ninth blog

This past Thursday, you were waiting at your friends’ house for the rest of your Bible study group to arrive. Finally, they did. But instead of starting this week’s study right away, your group leader decided we should introduce ourselves one-by-one, since she had noticed some new faces in the group. And, she added, we should say a little something about our days. But of course everyone found him or herself uniquely inspired to elaborate on this simple task, and very rapidly the roundness of your circle became the only ostensible indication these introductions would ever end….

At length the time did arrive for scriptural analysis, etc., and much to your relief, but a little before that your group was met with a question so trivial, so off-topic, it attracted your attention instantly.

The girl who was asking raised her clear, bright voice up for everybody to hear, asserting her turn with surprising dignity. She apologized, but continued, saying that she had been wondering this all day … Why is the imagery printed on the American dollar so strange? The pyramid, the eye, and so on, what does it all mean?

You were fascinated.

You have always loved learning the reasons behind the most mundane things, the inner-workings of the often overlooked. That so much goes unnoticed, that so much thought and purpose is right under your nose wherever you are regardless (and sometimes in spite) of your inattention to it… !

In the nerdiest way science and history used to have this spellbinding effect on you—used to give you a grand sense of meaning everywhere, like seeing magic simultaneously unveiled and multiplied. As a wide-eyed little boy the world was like this in every way. And to be alive was just wandering anywhere, wondering at it all….

Now now, get out of that! Don’t let yourself get carried off on waves of self-sympathy! You have intentions here that are better than nostalgia, don’t you?

As you were saying, the question engaged you. And like an little wolf waking in a grown-up forest, simple curiosity pricked your ears. A few people murmured in response. Some other people said, well, they’re Illuminati symbols aren’t they? Or that it was the work of the Freemasons, right? That’s what National Treasure said it was, right, but wait, was that just in the movie? Never mind, it was the Illuminati, I’m pretty sure… ?

You practically scoffed out loud. In an undertone you assured your neighbor that the imagery on the dollar was certainly not the work of an Illuminatus! She encouraged you to speak up. But the unfortunate fact that you had not even a shred of proof to back yourself up prevented you from doing so. So … you just muttered again that it certainly wasn’t any of the ludicrous things that were being proposed, and shut up.

After Bible study, you were still wondering about this. And so, just like any other member of your generation, you took the question to a search engine.

The results were surprising. The most organized results were on Wikipedia, which wasn’t very surprising at all.

(cont.d in next blog)