Notable Quotes on Symbols


For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed;
and hid, that shall not be made known.
Matthew 10:26

But as the simplest problems in the simplest of all studies are obscure
to one who braces not his mind to their comprehension,
as the rower in yonder vessel cannot tell you why two circles can touch each other only in one point;
so, though all earth were carved over and inscribed with the letters of diviner knowledge,
the characters would be valueless to him who does not pause to inquire the language,
and meditate the truth.
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Zanoni

We have to replace book knowledge by direct experience, scholarliness by intuition, and the historical Buddha by the Buddha within us,
i.e., by the awakening of the potentialities of our mind, which will lead to the realization of perfect enlightenment.
Lama Govinda, Creative Meditation

We have learnt that the exploration of the external world by the methods of physical science
leads not to a concrete reality but a shadow world of symbols,
beneath which those methods are unadapted for penetrating.
Feeling that there must be more behind,
we return to our starting point in human consciousness -
the one centre where more might become known.
Sir Arthur Eddington, Swarthmore Lecture (1929)

The place or ... medium of realization is neither mind nor matter,
but that intermediate realm of subtle reality which can only be adequately expressed by the symbol.
The symbol is neither abstract nor concrete, neither rational nor irrational, neither real nor unreal.
Carl Jung

The symbol is the bridge between the literal world and the direct experience of God.
Lama Govinda

To live mythically is also to cultivate an ever-deepening relationship
with the universe and its great mysteries.
June Singer

In the heart of every man lies hid the flower of intuition.
On that you can depend, and no eternal or cosmic fact clothed in a suitable form
will not fail to receive its meed of recognition and understanding.
Alice A. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations

I believe that symbolic language is the one foreign language that each of us must learn.
Erich Fromm, The Forgotten Language