William Webster, the director of the CIA in 1990, when "Kryptos" was
installed. Brown says Webster was given the key to the sculpture's secret
messages, but he's never revealed it. And not one of the CIAs army of
cryptologists has cracked the entire code.
Matt Lauer: It-- it's obvious to anybody who's read your books that you love
puzzles. You-Dan Brown: I do.

Matt Lauer: --loved codes. You know, a Rubik's Cube must have been your best
friend at some point.
Dan Brown: It was.
Matt Lauer: I mean-- it-- what-- (laughter) what is-- is in your opinion the most
fascinating code, puzzle, symbol in this book?
Dan Brown: The most fascinating code I left out of this book.
Matt Lauer: Why?
Dan Brown: Be-- it was too complicated. It was just too tough to use.
Matt Lauer: Well, you can't tell me that-Dan Brown: It-Matt Lauer: --and now not tell-Dan Brown: --it's-Matt Lauer: --me about it?
Dan Brown: Well, I'm not gonna tell you about it. It's in the next book.
Speaking of the next book...
Matt Lauer: Just between us, what's it about?
Dan Brown: Just between us? (laugh)
Matt Lauer: And the Freemasons in this room.
Dan Brown: And the Freemasons. That-- that will be laid bare at some point in the
future.
Matt Lauer: Yeah? And-- and-- is it similar subject matter?
Dan Brown: No.
Matt Lauer: Complete departure?

Dan Brown: Not complete. Nothing's complete. Everything builds on something

else.
Just as Brown says his current book builds on his previous ones... And asks the
reader for something more as well.
Matt Lauer: There's a call to action in this book. Where you basically challenge the
reader to take what you've just told them over the course of the previous 500
pages and decide what he or she wants to do with it. And did you set out to write
that ending or did that just happen?
Dan Brown: In some ways it just happened. This amount of research and
intellectual growth that went into writing this novel really led to that rather hopeful
ending. And thank you forseeing that it is a call to action.
You see, the whole headlong chase through Washington, the secrets of the
Freemasons, the ancient mysteries, Noetic science. For Dan Brown, it all adds up
to a series of important questions: How well do we know our history? How well do
we understand our beliefs?How well do we grasp the powers of our own minds?
Matt Lauer: Last word of the book is one that will surprise people.
Dan Brown: Yes.
Matt Lauer: It is?
Dan Brown: Hope.
Matt Lauer: Hope. And it means what?
Dan Brown: In the context of this book the last word means that we can do better
and that we will do better.