Part I: Dan Brown Introduces His Readers to Freemasonry

The attention of the Freemasons everywhere was piqued when Dan Brown announced that his next book would be about our fraternity. Masonic discussion groups lit up with theories and information on what he might be writing about and -when the book finally launched- many Masons rushed out to pick up a copy and read it as quickly as possible to assess our fictional fate. (This author picked up a copy at 4am and had finished it on his lunch hour the following day.)

True to his word, Mr. Brown penned a story about our Fraternity. The Lost Symbol, in fact, uses Masonry as a foundation for the plot and also injects characters with many traits based their view of The Craft. Every main character in the book is closely connected to Masonry:

• Robert Langdon (Protagonist) has a disinterested, favorable, view of Masonry (see below)
• Mal’akh (Antagonist) joins Masonry in an attempt to discover The Lost Symbol
  
• Peter Solomon (friend to Robert Langdon) is a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason
  
• Katherine Solomon (Peter’s sister) at one point in the story says she comes “from a family of well-known Masons”
  
• Many other secondary characters, (which I will not specifically mention, as they are critical to the plot) are Freemasons
  

The Lost Symbol, with its intricate plot and deep ties into both mystical and scientific worlds, may not have been nearly as interesting without the solid foundation of Masonry. The Masonic order has always been a “safe ground” to mix mysticism and science, without fear of retribution from church or state. And, this very issue has been a hotbed for skeptics and conspiracy theorists for ages.

But Mr. Brown sums it up quite well in Chapter 6 of the novel when Robert Langdon tells the class to join Masonry to learn more about mysticism and a student retorts that the Masons are a “super secret” society:

…Langdon challenged. “Would you consider Coca-Cola a secret society?”
“Of course not,” the student said.
“Well what if you knocked on the door of the corporate headquarters and asked for the recipe for Classic Coke?”
“They’d never tell you.”
“Exactly. In order to learn Coca-Cola’s deepest secret, you would need to join the company, work for many years, prove you were trustworthy, and eventually rise to the upper echelons of the company, where that information might be shared with you. Then you would be sworn to secrecy.”

And so, in the coming months, we will explore the view of Masonry that is being presented thanks to Dan Brown and The Lost Symbol. But, as with all worthy endeavors, there are three understandings I ask of all readers, in cooperation with the obligations I have to The Craft and as a gentlemen in general:

1. I cannot discuss the unwritten ritual work of my Masonic jurisdiction.
Please note that in different jurisdictions, there are different rules. (In other words, a Mason in a particular state of this country may discuss different “parts” of Masonry than a Mason in another state. I am sure this is also the case with Masons on an international level as well. If you have a truly burning question about ritual, you may wish to contact your local Grand Lodge.)2. I too am a writer, and as such, I have great respect for anyone who can successfully publish a written work, and therefore, I do not have the right to “critique” Mr. Brown’s writing style or how he crafts fiction.
3. The material presented here is my own opinion and does not represent any body of Freemasonry, nor any of the organizations of which I am a member.

With that, I look forward to a lively and interesting literary adventure for us all!

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S.K. Daniel Hanttula