#2 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009

In this book, one of the secondary characters is named Katherine Solomon. She happens to be researching Noetic Science, which is the study of human thoughts being able to control the physical world. Although Katherine Solomon and the extent of her research in Dan Brown's book is fiction, the scientific study is actually real. Katherine explains Noetic Science as such: A grain of sand has an immeasurably tiny mass. But if trillions of these grains of sand came together to form something (such as the moon) its gravity would have the ability to affect physical objects (such as the tide). Noetic Science states that thoughts similarly have an undetectable mass. In theory, if enough people began to think the same thing the gravity of the thought could have an actual effect on the physical world.

I love the idea that our thoughts could have an actual weight upon the universe. It calls to mind the phrase "mind over matter". Although I do not know what kind of effect joint-thoughts would have, nor if the effect would be worth the effort of getting thousands of people to think the same thought, I just like the idea that our thoughts have matter. It is not just some willy-nilly nothingness going in and out of your head. It is an actual thing even though you can not see it. Like gravity. Or the Force. It just gives it a little more self worth to acknowledge that it is there, and that it is not simply some abstract concept.  

The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009

This book is about a Professor named Robert Langdon who specializes in hidden symbols. When he receives a call from a friend to speak in Washington he agrees, not knowing that the person who called was not his friend's secretary as he claimed, but rather his captor. Now he is in a race against time to find the "portal to Ancient Mysteries" in order to save his friend's life. It is an amazing book that has kept me turning its pages since I first picked it up. 

One of my favorite parts was a flashback of Professor Langdon teaching a freshman class about the Masons. When one of the students claimed that it sounded a lot like a freaky cult, and Langdon replied, 

"Too bad. If you think that's too freaky for you, then I know you would never want to join my cult." Then he explains, "On the pagan day of the sun god Ra, I kneel at the foot of an ancient instrument of torture and consume ritualistic symbols of blood and flesh." At the classes horrified expression he continued, "And if any of you care to join me, come down to the Harvard chapel on Sunday, kneel beneath the crucifix, and take Holy Communion. Open up your minds, my friends. We all fear what we do not understand." 

Truer words have never been spoken. Whether or not it is because of religion, race, or any other category we almost always judge others by our fears. This same concept was shown in the essay we read in class A Black Man in Open Space. Everyone should cease their prejudice and take Professor Langdon's advice to open our minds.

 

# 8 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2006

While in Indonesia, Liz's friend the medicine man happened to tell her about a spiritual presence everyone has. He calls them the Four Brothers and says that they are with you from birth to protect and look over you. I loved the idea that you always would have these guardian angels, these brothers, to watch your back. Excited at the idea, I closed my eyes and tried to reach out to my four brothers. I felt their presence very easily, as if they wanted to be found. It might have been my overactive imagination, but I hope that it wasn't. I liked the idea of my own guardian brothers. I rather felt as if each had their own personality: the strong one, the sensitive one, the wise one, and the comedian.

The medicine man told Liz that she must have a special name that she referred to herself as when speaking to her brothers so that they would always know it was her. I followed his advice and made myself a nickname too. For personal reasons I do not wish to divulge it, but lets just say it is the equivalent of "Small Birdie". Having given myself this name I felt my brothers should have names too. I almost immediately dismissed the idea. Who was I to choose the names of my angels, and even if I did I probably would not have been satisfied with them. The names would have to be meaningful so that I would not forget. A while after giving up the search of names the names came to me: Charlie (the comedian), Sam (the sensitive one), Rodney (the wise one), and Mick (the strong one). Once again I do not know if this was due to a divine presence or my subconscious, but I really hope it is the former.

P.S This will be my last blog on Eat, Pray, Love. It has been a great book and I recommend it to anyone who really wants to believe in something, even if that something is just yourself. 

#7 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2006

In Bali one of Elizabeth's  friends was an old medicine man whom she estimates is between sixty five and a hundred and twelve years old. Through a certain kind of meditation he claims that he can pass through seven levels of happiness and reach heaven. When Liz asks if he has also visited hell and says that he has. Just as he has to pass seven levels of happiness to get to heaven he needs to pass seven levels of sorrow to get to hell. When she asks what hell is like, He replies, "Same-same. Same in end, so better to be happy on journey." 

Wow. Deep. I do not agree with it on a religious level, but it is interesting to think about. Love and happiness are inevitable so don't waste your time, or anybody else's, with self pity. If you should live by this mid set think of how many people would be happier. They would get up and finally DO something about their misery. But then again they might just let their sadness envelope them, thinking that they might as well finish the path that they were on since happiness is the general outcome anyway. The sadness and sorrow might also make the happiness seem all the more better once you finally achieve it. (218) So which way is better? I can honestly say I have no idea but on this instance I think I will take the medicine man's word for it: "better be happy on journey." 

