"The library in the House of Temple was D.C.'s oldest public reading room. Its elegant stacks burgeoned with over a quarter of a million volumes, including a rare copy of the Ahiman Rezon, the Secrets of a Prepared Brother. In addition, the library displayed precious Masonic jewels, ritual artifacts, and even a rare volume that had been hand printed by Benjamin Franklin"
(TLS 466).
"Langdon's favorite library treasure, however, was one few ever noticed.
The illusion.
Solomon had shown him long ago that from the proper vantage point,
the library's reading desk and golden table lamp created an unmistakable optical illusion...
that of a pyramid and shining capstone.
Solomon said he always considered the illusion a silent reminder that the mysteries of Freemasonary were perfectly visable to anyone if they were seen from the proper perspective.
Tonight however, the mysteries of freemasonary had materialized front and center...
Langdon now sat opposite the Worshipful Master Peter Solomon and the Masonic Pyramid.
Peter was smiling.
"The 'word' you refer to,
Robert,
is not a legend.
It is a reality."
Langdon stared across the table...
"But...
I don't understand.
How is that possible"
"your saying you believe the Lost Word is real...
and that it has actual power?"
"Enormous power," Peter said.
"It has the power to transform humankind by unlocking the Ancient Mysteries."
"A word?"
Langdon challenged.
"Peter,
I can't possibly believe a word~"
"You will believe," Peter stated calmly.
Langdon stared in silence.
"As you Know,"
Solomon continued...
"it has long been prophesied that there will come a day when the Lost Word will be rediscovered...
a day when it will be unearthed...
and mankind will once again have access to its forgotton power."
Langdon flashed on Peter's lecture about the Apocalypse.
although many people erroneously interpreted apocalypes as a cataclysmic end of the world,
the word literally signified an "unveiling,"
predicted by the by the ancients to be that of great wisdom.
The coming age of enlightenment.
Even so,
Langdon could not imagine such a vast change being ushed in by...
a word.
Peter montioned to the stone pyramid...
besides its golden capstone.
"The Masonic Pyramid,"
he said.
"The legendary symbolon.
Tonight it stands unified...
and complete...
my friend,
you have done what has never been done before.
You have assembled the Masonic Pyramid,
deciphered all of its codes,
and in the end,
unveiled...
this"
(TLS 466-7).
Solomon produced a sheet of paper and laid it on the table.
Langdon eyed the grid.
Heredom, circumpunct, pyramid, staircase...
Langdon sighed...
"you can probably see,
this is an allergorical pictogram...
its language is metaphysical and symbolic rather than literal."
"At the top of the image,
we have the word Heredom~
the 'Holy House'~
which I interpret as the House of God...
or heaven."
"The downward-facing arrow after Heredom signifies that the rest of the pictogram clearly lies in the realm beneath heaven...
that being...
earth."
"The lowest two row,
those beneath the pyramid,
represent the earth itself~
terra firma~
the lowest of all realms."
"Fittingly,
these lower realms contain the twelve ancient astrological signs,
which represent the primordial religions of those first human souls who looked to the heavens and saw the hand of God in the movement of the stars and planets."
"On a foundation of astrology,"
Langdon continued,
"the great pyramid rises from the earth...
streching toward the heaven...
the enduring symbol of lost wisdom.
It is filled with history's great philosophies and religions...
all flowing upward,
merging together,
funneling themselves up through the transformative gateway of the pyramid...
where they finally fuse into a single,
unified human philiosophy...
A single universal consciousness...
a shared global vision of God...
represented by the ancient symbol that hovers over the capstone."
"The circumpunct,"
Peter said.
"A universal symbol of God."
"Right.
Throughout history, the circumpunct has been all things to all people~"
The Great Architect of the Universe."
"And finally?"
Peter asked.
"What about the staircase?"
Langdon glanced down at the image of the stairs beneath the pyramid.
"Peter,"
I'm sure you know as well as anyone,
this symbolizes the Winding Staircase of Freemasonary...
leading upward out of the earthly darkness into the light...
like Jacobs ladder climbing to heaven...
or the tiered human spine that connects man's mortal body to his eternal mind...
the rest of the symbols...
appeaer to be a blend of celestial,
Masonic, and scientific,
all lending support to the Ancient Mysteries."
Solomon stroked his chin.
"An elegant interpretation,
Professor.
I agree, of course,
that this grid can be read as allegory,
and yet..."
His eyes flashed with deepening mystery.
"The collection of symbols tells another story as well.
A story that is far more revealing."
"Oh?"
(TLS 467-9).