Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol: A brief review

"As the sun rose over Washington, Langdon looked to the heavens, where the last of the night time stars were fading out. He thought about science, about faith, about man."

Yes that's what the book is about. Science, Faith and Man. And that's why its arguments, reflections, ideas are relevant in our times. Science, Religion, Literature/Art and Philosophy are considered the four foundations of human life. And Brown presents a crisis where all four of them are shaken. And yet, is able to end his work with one word i.e. Hope. 

We live in times when so many false statements, arguments, etc are based on pseudoscience. People, especially students and academics, find it difficult to distinguish between what is true and what is false in terms of scientific explorations and research. Also dreadful is the reality of people praising their ancient cultural knowledge, considering it better than the modern technological advances. In India, considering all technological advances as having their roots in the Indian scriptures, has become a common national sentiment! Well, it's not false always, and in fact Brown's work might even support some of their assertions at some level; but, it might not be true every time. Nevertheless, The Lost Symbol is an active discussion on this debate of ancient and modern knowledge.

Another major discussion which the novel includes is on how some social communities become the 'Other' for both the modern as well as religious thinking. It is interesting how people belonging to a particular strata of society or an organization are easily given the markers of being 'stereotypical', 'orthodox', as well as 'performing black magic' or 'sinful rituals', etc. Freemasonry is one such organization or social institution with its own distinguished ideology and function; and it forms the center of Brown's novel. The Lost Symbol presents how there are so many misunderstandings and false beliefs regarding the nature and function of such communities; in this case the Freemasons. A common characteristic among all such communities in all cultures is that they hold on to the ancient ways of lifestyle and  their understanding of the world around them. They are not necessarily extolling the knowledge of the ancients but they are rather its preservers. What is important is that they learn from the ancients and accept the modern. They are in my opinion, a link between the ancient and modern perspective towards human existence and knowledge.

There were of course. so many other things to know and explore. Such as the field of Noetic Science; something which I had no idea about, considering my interests aren't in the scientific field. However, as a literary student I was curious to know what it is, and that helped me a lot in understanding this novel better as it forms a major aspect of the same.

I have read Brown's DA Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and Inferno, and The Lost Symbol forms the fourth Dan Brown novel for me; and I can say that the debate between science and religion, between faith and skepticism or rather question, is a recurrent motif in his works. And can also argue that literature/art appears always as a link/ bridge between these two in the same and that is one of the reasons why as a student of literature and as a reader, Brown is a must read for people who want to explore such fundamental ideas regarding human life and knowledge.

At the end the reader is left with questions like:

What if the ancient scriptures were suggesting us to search the Creator within us and not outside?

What if it was possible, in the modern times, to reduce the conflicts between Science and Religion?

Well, I think the following might provide some answers:

"Sometimes, a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light."

"Time is a river...And Books are boats. Many volumes start down that stream, only to be wrecked and lost beyond recall in its sands. Only a few, a very few endure the testings of time and live to bless the ages following."