What would you think if I said that I had completely and conclusively solved the mystery of the Holy Grail? If on this page I could explain exactly what you're looking for, why and exactly where it is? Well, in a nutshell, that is exactly what I intend to do.

I've spent many years studying all of the various documentation and innuendo about the Grail. I've read all of the books; The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Cracking the Da Vinci Code, Bloodline of the Holy Grail and the Gnostic Gospels of Philip, Mary Magdalene, and Thomas as I am sure many of you have done as well. I've even seen the movie and all of the documentaries as well.

But in all this I missed a key piece of the puzzle. I never asked myself, "Why am I interested in the Holy Grail".

Uncovering hidden secrets
Like most people, my key driver was the search for hidden secrets. Trying to find some magic hidden under a stone. A lost fragment of parchment. A little known incantation. Some amazing piece of wisdom passed on down the ages by a secretive cult. Of course, even the bare minimum of analysis of this sort of reasoning makes one realise that the mere act of uncovering a secret is not likely to make any difference to one's life. You might as well spend the day solving a cryptic crossword or the latest incarnation of the Rubik cube.

Glory and recognition
Can you tell me who discovered the Turin shroud or the name of the Shepherd who chanced across the dead sea scrolls. Quite frankly, finding the Holy Grail is unlikely to find you any great recognition and glory, except as a drinking story with your buddies in the bar.

Money - the filthy lucre
Money is probably a good reason to go after the Holy Grail, but given your chances of actually finding it and proving its existence, you might as well play the lottery. If I was a trained archaeologist and had some sort of funding to go digging around the Middle East and negotiate major deals with underworld archaeological syndicates, that might be a good reason for me to spend my life hunting for this artifact. But fortunately for me - I'm not.

Magical powers
As I began to look deeper into the enormous interest in finding this object, I realised that there has always been this hint of the Holy Grail having magical powers. Not sure why that should be. I've never really found any object having more or less magical power than another. I can bet that even if you came across Merlin's wand, it wouldn't be any more magical than my mobile phone. And if Christ's cup had any special powers, why would we stop there? Why not search for his slippers, his robe, or a personal object like a comb? A nice ego-boosting object to keep on your shelf - but clearly not one that will increase your magical powers one iota.

Royal lineage
Another key factor of interest ignited by Dan Brown and Baigent was the promise that the search may lead to the true successor of Christ. Warren Buffet once said that you wouldn't choose the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics. In the same way, I wouldn't expect the child (or even less the great great grandchild) of a great Master to have the same status as his or her forefather. An interesting insight into all those so-called Masters who claim their status based on their lineage. So frankly, give me a real Master any day rather than make me hunt pointlessly for the son of the son of the son of the son of the son of God.

Symbolism
So I finally narrowed down all of the interest in the Grail down to symbolism. A religious group being able to claim that they own a potent object, an anti-Church group trying to prove that Christ was just a normal human being, an archaeologist trying to win points amongst peers, or a wealthy person looking for a trophy for his or her wall. Clearly not something that floated my boat.

So alas my friends I must say that my search for the Grail made me realize that what we are truly searching for is peace and happiness. And that search leads you nowhere else than within your own body and mind. And the mystery of the Holy Grail is nothing but a distraction from this truly worthwhile search.

Hope this helps.