COMMENTARY
by Magdalena
Dumitrana
Bucharest, ROMANIA
It is amazing how,
the entire human action, on whatever plane or level of discussion, tends toward
orderliness and intelligibility. Even the most ineffable human processes seem to
succumb under the human temptation to define and classify. Imagination is one of
these processes. The symbol is one of these products. They are quite different
phenomena, however both situated at the junction between subjectivity and
objectivity. The hope is that that using imagination, the seeker may find a way
to the
-true
nature and
- true meaning of the
symbol.
The finality of this
quest is to recuperate the general meaning of life.
Everything
seems to be fine so far. Only two questions perhaps, related to the text, need
some answers.
۰
The first one is: How, discovering the real nature of a symbol, can help for
example, a philosopher to create a better philosophy? It seems that a symbol
cannot ever have an “objective”
nature. Its functioning itself is address to the “subjective” capacity of
reception, for only this one is able to understand what a symbol wants to
communicate. The search itself for the nature of the symbol is subjective: if a
philosopher has elected the Reason as the president of his weltanschauung,
nothing will stop him to see the symbols as children of this presidency. It goes
the same for a “subjective” philosopher or for the positions in between.
Therefore again
the question is there, waiting for a response: How could a human being,
essentially subjective, whatever his/her beliefs and external fulcra are, reach
the truth concerning the nature of a symbol? But even so, what useful this
discovery will be for one’s self-enrichment?
۰
The second question(s).The discovery of the symbol nature leads necessarily to:
is this the true nature/meaning of the symbol?
No doubt, every
symbol was (almost) fully understood or at least, followed by people as an
attempt of harmonizing, in its own epoch. But the question does not concern this
understanding, not even if it was or not appropriate. The search for a symbol
meaning starts also when this meaning is lost, leaving behind only the sign; it
develops throughout histories, looked and judged from another time and space.
The motivation is strong, the stake is important. As prof. McLean pointed out,
the study of the symbol could reveal ourselves - as individuals as well as
nations, our own identities. Therefore, the urgency of the task is
understandable, as we find ourselves on the edge of a potential dangerous
subjectivity/objectivity situation threatening the being as a whole and as an
individual.
Therefore, reaching
the forgotten meanings of the symbols could be perceived as a way to rediscover
the forgotten traditions ( which is actually happening) in order to find
strength and sense in the present world experience.
Still, we have
here some (almost) insurmountable obstacles. Naturally, an old symbol can be
misunderstood if it is seen from a
much less old position. Seconds and thirds mistakes will occur also when the
symbol is analyzed inside of particular
fields: philosophy, literature, art, psychology and so on. Even more, at times,
the symbols and their contents are stolen , distorted or reversed, making the
original worthless, even a source of opposite meanings. This is the case for the
Swastika, the Hindu symbol, of
which meaning - the eternal nature of the Brahman, the omnipresence of the
Absolute was taken over by Nazis, becoming , at least in the European eyes, a
fascist emblem. Something similar happened with St. Paul’s concept of the New
Man, “borrowed” (as many others Christian concepts), by the communist
ideology which promoted it as an expression of the complete Socialist
personality. These “loans” seem to be a habit in the programmed actions
attempting to remove the spirituality from people’s lives.
On the whole,
however, the results of the search for symbol meanings could be spectacular,
feeding new trends and nurturing personalities in philosophy, arts and so on.
Still, discovering different significances seems to be just another aristocratic
exercise of mind, but not the path to follow for truth. But if we are not
mistaken, the final target is precisely this one: to discover the only meaning
of the symbol, that is, to discover the truth.
Every
generation has its own discoverers of the Truth. But it remains always a simple
subjective acquisition, from time to time shared by believers within a religion;
what a irony: to be able to touch the objective reality only by a very
subjective grasp. That is why the truth, revealed in history, now and then by
strong spiritual personalities, remains actually a secret, hidden in symbols,
metaphors and parables. That is why also, the quest of truth will have an end
only in the end of the human history. Otherwise, the danger of the
objectification of faith -as a phenomenon generally accepted as overcoming the
individual differences leading to the same genuine and
single reality, is strongly counteracted by the proclamation of a new God, ruling our times, the
Relativity. This divinity, propagated by economic-ideological and power
interests has the function to stop the individual consciousnesses to become
aware by their common nature.
Being given these objective obstacles, it seems that there is one way of advancement throughout symbols: the imagination. The imagination - not as a philosophical, literary, psychological process, but as a spiritual tool. The imagination is close related to the intuition. Both are psychological “wings” leading to invisible zones of the culture. Rationalism or subjectivism in philosophy, mathematics, techniques - both are supported and stimulated by imagination and intuition together. The third element, necessary for a spiritual functioning, is the faith. Achieving the triad : faith-imagination-intuition, a man can have the hope to reach a glimpse of truth. Of course, this solution is deeply unsatisfactory for the seekers of the ultimate truth in the objective matter, which they use to equalize to the reason. But, as prof. McLean says closing his paper,, “all is purposive”, so, the wrong ways could lead, in conformity with His Reason, Will and Love, to the right path ahead.