Animated dots.
Some recent events re-ignited my interest in symbols. it was triggered by a commitment theme which is unfolding in my life at the moment. I was thinking about the relationship between symbols and myths. The activation point was a situation where I gave a symbol of my commitment, a universally acknowledged symbol, and then I took it back. When I was going back to that event and didn’t want to admit that I did something wrong, my mind was trying to rationalize my actions, coming up with explanations. One of them was actually quite useful, regardless of the circumstances in which it occurred, me building protective reasoning to justify my behaviour. Something occurred to me, symbols are fixed points which become animated by a story. An example would be, that a particular gesture means to me something different to another person. Perhaps based on cultural context, a meaning would shift. But without exchanging what this gesture means to both, there is a chance we end up misunderstanding each other. Some stories are easy to check, like abstract non-personal attachments. But when it comes to intimate stuff, which requires emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate feelings and needs, sharing stories is often obstructed.
In my example, I didn’t attach commitment to my gesture but within a cultural paradigm, it was the case. My gesture had a strong connotation. The other person interpreted it based on the convention and it created an expectation which didn’t correspond with my interpretation of the symbol. We didn’t exchange the narratives which led to rupture and betrayal. was thinking behind every symbol, there is a story. but stories are usually not shared when a symbol is introduced. stories can be embarrassing and therefore hidden from the public eye. out of convenience or to avoid discomfort, stories are not exposed. but their myths are what have an actual impact, people act following scripts based on stories not on When the mythology is not shared, distortion and misalignment can occur, causing clash and rupture.
I found it to be a deep insight, I used to think symbols are there to blame, but not really without myths there is no movement which can produce the effect manifesting in the real world in form of actions. It opened up another perspective to me which repositions the place of symbols. There is a real danger in not moving beyond a symbol, it is a messy shortcut, a lossy compression which gives too little to take as guiding light when forming decisions and opinions. They are handy points but never the final thing and definitely not shared among different people without sharing the myths behind them. Stories animate symbols, and bring them to life, without them they are simply dots on the map without a meaning.