Symbols
I have an interesting relationship with symbols. I attribute much power to symbols, regardless of whether they originate solely in the human mind or not.
For instance, this morning I did a tarot reading for myself. In fact, I did 3 of them. And came away with a strong sense of comfort and warmth. And knowledge, coalesced into useful, tangible meaning.
The symbols on the cards, the paintings and general meaning of them, are just geometric shapes and concepts. They're just words and ideas, not mystical portals to another world.
But what are words and ideas, if not power incarnate? The questions I asked I asked of myself. And the meanings I pulled from each card are meanings that I pull specifics from for my own benefit.
But that doesn't mean that I don't feel a pull when I lay out my cards. It doesn't mean that each card isn't set down with a purpose, pulled from a random selection for a reason.
I don't know what that pull is. I don't know if it comes from inside me, or is external. I'm PRETTY sure it's inside me, but I have no way of knowing for certain.
But when I let that shit go, and just work within the patterns and symbols I surround myself with? I feel wonderful. I feel right, and natural, and hopeful.
The same feeling of rightness exists when I fall into a fractal. I get the same thrill when I immerse myself in mathematical images and concepts.
The same feelings swirl around me when I fall into writing. Or watching, really watching, the world rotate around me.
We are composed of symbols and concepts, as much as flesh and blood, bone and guts. I think of symbols as the flesh we create over the the bones of our structure, the soil over our bedrock. They allow us to feel the world, to interpret stimuli, to make sense of the overwhelming amount of data we are surrounded by. And they are anchors, fixed points that individual humans can grasp and hold on to in the midst of the maelstrom we've created with our big brains and unfathomable complexity.
For instance, this morning I did a tarot reading for myself. In fact, I did 3 of them. And came away with a strong sense of comfort and warmth. And knowledge, coalesced into useful, tangible meaning.
The symbols on the cards, the paintings and general meaning of them, are just geometric shapes and concepts. They're just words and ideas, not mystical portals to another world.
But what are words and ideas, if not power incarnate? The questions I asked I asked of myself. And the meanings I pulled from each card are meanings that I pull specifics from for my own benefit.
But that doesn't mean that I don't feel a pull when I lay out my cards. It doesn't mean that each card isn't set down with a purpose, pulled from a random selection for a reason.
I don't know what that pull is. I don't know if it comes from inside me, or is external. I'm PRETTY sure it's inside me, but I have no way of knowing for certain.
But when I let that shit go, and just work within the patterns and symbols I surround myself with? I feel wonderful. I feel right, and natural, and hopeful.
The same feeling of rightness exists when I fall into a fractal. I get the same thrill when I immerse myself in mathematical images and concepts.
The same feelings swirl around me when I fall into writing. Or watching, really watching, the world rotate around me.
We are composed of symbols and concepts, as much as flesh and blood, bone and guts. I think of symbols as the flesh we create over the the bones of our structure, the soil over our bedrock. They allow us to feel the world, to interpret stimuli, to make sense of the overwhelming amount of data we are surrounded by. And they are anchors, fixed points that individual humans can grasp and hold on to in the midst of the maelstrom we've created with our big brains and unfathomable complexity.
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