The Secret of Psalm 46 outline
This is a very rough outline of The Secret of Psalm 46, a talk by Brian Moriarty.
It compresses the talk by just listing the topics discussed. It won't make sense unless you've actually heard the talk.
Outline
0:00
Eclipse
RadioShack -- free batteries, how people bother to get the free batteries, even though they were crappy; lesson from this
Masquerade, easter eggs in video games. Exploiting human psychology.
Cheat codes (the twin of easter eggs)
Hidden messages in works of art. Disney, Kinkade paintings, hiding self-portraits, El Greco, Shostakovich, Straussian readings, Mozart, JS Bach.
14:00
Bach's codings, puzzle canons, people finding "hidden texts" in Bach's music, Thoene's CD.
Numerology: Prodigy bulletin board, Gary's apocalyptic theory about Santa Claus being the devil.
"Easter eggs" in the Bible. Bible searching/codes/numerology. Drosnin's The Bible Code.
26:00
Who wrote Shakespeare? Rev. James Wilmot's biography of Shakespeare: found no books owned by Shakespeare, no letters, no dialect of Stratford in his works, concluded Francis Bacon as author, but did not publish his theory.
Delia Bacon's The Philosophy of Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded.
The word "Bacon" appeared in plays, coding, "greatest easter egg hunt in history of Western civilization".
William Friedman's debunking of Shakespeare ciphers. Channeling preconceptions. Edward de Vere as current leading candidate.
39:00
What is it about Bach, the Bible, and Shakespeare that makes people search for hidden messages? -- it's their influence. "Who today has this audacity, giddy exuberance of invention?" (about Shakespeare). These works are so great -- they inspire awe. Awe as goal of art.
Contrived easter eggs = battery of month club. Awesome things don't hold anything back, don't need to be hidden.
Old lady story about radio -- example of awe.
How Bach composed music as act of worship. Awe, need to be moved.
Video games are in infancy. Someday a great awesome game will be created.
50:00
Giving talk at a conference, taking break to visit Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare's birthplace. Trinity Parish Church, Shakespeare's grave. King James Bible at the church. Shakespeare was 46 when bible was published? Page open to Psalm 46. Committee of 46 made the bible? (earlier in the talk). The secret: 46th word from beginning is "shake", and 46th word from the end is "spear".
Back to eclipse: 400 times size, far away. Coincidence of eclipse.
The story of Kit Williams burying the treasure for Masquerade. Talk ends with the message written by the treasure: "I am the Keeper of the Jewel of MASQUERADE, which lies waiting safe inside me for You or Eternity."
External links
- Official website
- Version of the talk from The Witness that I used (the timestamps from above are from this video)
- this lecture by Moriarty gives some background between his relationship with Blow and the recording of the "The Secret of Psalm 46" that was used in The Witness