How Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol Changed My Life

On a rainy summer evening, after wrestling with some rather dark thoughts, I picked up The Lost Symbol, the third book of the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown. Dan Brown is an author who is exceptional at mixing facts and fiction. When I say facts, not life facts. The historical facts. The ones your history teacher skipped on. In The Lost Symbol, he weaved the fiction around the infamous Freemasonry.

Here’s the gist: Robert Langdon, the symbologist with a knack for getting into strange situations, yet again manages to find himself in another quest. This time, he’s looking for his friend, solving puzzles, and deciphering the secrets of Freemasonry. As a girl with a penchant for darker thoughts, the cult-like elements of the story hooked me in.

For those unfamiliar, Freemasonry is a brotherhood that goes back centuries. It is filled with rituals, symbols, and a promise of self-betterment that could make it seem similar to any number of not-so-revolutionary secret societies. Now, conspiracy theorists do not tiptoe around this society. To them, the Masons are a powerful and sinister group that means us all harm. So, for them a group that has been around for a long time, that seems to have so much power, “may be up to no good”.  

Anyway, what intrigued me most was their motto: Order ab Chao (Order out of Chaos). When I read that, something inside me clicked. I embarked on a philosophical journey. People often chase after order and end up finding chaos. But what if I did the opposite? What if I went after chaos and order found me instead? This seemingly stupid yet profound thought was like the flap of a butterfly wing, now whipping up a tornado in my life.

 I started thinking again: we always strive for order, craving control and predictability, only to be thwarted by life’s inherent chaos. So why not embrace chaos, allow it to lead, and see where it takes us? This idea was liberating. Suddenly, life didn’t seem like a battle against the unknown. Instead, it became an adventure, a wild ride through the unpredictable.

 In conclusion, I started seeking out chaos. It’s simple yet complicated, messy yet strangely clarifying. As Heraclitus would have us believe, the first step is to know ourselves. So, I searched within, faced my fears, and to my surprise, I liked what I found.

So here I am, on this journey through chaos, finding moments of order along the way. It’s not always easy, and it’s rarely neat, but it’s mine. And perhaps, I’ve found a little peace in embracing the unpredictable.