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REVIEWS < THE TRUE MEANING OF THE this truth. Furthermore, he says, the quest of _ the Matthew tree goes from Solomon, DA VINCI CODE the Knights Templar was bound up in ensur- _—_ David's eldest and royal son, while in Luke by Robert Pope ing that the wisdom of this code would not it goes from Nathan, the prophet-priest who The Science-Art Research Centre of be lost. In this escapade through the was another of David's sons. There were Australia, Inc., 2005 philosophies of the ages, Pope Teassesses two Marys and Josephs, he says, as well as ISBN 0-9577784-7-3 (155pp tpb) our technocentric society and posits a better —_ two Jesus/Messiah contenders who were a Availability: Australia— The Science-Art way to achieve true democracy and peace. year apart in age, so these stories of the childhood of Jesus are describing the lives of two different people, he maintains. The "two Jesuses" concept is recorded in various apocryphal and gnostic texts, was known in the Arab world, was portrayed in certain paintings of the Renaissance era, and was confirmed in the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls that were found at Qumran in 1947. In fact, Nesfield-Cookson is a student of Rudolf Steiner, who in 1908-09, decades before the scrolls were found, publicly dis- cussed this dichotomy. However, Steiner's contention was that during the reputed miss- ing three days in the Temple, the wisdom and cognitive abilities of the Solomon Jesus creation" he helped bring into existence a m mechanistic mindset that is now accelerating were transferred to the more sensitive, soul- ful, 12-year-old Nathan Jesus in a magical a global crisis of destruction. He made the a n ultimate mistake by suggesting that all of the THE MYSTERY OF THE TWO JESUS ceremony that fulfilled the prophecies, but Research Centre of Australia, Inc., PO Box 773, Murwillumbah, NSW 2484, email pope@science-art.com.au y adhering to a mechanistic world view, Western civilisation is on a path to extinction, says Science-Art philosopher Robert Pope. The ancient knowledge passed on by the Greeks upheld a survival science, a "Saviour science" that was misinterpreted by Leonardo da Vinci but was privately understood by Isaac Newton. Da Vinci was an “unbalanced genius" according to Professor Pope, and by "inadvertently" obscuring the "principle of universe could be made visible to human CHILDREN and the Descent of the with the result that the former was depleted perception—and yet the Greeks, and other Spirit of the Sun of his life-force and died. The fact that inci- ancients before them, identified with a uni- by Bernard Nesfield-Cookson dents like this were passed on and recorded versal reality in which harmonious, invisible | Temple Lodge, UK, 2005 in Renaissance art adds weight to the atomic movement generated divine wisdom. _ ISBN 1-902636-65-1 (82pp tpb) author's argument that there was an esoteric In response to popular novels like Dan Availability: Temple Lodge, undercurrent so strong that it was kept flow- Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Pope hopes to _http:/Awww.templelodge.com ing through the centuries. set the record straight by returning to the here's an underground mystery tradition Nesfield-Cookson says that Steiner also atomistic philosophy of the ancient Greek that holds that there were two Jesus chil- drew on the wisdom of ancient Persia and scholars such as Plato and Philo. Plato's dren. The two completely distinct genealo- _India, suggesting that what happened in the world view is much more akin to a holo- gies given in the canonical gospels of Temple between the Solomon and Nathan graphic reality, Pope argues. The "true Matthew and Luke lend support to this lines was a fusing of the Zarathustra and meaning of the code", he suggests, relates to _ notion, says UK author and educator Buddha streams of wisdom. He shines a atomic movement creating evolutionary wis- | Bernard Nesfield-Cookson. light on the mystery of the "descent of the dom, and he points out some classic exam- He contends that the genealogies of spirit of the Sun" in this thoughtful reassess- ples of Renaissance art that communicate Matthew and Luke split after King David; ment of biblical and spiritual history. this truth. Furthermore, he says, the quest of the Knights Templar was bound up in ensur- ing that the wisdom of this code would not be lost. In this escapade through the philosophies of the ages, Pope reassesses our technocentric society and posits a better way to achieve true democracy and peace. 68 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2005