ymbols and 
ymbolism
ymbols and ymbolism
Application of symbolism Although many of the above chapters include titles that suggest applications of symbols and their related entities, there is a growing body of work that is more concerned about how symbolism can be used to achieve specific goals, or be integrated into human lives, than in the analysis of symbols or symbolism. In this chapter I am focussing on those publications whose central point is the integrating of symbols (be they graphics, images, rituals, or myths) into personal lives or situations.
Most of this relatively new material comes from an ironic application of the pragmatic theory to pragmatism. First, pragmatism dismissed symbols as "ornaments and ornamentation." The idea was, "Cut to the chase; the bare structure is all that matters." Much of this originated with the Protestant Reformation and its reaction to the excessive statuary and other "ornaments" in churches that the Protestants viewed as idolatry. (Sadly, these very items were orignally created to act as symbols for the illiterate to understand much of the Bible and theology of the Church. Strange that the growth of literacy also created a literalism, that ignored the significance of the symbols.) Regretably, too much of anthropology still seems to analyze symbols and the phenomenon of symbolism itself as ornament, albeit as an ornament valued by primitive (meaning pre-scientific, pre-pragmatism) cultures. (And this, despite that most "primitive" cultures are extremely practical in all they do, even in their rituals and beliefs.)
The increased popularity of fantasy literature in the late twentieth century is often traced to this seeking of meaning. Though originally dismissed as "escapist" (and much of the early writings as well as some continuing publications are escapist), such writers as J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen R. Donaldson have produced bodies of work that cannot be so easily dismissed. C.S. Lewis and Ursula LeGuin produced series that were written for the specific purpose of communicating definite ideas about meaning and reality. (Although Lewis used the format of science fiction in the first of his adult trilogy, technology becomes increasingly irrelevant (except, perhaps as tools of the opposition) in the second and third books, whereas fantastic elements are present throughout all three.) On the otherhand, after World War I and even more so after World War II, much of the literati of the twentieth century wrote about the search for meaning or the emptiness and lack of meaning they found, as epitomized by the Existentialist movement and writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Hermann Hesse.
Late in the twentieth century, however, there came a backlash against this insignification. Without symbols (and I reject the anthropological, circular definition that "all words are symbols"—therefore, the definition, by its self-definition, is meaningless because it can only be defined by symbols and no thing may be meaningfully defined by itself,) life becomes meaningless and communication has no significance, only irrelevant sounds, random motions, or scattered blots of color and form. As a result of this practical loss of meaning, at the beginning of the third millenium people seem to be seeking what is meaningful. True, too often we are unconsciously conditioned by exposure to years of consumption-oriented advertisements to accept meaning in materials and possessions. But few people, especially as they approach middle age, can any longer find personal value in "things." So we search for a source of significance to our lives, in our lives. The difficulty is to put meaning into life without it seeming artificial, and thereby false (or irrelevant.)
The result has been for "experts" to suggest ways to incorporate the insights of anthropology, psychology, religion, and other fields into practices that enhance our enjoyment of life or that strengthen practices and movements the authors consider essential to modern life. What are some acts that can make life meaningful? How can we includes images or rituals in our lives, and do so without their repeated use becoming meaningless once again?
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