By George A. Boyd © 2003
The encounter with symbolic material, be it in the form
of a dream, the presentation of Mystery School teaching, or an object
from another culture, may go through several stages of emotional and cognitive
processing before it is understood and integrated. These are shown below.
Layer
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Meaning
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Mystery
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The symbols meaning cannot be grasped at all. It is perceived
as something entirely alien and incomprehensible.
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Dream/Omen
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The symbol is regarded as a negative omen, a sign of impending
trouble or death. On the basis of the appearance of the symbol,
one gives warnings. This level is the foundation of superstitious
thinking.
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Glamour
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The symbol is regarded as a Divine revelation or prophetic dream,
and takes on an aura of awe and reverence. One may feel gratitude
or pride for visualizing the symbol or one may feel like a messenger
of the gods. The symbol takes on a numinous quality.
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Inquiry
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The symbol is attacked by reason, attempting to elicit its meaning.
Associations, word meanings, textual commentaries, dream books
and books of symbolic analysis may be utilized to attempt to make
sense of the symbol. Both the symbol and its context are analyzed.
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Resonance
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By analyzing the symbol through a particular context or filter
[e.g., political, historical, theological, psychological, etc.],
threads of meaning are uncovered. The interpretation resonates
and feels correct. One gains an increasing sense of conviction
that one has uncovered the correct meaning of the symbol.
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Corroboration
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One has a life experience that seems to fit a scenario portrayed
by the symbol. The symbol becomes a metaphor for a lived experience.
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Identification
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One becomes at one with the symbol, realizing it as an inner
form. Here one not only knows mystery, but has become mystery.
The aura of mystery of certain spiritual teachers is predicated
upon their embodiment of these symbolic forms that dwell in the
Superconscious Mind.
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To begin to understand the symbol, you must transcend
your initial emotional reactions of numbness, anxiety or dread, and awe
or wonder, and begin the process of active analysis. This will lead progressively
to greater understanding and insight.
Symbolic pathwork,
such as is found in numerological, astrological, tarot, kabalistic,
and other divinatory systems (like runes or I Ching) attributes many
meanings to the symbol. Its position or interrelationship with other
symbols in a matrix or array of other symbols colors how it is interpreted.
It is further interpreted in the context of the current life situation
of the individual for which the reading is being done. The individual
for whom the reading is being done corroborates the presentation of
symbolic material by identifying it with a lived experience or a person
with whom he/she is acquainted.
The understanding of symbols can be amplified by the
practice of reflective meditation, which allows you to tease meaning out
of symbolic material such as dreams, divinatory materials and art. We
teach the rudiments of reflective meditation in the Mudrashram® Master
Course in Meditation.
We encourage you not to be mystified by symbols, which
through misunderstanding have bred superstition and odd dogmas. Rather,
we invite you to go deeper beyond emotional encounters to understanding
and insight.

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