Modes of symbolic expression
- Key People:
- Mircea Eliade
In the long history of the forms of symbolical expression a narrower (exclusive) and broader (inclusive) idea of what a symbol is has gradually evolved. This evolution is reflected in the various manners of symbolical expression that may influence and combine with one another. Many scholars question whether a picture or a verbal expression, for example, strictly corresponds to the idea of a symbol. Just as the ideology and terminology of the ancient Greek mystery (salvatory) religions distinguished between that which is shown and seen (deiknymenon), that which is done (drōmenon), and that which is said (legomenon), so also can one make distinctions among three types of symbols: the visual symbol, the symbolical action that is dramatically enacted in worship, and the linguistic symbol, which includes music and other sounds. Viewed in these various aspects, the complex character of the symbol becomes apparent.
Diagrammatic and emblematic
Symbolic representations are usually depicted in diagrammatic or ideographic modes as signs, abbreviations, images, and objects of all kinds that indicate a larger context. In this category belong the simplified or abstract forms of objects of nature or other objects and geometrical forms, as well as colours, letters, and numbers. The circle, the disk, the rosette, or the swastika, for example, may symbolize the sun, the universe, or a star. The square and the cross may symbolize the Earth or the four cardinal points; the wreath, the labyrinth, the spiral, the plait, and the knot may indicate eternity, the flow of time, or a magical spell.
Ornamental designs in local artwork, those of the American Indians, for example, frequently have a symbolical meaning and embody fundamental figures, such as the straight line, circle, rectangle, rhombus, or ellipse. The cross in its varying forms—the Latin cross, Tau (T), ankh, Saint Andrew’s cross (X), and forked (Y)—may symbolize human beings and their extremities. Among various peoples and in different religions a number of basic colours have at times different and sometimes even opposite meanings. White, for example, may signify joy and festivity or death and sadness. Red has the most pronounced symbolical value: it refers to the liturgical, priestly sphere and also to life and death. In Christianity, colour symbolism is associated with the sacred year; in Buddhism with the picture of the universe, the regions of which are classified according to particular colours; and in the religion of the Maya of Mexico and Central America with the four world directions—east (red), north (white), west (black), and south (yellow). The symbolism of metals and precious stones also is related to their colours (e.g., emerald with green).
The symbolism of the letters of the alphabet varies according to the alphabet (e.g., Α and Ω in Greek or A to Z in English) and is often connected with magic and prophecy—which is also true of the symbolism of numbers. In the picture writing of hieroglyphic systems and in the ideographic (idea-sign) writing of earlier times there is a direct relation between the word-sign and the object to which it refers. In alphabetic writing, numbers and letters are interchangeable if the letter has a number value, as, for example, in Greek and Hebrew alphabets. In some religions, the world of the gods is arranged according to a number system—e.g., into enneads (nines), triads (threes), or dyads (pairs). The idea of oneness was then extended to a numerically arranged pantheon. Gnosticism (a Hellenistic esoteric dualistic system) and Kabbala (a Jewish esoteric mystical system) developed number symbolisms. The letters received a symbolic character in two ways: first, as components of a word for which they stood—e.g., the Hebrew tetragram (four-letter) YHWH for God, the Latin IOM for Jupiter Optimus Maximus (Jupiter the Best and Greatest), and the Greek IHS for Jesus—or, second through their numerical value, as in Α and Ω, the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet, signifying Christ. They then became means of abbreviation—signs possessing a specific content and meaning.
Pictorial
Pictorial symbolism in its many forms is a further development of nonrepresentational, ideographic symbolism and also, to some extent, its origin. In depicting the world of nature, pictorial symbolism captures and mediates the religious experience of reality. The picture shows plainly and clearly the rich and intricate connections of its symbolic content. It may present a part for a whole (a head, a hand, a foot, or an eye for a complete figure) or the whole itself. Symbolic expression of religious experience by means of painting has had a long history.
Sculptural representations of the sacred or holy have their origin in cult. They range from Stone Age idols to the sacred sculpture of early Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures, from the statues and reliefs of Greco-Roman gods, divinized heroes, and their deeds to the symbolic sculpture of India with its Hindu gods and demons, from the sacred sculpture of China and Japan with their respective pantheons to that of Mahayana Buddhism with its bodhisattvas (buddhas-to-be), saints, and spirits. These sacred figures, which may appear in statue or relief form, are sculpted out of various materials. The reliefs on the interiors and exteriors of temples have a decorative function similar to that of wall painting. They narrate a myth or tell a sacred history. Particular parts of the body and symbolical objects may also be sculpturally represented. For example, the hand of Sabazius, a Greek god sometimes identified with Dionysus (the god of wine), is portrayed as raised in blessing and encircled by a number of rather bizarre appendages. Also, representations of human limbs may be used as votive offerings for the cure of the part of the body represented. Representative symbolic sculpture tends either to simplify the figure in an abstract, geometrical, or expressionistic style or to imitate nature realistically.