[ziplock]

Good stuff guys, I always find this stuff interesting.

JcP my friend, I hope I can provide some sort of illumination on the matter. A symbol is a representation, the ability to recognize the meaning behind a symbol is dependent on the viewers understanding and association. The cross symbol for instance can represent many different things for different people.

On a grander scale, symbols have always been a tool of understanding for people. Guideposts to the actual experience. There is a tendency however for the line to be blurred between the symbols and the meaning or experience. Characteristics of the experience bleed through into the symbol and in the end the symbol is seen as the experience. You then have the establishment of thought that leads to religions for instance. Quite simply a competition of symbols.

There is then the trigger mechanism. The touch of God, the revelation, the enlightenment, etc. Something hits you, flips the trigger, then boom your turned on. This trigger mechanism is designed, produced, marketed and sold under some sort of brand name. They then attempt to gain monopolies in the market.

I do not really believe in the trigger mechanism. I think it's a gradual process like the rest of life and has only been misunderstood as this sudden thing. Tons of groundwork has to be laid. So "seeing the flower of life" isn't something that can be dominated or owned and hidden away. Honestly, if you didn't know HOW to look at the symbol, the flower of life, then you won't gain that full experience anyways. It's subconscious for a lot of us how we view daily events and people, let alone specific symbols.

So what is basically being meant, is this understanding of life is being hidden through various means from the perception and realization of the masses. They masses are rendered to be unable to see the meaning behind the symbol, that experience or understanding of life. We seek the symbol when what the symbol is representing is right infront of us.

This in the end is simply a demonstration of one of the ways I choose to view this subject. One can view it in a countless number of ways and draw a countless number of experiences. That's really the beauty of it all.