#6 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2006

Countless times last year as one of my classrooms contently worried about our grades our teacher gave us a mantra to repeat: I am not a number. I am not a number. I am not a number. I came to believe her even if it didn't help so much when the less-than-spectacular grades came back in. So when I began reading about Elizabeth Gilbert's adventures in Bali I was a little surprised when it came to the Balinese names. The four most popular names translate into First, Second, Third, and Fourth. I understand that this is a different culture and all that but, among other reasons, this seems like a very confusing naming system. Can you imagine?

"Hey First, no not you, the other First! Yeah, I was here first!"

"But you are Third!"

"I know but I am first in line and you are second."

"But SHE'S Second!"

Oy vey. The whole situation reminds me of an excerpt from a book called The Phantom Tollbooth. The main character is trying to explain the concept of names to a character called the Dodecahedron. The Dodecahedron replies, "How terribly confusing. Everything here is called exactly what it is. The triangles are called triangles, the circles are called circles, and even the same numbers have the same name. Why can you imagine what would happen if we named all the twos Henry or George or Robert or John or lots of other things? You'd have to say Robert plus John equals four, and if the four's name were Albert, things would be hopeless."

In both situations I can see the point made by having names be numbers but my argument is that it simply does not apply. Just by talking about someone named Third I could be referring to a fourth of the Balinese population. I believe that individuals need to be named individually; not as numbers.

#5 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert 2006

While Elizabeth remained at her Indian Temple she decided to take on Silence as a devotional practice. She was a naturally talkative person and loved the idea of "emanating a holy radiance of silence" and becoming known as "That Quiet Girl". The very next morning an office administrator called her up and told her that her job while staying at the temple had been changed. No longer was she going to be scrubbing the floors but the Key Hostess of the spring retreats. In other words she is the only person the participants are allowed to talk to while they are in silence. Ironic. I could just imagine God drooping his shoulders and rolling his eyes in exasperation while sighing, "No, don't try to change yourself in order to talk to me, I want to talk to you personally."

Elizabeth quotes a philosopher on saying, "The wise man is always similar to himself." It is a good thing to keep in mind and a great rule to life by. You do not have to be unique or original like all of your teachers have ever claimed. It might help but it certainly is not mandatory as long as you are yourself. If you should say what others want to be said your audience will thank you and smile in your direction before continuing to go about their own business. Should you say what needs to be said your audience will applaud you. Depending on exactly who it is in your audience of course.

To quote the Genie as he buzzed around Aladdin's ear, "Just remember, BEE yourself!"

#4 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2006

This blog is going to be slightly different than usual. The Indian portion of Eat, Pray, Love inspired me to do my own meditation. I was reading before school one morning and read about Vipassana, a form of meditation in which you do nothing. You sit. End of story. You are not allowed to move once you have positioned yourself, not even to scratch. I thought to myself, There is no way I could do that for even ten minutes. And a deeper part of me replied, You will never know if you don't try. It is only for ten minutes. On your mark, get set, GO! No sooner than I thought it my leg began to itch. Ignoring it didn't help. If anything, it made it worse. So instead I focused on it. I discovered that it wasn't that bad. My leg wasn't burning, it had an itch; an insignificant itch. With that I was able to move on. 

After I had my epiphany (It was only an itch! Who knew?) I was able to meditate on the sunlight. I know that sounds a little corny but it was the only thing I could meditate on besides the wall. I found the spots where it pulsed and waited in anticipation for shadows to move and reveal the light behind. That sunlight reminded me of contentment and happiness. It could be disfigured and hidden but it was always there. You can never quite get rid of it.

After my sunlight analogy, I closed my eyes and breathed. In, and then out. While I inhaled I made certain that the air went all the way down to my toes and when I exhaled I reeled the air back up to my head as if it was on a fishing line. I would like to say that I experienced some form of enlightenment but I would be lying. However, it did make me feel peaceful and happy.

When one of my friends finally showed up at school and broke my trance I found to my delight that I had done it! Ten minutes had already gone by. That deep part of my mind said, Good. Now you can try it for three hours. Thankfully, my more conscious mind had the sense to reply, That is so not happening. 

#3 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2006

One of my favorite parts of this book so far is one of her dreams in India. She dreams that she is on a beach with her Guru's Guru (her Grand-Guru?) whom she refers to as Swamiji is telling her to stop the tide. After several failed attempts at doing so Swamiji laughs at her and says, "Tell me, if you would be so kind- how exactly were you planning on stopping that?"

I think that this dream really brought out her insecurities about having to tame her raging mind during Yoga sessions, but I came away with my own and an entirely different message. Somethings you cannot change. Somethings you cannot fix. When we come across these things in life we just need to take a breath and then exhale all of our OCD away. I know there are times when I get so obsessed with my writing that I will get stuck on one word. I will stare endlessly at that taunting, blinking cursor tearing my hair out. I almost need someone to remind me that it is just a tiny little word, and I can worry about it later. Then I can shake off my obsession and return to what I enjoy doing.

Sometimes life is going to be like that puzzle that has had its missing pieces replaced by ones that do not fit. You are going to have to learn to scatter those puzzle pieces we call life around until they become a beautiful mosaic.