Monday, December 26, 2011

Chapter: (࿖) or (࿕)

This has probably been thought of before and maybe I have casually come across it, but never really processed it's meaning, but I think I just had an epiphany. Or revelation. I don't know. But here goes.

Why do we cling so strongly to definitions we have of certain things? Or why do we commit to certain interpretations. Then again we don't, because we wouldn't have interpretations in that case, but rather just one explanation. Hm. My point is, why must one symbol mean something and only something in that general realm of reason. Everything that is has the potential to be dynamic. It's happened before. The Swastika for example, has been used in many ancient civilizations. In Indian religions it is a tantric symbol used to evoke "shakti" the sacred symbol for good luck. At the same time it's a Chinese character used in East Asia representing eternity and Bhuddism. In that case, we associate it to be something good. The right facing counter clockwise version of the Swastika (࿕). Then we have the left facing counter clockwise adaptation (࿖) that's linked to the Nazi Party of Germany in the 1920's whom adopted it as their symbol. And hence the Swastika became thoroughly correlated to Nazism and white supremacism. So now we see anything similar to the fashion of that symbol and we think evil, Nazi, Holocaust, bad. So my question is why do we cling to that? Is it because our minds have become conditioned to that connection because it's more relevant and recent? Maybe. Does that mean we'll always relate it to that? That's where I'm standing. Is it because of it's history? Perhaps.

This whole little rush of thoughts came to me because I was looking at an upside down triangle and found myself involuntarily relating it to something impure. Not sure where I ever got that idea. So I questioned myself "Why am I associating it to something vaguely bad when I can create my own interpretation?" I can say I painted this piece of an upside down triangle because to me it means I'm a tiny spec in comparison to the immensity of the universe, but when I look up, the universe looks back at me and it's as if that's all that exists for that moment. The focus and connection between me and the vastness of all that is above. Does that shed new light?

(I did research and found it was used in WWII by Nazi's to identify gays. Frankly, I'm not surprised it's linked to that era. That's when they considered it to be related to something "bad" that's outdated now though. I hope we can all agree on that.)

I'm not saying let's bring back the Swastika as the new peace sign, just using it as an example. Maybe this is an obvious realization, but oh well. I didn't realize it till now.

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