Symbols
by Bob Grubb

Symbols are the language of mythology. You must be proficient with language to read mythology. You must be just as proficient with symbolic logic to comprehend it. Comprehension rates directly correlate with this proficiency. As symbols resolve concepts form.

Symbols nest deeply, with nuances at each level. Resolving symbols is a dynamic process. Symbol definition, when resolved to its most primitive reference, is truth. These truths accurately describe that which is otherwise known to us only through a veil of symbolism.

This principal should be familiar to those who have programmed computers. For example a variable, named NINE, is assigned the value of 7:

NINE=7

If it is then stated:

ELEVEN=NINE

then the following statement

IF ELEVEN = 7

is true.

A second programmer reading the IF statement without seeing its underlying assignments would naturally be confused. Not only would she regard it as false, she would likely call it irrational. Another programmer resolving the symbol ELEVEN back one step to ELEVEN=NINE would believe the IF statement to be rational and yet false.

The programmer seeking out and finding the initial assignment NINE=7 would discover the truth, and be equipped to deal with any other part of the program involved with the symbols NINE and ELEVEN (as well as any future assignments based on these).

So it is with all symbols. They are inherently ambiguous, and therefore subject to various interpretations.

The paper money used to pay for groceries is a symbol of work, or a symbol of greed. Status may be symbolized by an automobile, or a bed of nails. A soldier's medals may symbolize heroism or brutality. A deer head mounted on a wall may symbolize great hunting skill, brutality toward defenseless animals, or a love of taxidermy.

These and other symbols are interpreted differently by different spectators. The casual view is a shallow first impression based on the observer's preconceived notions. Interviewing may lead to more rounded conclusions. With sufficient fact finding, the true meaning of a symbol can be fully ascertained.

The power of a symbol is derived by the attention given it multiplied by the number of individuals gaining insight from it. This number is multiplied again by the number of meanings (interpretations) it is purported to convey. A running cumulative weighting of the symbol's age is factored into each multiplication.

An older symbol will have received more attention, by more people, and be subject to more and more interpretations (as its message is applied within the context of cultural development).

These calculations (which I have invented :) describe what I choose to call "Extrapolated Symbolic Potential" (ESP). My ESP is a relative unit that gauges the abstract but real power of symbols. When groups of symbols are manipulated the resultant cumulative ESP is formidable.

After a symbol is successfully introduced it may be "claimed" for use by individuals or groups ignorant of its true meaning, but highly cognizant of its power. Note that symbols may represent any range of morality. A symbol born to foster goodwill may, with time, become expressive of just the opposite. One example of this is the swastika, which for thousands of years was the most nearly universal of religious emblems, a symbol expressing the four corners of the world. Its meaning was completely changed when Adolf Hitler adopted the symbol as the Nazi emblem of brutal world conquest.

It must be wondered if, in such a case, the concept the symbol stood for was lessened or eradicated when the symbol's meaning was changed. The tremendous power afforded the original meaning was diverted, and applied to another purpose. In the example case, the power of the original swastika was transferred to an evil design, becoming more powerful as additional believers pledged allegiance to it.

When we think of war - the exercise of one culture attempting to crush another - we think in terms of weaponry. True historians realize the strategic value of symbols. The development of the stuff that is hurled and the armor that defends againt these is merely solidification of the underlying symbolic issues.

Symbol creation and symbol manipulation are the shepherds of culture. If there is a drive to obtain popular support for this or that idea, effective symbols will be created or appropriated. When an effective symbol is created, or an existing symbol is used to change current definitions, they attract those who understand the power of symbols (initiates). Behind the scene battles are fought for control of each symbol and the direction of its destiny.

Entirely new cultural attitudes can be fostered by symbols housing previously foreign concepts. The symbols used by less advanced cultures seem trivial compared to our own.