The Last Word

The Last Word
By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

September 14, 2019

I

There was a time some time ago, when I still in Manila, that a friend was telling me about Freemasonry. But he was not a member, and what he said about the group sounded really sinister. I asked him how he knew those things, and he said that someone told him. He then realized that he had readily believed what he had heard even though he didn't really know the truth. For all he knew, the person who told him probably got it from someone else who also knew nothing. I also realized there had been times when I too had been gullible and naive. It was an a-ha moment for both of us.

II

Yet I have another friend who is very familiar with secret societies and esoteric knowledge. He knows many things about Freemasonry, The Knights Templar, the Illuminati, the Rosicrucians. He knew about Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the bloodline years before Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code." It was from him that I learned that the Founding Fathers of the United States were Freemasons. Perhaps it simply means that they knew things that the masses don't, and they used that knowledge to build a government that is still growing strong even after two centuries, so I think that's a good thing.

III

Personally, I deeply admire how every American President since George Washington has upheld and protected their Constitution. It is still the same Constitution drafted on July 4, 1776, to which they just add amendments to fit the changing times. To put it in perspective, here in the Philippines, various elements have tried to void the entire Constitution to create their own. I think there is something to be said that the United States never had martial law, and her Presidents would always step down after their term of office.

IV

As I read "The Lost Symbol," also by Dan Brown, I was intrigued even more about the Freemasons, about how they built the city of Washington and founded a nation that respects individual freedom above all else. There is a legend that the Masons hold the key to infinite power, but the symbologist Robert Langdon is skeptical. He thought: "I wasn't a member of Odysseus' crew, but I'm certain the Cyclops is a myth." I love the books of Dan Brown, with their meticulous research and surprising plot twists. The treasure is hidden in ancient symbols, and naturally, if there is someone who can crack the code, it would be Langdon. (Here is the "cast" of the movie on my mind as I read it):

Robert Langdon – Joe Mantegna

Peter Solomon – Michael Douglas

Katherine Solomon – Sigourney Weaver

Inoue Sato – Michelle Yeo

Warren Bellamy – James Earl Jones

Mal'akh – Ralph Fiennes

Colin Galloway – Max Von Sydow

Trent Anderson – Neil McDonough

Turner Simkins – Holt McCallany

Trish Dunne – Kirsten Vangsness

Nola Kaye – Mayim Bialik

Jonas Faukman – Danny De Vito

Officer Nunez – Michael Peña

Omar Amirana – Riz Ahmed

Mark Zoubianis – Jesse Eisenberg

Rick Parrish – Rami Malik

Photo courtesy of Amazon