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Symbols And Their Importance
John Doorly

SYMBOLS CHANGE AND RISE

Two important points must here be borne in mind, One is that the coming generation will only take seriously the presentation of any vital subject which is interpreted through symbols that are ordered, exact, and understandable, whilst also expressing the deepest sentiment and culture. In fact, today as never before, intelligent and specific symbols are essential to the thoughtful consideration of religious as well as of scientific matters. The second point is that it must be recognized that symbols are but representations, and that thought must gradually rise above symbols to the cultivated understanding of the subject itself, where inspired thought reflects the very essence and nature of the subject. It has been well said that "as we rise, the symbols disappear."

Let us also remember that a symbol is not a rigid, unchanging concept. For instance, a small boy is taught that a single brick represents "one," and that when another brick is placed with it, they represent "two." Then he begins to apply these symbols to other objects besides bricks. Later that boy's concept of "one" is no longer represented by an object but by the figure "1," and his concept of "two" is represented by the figure "2". At a further stage he starts to compute through these symbols, and when he comes to algebra he may even use such synmbols as "x" and "y" to represent the aforesaid "1" and "2." So, although fundamental fact remains permanent, symbols constantly change and rise.

Similarly, the concept of God and the symbols to represent that concept have progressively changed in human history. Almost everything of which human thought can conceive has been used at some time or other as a symbol to interpret God. In past ages the nature of God has been represented not only by such things as the sun, the moon, and the stars, but by animals and effigies of various kinds. The Hebrew nation at one point, began to symbolize God with some degree of definiteness as Jahweh or Jehovah, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses later identified Jehovah as the God of Israel, and symbolized Him as I AM That I AM. About three hundred years after Moses, the Hebrew prophets began to identify God as the God of all men, and to see that He manifests Himself universally through a Christ or divine idea. Jesus called God "Father," and used the symbols of "Spirit" and "Truth" to describe His true nature. The apostle John conveyed especially the sense of God as Love. Christianity has symbolized God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Even in our age God is still symbolized by religious bodies in manifold ways.

A CALCULUS: A PROCESS OF REASONING

This is a scientific age, and therefore symbols, to be acceptable to the thinker of today, must necessarily be ordered, definite, and exact. In the science of mathematics, of what fixed value would the number 5 be if in the basic order of counting it occasionally came before the number 4, and sometimes after? Moreover, of what value would the digits in mathematics be unless they could be combined and used in computation in an ordered calculus of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?

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