Temples Today

Freedom’s Gate: U.S. Capitol as a Temple

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Book Cover

Book Cover

Some of you may remember I wrote about The Apotheosis of Washington painting in the U.S. Capitol.  A friend just informed me that someone has published an ebook that investigates the U.S. Capitol as a type of temple, including this painting, and many other interesting details.  It is called Freedom’s Gate: The Lost Symbols in the U.S. Capitol, by William Henry and Dr. Mark Gray.

Here are some of his main points: ((http://williamhenry.net/freedomsgate.html))

  • The Dome of the U.S. Capitol is a mirror image of the Vatican Dome and was thought of as a recreation of Solomon’s Temple by its builders.
  • The art of the interior corridors of the Capitol mirrors Vatican art.
  • Higher Wisdom flows through the Capitol’s spiritual imagery and artwork.
  • The bell-shaped Capitol Dome is a stupa that creates a vortex or field of energy that extends into the world.
  • The Freemasons who built the Capitol viewed it as a ‘beehive’ buzzing with energy.
  • Literally, we can alter this energy field by visiting the Capitol Dome and praying or meditating inside. This will raise the frequency of the Dome and the Capitol, helping to clear out negative or harmful energies.
  • This is the great secret of the Founding Fathers. They left us a bell to ring in times of distress. Let Freedom’s Ring!

Reading up about the author, William Henry, shows he believes in some interesting New-Age metaphysics, with stargates and wormholes among other things.  I’m not so sure about all of that, but this book might still include some interesting insights about the U.S. Capitol being a type of temple to the Founding Fathers.  Thanks Jennifer!

Has anyone read this book?  What are your thoughts about it?  Please share your impressions in the comments.

0.41 Gigapixel Photo of Salt Lake Temple

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Not to be outdone by yesterday’s 360° Panoramas of Temple Square, Dr. Hamblin has produced probably the highest resolution photograph of the Salt Lake Temple ever made.  It is 0.41 gigapixels, which amounts to 410 megapixels.  Compared with most modern digital cameras which are capable of 2-8 megapixels, this is a super high resolution image.  The total file size of the image is 400 megabytes, but don’t worry, you don’t have to download all of that data to see it.

Dr. Hamblin used a new technology called Gigapan to create the gigapixel panorama.  The results are nothing short of amazing.  The image loads fast, and you can zoom into any portion of the temple and see exquisite details very close-up. I have embedded the photo below for your convenience (if you are reading this in email or RSS, it will only display on the website). If you’d like to see the photo fullscreen, click here.

Dr. Hamblin has also produced a short guided tour of some of the architectural features of the eastern facade of the temple in this photo. It includes the building dedicatory inscription or plaque, sun stones, star stones, clouds, squared-circle stones (sometimes called “Saturn” stones), all seeing eye, moon stones, Alpha and Omega, the Right Hand of Fellowship, and the Angel Moroni.  To see these, click here, and then click on the “Snapshots.”

360° Panoramas of Temple Square

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360° panoramas of Temple Square let you look around as if you were there.

360° panoramas of Temple Square let you look around as if you were there.

Dr. William Hamblin has put together some very cool high resolution 360° panoramas of different locations on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  And they really are 360°.  You can look in all different directions, including up and down.  It gives the impression of standing on the spot.  Well done!

The locations he has included are:

  • West of the Salt Lake Temple (next to Tabernacle)
  • In between Assembly Hall and Tabernacle
  • East of the Salt Lake Temple
  • South of the Salt Lake Temple
  • Near the South Visitor’s Center
  • Christus statue in the North Visitor’s Center
  • Conference Center auditorium
  • Tabernacle interior

You get the best effect if you zoom in just a little.  You can zoom in and out by using the shift and Ctrl keys on your keyboard.  You can move around by clicking and dragging with your mouse.

I’ve always been impressed by how new technologies can take us places for fun or practical purposes.  I’ve written about visiting Utah temples with Google Street View, modeling temples in 3D with Google’s Sketchup, using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology to virtually zoom around Temple Square, or how the Church uses computer rendering to envision future temples.  Dr. Hamblin’s panoramas are a welcome addition!

See the 360° Panoramas of Temple Square

Can You Accidentally Worship the Devil?

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Now that is an odd thing to say, and sounds silly, yet it is precisely what some of our critics claim members of the Church are doing, especially in the design and function of our temples.  This is the premise of a great new blog post by James Carroll at Amateur Scriptorians called “The Language of Symbolism.”

Carroll notes the common reaction of our critics to our temple symbols.  They usually say something like:

…you are actually worshiping the Devil, you don’t know it, but you are doing it on accident, if you only knew what your own symbols meant, then you would understand that you are worshiping the Devil. I know YOU don’t think that the symbols are about the Devil, but they are, and by using them you are actually accidentally worshiping the Devil.

Well, to them the symbols might mean that, and to someone in sometime and someplace, it might have.  But symbols don’t stand alone, isolated from the environment in which they are found.  They are not static figures which can only be interpreted in one way.  They are dynamic representations.

In Carroll’s article he addresses why you cannot say that a symbol means something to someone unless you ask that person.  Symbols are flexible, and change over time, and often mean different things to different people.  It is the meaning assigned to a symbol by a people that gives it significance, otherwise it remains an empty shape.  This is something that many people don’t seem to understand about symbols.

Click the link below to read the article:

The Language of Symbolism

Update: James Carroll has written a continuation of his post that complements nicely the first – The Language of Symbolism Continued

Notes on Sacred Space Symposium at Juvenile Instructor

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I’ve been taking notes this morning at the Sacred Space symposium at BYU, and was thinking of posting my scribbles.  But instead of reinventing the wheel, you might want to check out the great notes at the Juvenile Instructor blog.  Jared and Ben are doing a fantastic job over there of summarizing the presentations.  I don’t think I could do any better.

I will still probably post about my experience at the symposium, but it will be my own take and thoughts on what was presented.

Juvenile Instructor