The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, #6)

by Dan Brown

The afterlife is a shared delusion…created to make our actual life bearable.

Einstein had famously declared: Coincidence is God’s way of staying anonymous.

Buddha: With our thoughts, we create the world. Jesus: Whatever you ask for in prayer, it will be yours. Hinduism: You have the power of God. The concept, Langdon knew, was echoed by modern progressive thinkers and artistic geniuses as well. Business guru Robin Sharma declared: Everything is created twice; first in the mind, and then in reality. Pablo Picasso’s most enduring quote proclaimed: Everything you can imagine is real.

Langdon explained that eagerness to find personal truth in general statements was known as the Barnum effect—so named for the sideshow “personality tests” that P. T. Barnum had employed to fool so many circusgoers into believing he had psychic powers.

‘The abrupt manifestation in a human mind of a unique skill or knowledge that previously was nonexistent.’ ” She smiled. “In other words, you get conked on the head and you wake up a virtuoso violinist, or fluent in Portuguese, or a genius at math—where you previously possessed none of these skills.”

“And it’s been decades,” Katherine continued, “since we’ve proven repeatedly that human thought, when focused, can quite literally alter one’s body chemistry. And yet…the notion of remote healing is skeptically debunked by medical experts as voodoo.”

“Wait! No way in hell I’m going to Prague! I don’t have my passport! I need to feed my cat!”

LOL PRIORITIES

There is a reason, Langdon often reminded his students, that mirages of oases are seen only by thirsty travelers in the desert—and never by college students walking on the quad. We see what we want to see.

“I just find it curious that you accept as absolute fact a premise you’re unable to prove. In my world, we call that faith…not science.”

“You both see meaning where there is none.”

Immortality through fame, Langdon mused as he took photographs, recalling that Shakespeare, Homer, and Horace had all opined that the uniquely human desire to be “famous” was, in fact, the symptom of another uniquely human trait—our fear of death. To be famous meant you would be remembered long after you died…fame a kind of eternal life.

Langdon sometimes sensed the only reason to do anything anymore was to post it for the world to see.

Feels like everything is just staged nowadays, isn't it?

I am here to watch over you…and yet you don’t even know me.

CREEPY STALKER

I am your protector, Sasha.

WHAT, I thought he's stalking Katherine?!

“Memento mori,” Langdon said. “Remember death is coming…and live well.”

“Repeated sensory input is blocked by your brain so effectively that you literally cannot hear the incessant hum of the air conditioner or feel the pair of glasses sitting on your nose. That filter is so powerful that we can search the house for glasses that are literally right before our eyes, or a phone clutched in our hand.”

“Have you ever done drugs, Robert?”

Oh here we go again LOL, I just finished Poppy War. What a coincidence!

“As you well know, the delicate ‘threshold’ between life and death is a mystical place.”

Godspeed, The Golěm thought, relieved to see Robert Langdon and Katherine Solomon racing from the dome. They do not deserve to die.

Shit, now I felt bad WTH Dmitri.

One of the by-products of fear, Langdon knew—especially the fear of death—was total clarity of purpose.

“Sasha,” he whispered to his reflection. “I wish you could know me.”

What in the world?! It's like he has a split personality or something.