The Human Agonies

AKA the Humanities. AKA the field in which I earned my degree. When I tell others what it is that I studied, I either get a blank smile--because the individual has no idea what the humanities entail, or I get to hit by a joke like this: What's the difference between a humanities degree and a cheese pizza? The pizza will feed a family of four. (This joke was truthfully the response of someone who once asked me what I studied.)

The humanities include the study of the arts at large: visual arts, literature, music, theater, cinema, architecture, and a whole lot of history. It is the study of the human experience in all the ways that mankind has found to express itself. And last night, I saw a show on the History channel that proved to me anew the reason why I find humanities so fascinating.

Undoubtedly, you are familiar with Dan Brown's best seller The Da Vinci Code. You are probably also a little familiar with law suite that was brought against Brown (and ultimately dropped) by a British publishing company. They claimed that he lifted the main ideas for Da Vinci Code from a book they published in the 70's titled, Holy Blood, Holy Grail by authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. (Rearrange the letters in the name Baigent and you can spell Teabing. Coincidence?) The show I watched detailed Henry Lincoln's discovery process as he formed the hypothesis that the Holy Grail refers to the continued blood line of Jesus Christ.

The idea first formed from a grave pillar found at a church, Rennes-le-Chateau in France, built and kept by a priest named Sauniere. The pillar contained Latin text which held a coded clue written in French as well as the hidden symbol of the five pointed star. The five pointed star was a medieval symbol for the wounds of Christ, and to the Knights Templar, of the sacred feminine or Mary Magdalene. Lincoln's research brought him to a painting by Poussin, Et in Arcadia ego, AKA The Shepherdess. A geometric study brought to light another five pointed star that touched on geographic landmarks in the painting. (This is getting long, but I'm getting to the point) Lincoln found the sight portrayed in Poussin's painting and mapped out said geographic markers. Markers which were ruins of churches built by the Knights Templar. The mapped coordinates gave Lincoln a specifically measured line which when used on a map as a radius created a circle that connected several other Templar churches. When the same line was used to connect the churches, Lincoln found, again, the symbol of the five pointed star. This was a phenomenon that he found not only in France but also in at least one other site where the Templars built churches. The angles and measurements formed in both locations are unusually exact. They are correct to a 1/100 of a degree in a time when the most advanced technology provided accuracy only to the degree.

I don't intend to talk about the whole Grail hypothesis. I have my own opinions about it. Rather, this show became intellectually engrossing to me when a certain expert from the British Museum said that if the placement of these churches means what Lincoln suggests, then Historians would be forced to change the way they look at the whole medieval era. The history of geometry and surveying would have to be rewritten. The things we build and the things we create say so much about us and our social environment.

This is one reason why I think the arts matter so much. There is information about the human experience that has been preserved through the artistic expressions of each era. In so many cases, the arts act like a lens through which we can correctly interpret factual historical information. I love that there are passionate people who study and ask questions.

Okay, I'm stepping off of my little soap box. Thanks for listening.

So what do the arts mean to you?