Rev. Troy Pierce
PO Box 25835
SLC, UT 84125-0835

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This will be a very different approach than everyone has used so far.
This seminar will look at the power and phenomena of the Da Vinci Code in our sub-cultures, in our culture, and in ourselves; to see where that leads us on many levels—including the deepest ones.

  Why is the DaVinci Code so compelling to so many people?

      What is it about the story that evokes such emotions?

  What does this tell us about religion in general?

      What does this tell us about our current spiritual landscape?

  Does it reveal Mary of Magdala, or hide her beneath a different veil?

A text may be illuminated and illuminating in different ways.

To Illuminate a text is to shine light upon it to reveal its nature, shape, and shadows.

In illuminating a manuscript, medieval monastics would draw from the text for inspiration to draw upon the text decorations or illustrations. Engaging with the text in a revelatory and expressive manner.

And a text may be illuminating in what it reveals about ourselves and our world. Although, in this case, it does so much more indirectly than directly.

We will be using the illuminating tools of reason and inquiry to explore the nature of the power of a story in our culture. To reexamine the nature of this phenomenon in a way that leads us forward to deeper considerations and conversations.

Sept. 12 7 PM	Stories Untold & Half-told The Surprising Power of a Story Uncovering the larger issues buried in the Novel & Phenomena The least interesting position to have on a topic is to be either for it or against it. We will be looking beyond the easy answers to see why this story has such strong reactions and polarized sentiments.
Sept. 19 7 PM	Our Stories of Stories The Nature of Sacred Stories What stories do we tell about stories, and what do they tell about us? Stories, and particularly, sacred stories shape our lives. Yet we also shape them. We will look at their nature and our relationship to them.
Sept. 26 7 PM	Pulling back the Veil The Spiral Sacred Quest Our Sacred Stories as Experiences, Guides, and Quests This evening we will explore what directions these particular stories lead us, and what lies beneath and beyond them.

Presented by the Rev. Troy W. Pierce   Gnostic Priest, Artist, Author, & Educator   Director of The Gnosis Institute Pastor of the Holy Gnosis of Thomas Parish Producer of the GnosCast Gnostic Podcasts

The City Library The 4th Floor Meeting Room 210 East 400 South Salt Lake City, Utah

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Approaching the Da Vinci Code

It is with more than a little trepidation that I approach my upcoming seminar Illuminating the Da Vinci Code. My motives for doing so are suspected by many. Although, I truly hope it is far too late for anyone to try to jump on the coat-tails of the usual reactions and responses, and we can only pray that they will fade away sooner rather than later, the ability to imagine another approach seems largely absent.

There does seem to be some grand failure in imagination, a cultural short-circuit. Rather than using it as a tool to give form or to explore possibilities—most seem held captive by their imagination. They imagine only one thing, one perspective, one possibility: and then mistake that for reality. This is the world on spin-cycle, with imagination used as a filter for the world putting a spin on everything, so that imagination is used to reduce the possibilities we see—to tell only one story repeatedly.

Perhaps that is the mechanism of the modern dualism we see everywhere in our culture. The world and the people in it are complex, yet that is oddly missing from our public considerations. The ability to imagine the other as self fades, while the captivity to the imagination in a dualism of self vs other grows.

Yet, we are fish in the sea of our culture. We cannot see the currents directly, and often we forget there is water at all. But, at times, something large moves along the current, revealing not only the current, but reminding us again that we are in a particular sea.

The Da Vinci Code is something we are all probably tired of hearing about—but in a particular way. In the way that has become the standard way of approaching everything. In the way that ends conversation, turning it into a false debate where only one side is heard. We should all be tired of that. We shouldn't stand for it anymore.

I will be standing up against easy answers and modern dualism. And yes, I will be doing it in considering the Da Vinci Code phenomenon. Because in illuminating it we illuminate ourselves—we see something of the deeper currents and the nature of our particular sea. I hope you will be able to join me, either in person or in spirit.