In an effort to make explicit the process I use to create an answer to the mind-body
problem, I have, at this time, chosen the term 'symbolic thinking' to label it. This
term I made from scratch and is not likely to mean the same thing as what is meant
elsewhere unless that term is used in a context that is familiar with Jungian psychology.
In a quick Google search I see it used in the context of anthropology to describe
early cultures use of symbols in the popular sense of a visual configuration in
some media meant to represent something else.
But my meaning for symbol comes from that specified by C.G. Jung. For Jung, a symbol
is an image that, like the popular notion, stands for something else, but it is
also an expression of archetypal knowledge. Archetypal knowledge, or archetypes,
are an array of inter-related, universal, unconscious contents of the human mind
that can be explored directly by a developed intuition and, less directly, by comparative
studies of creative work that is shaped by archetypal knowledge including, but not
limited to, dreams, myths and art. Jung's definition really just deepens the understanding
of the popular notion in an inclusive sense. Of course, there is the distinction
between the sign and the symbol, where the sign just labels or points to something
else, but the symbol stands for that other thing. Jung explained this difference
by explaining a symbol expresses something that cannot be better expressed in some
other way because its meaning invokes unconscious material. So a sign that reads
"Springfield Church" is just a sign. But an image of a crucifix denotes the whole
idea and mystery of the incarnation and sacrifice of God's son for our salvation.
By 'thinking' I mean just the popular use of the word. So together symbolic thinking
is really thinking in terms of symbols. Jung stressed that symbols are products
of our unconscious mind at a level that is never fully conscious. It is an artistic
skill that involves developing a relationship with the proverbial muse. By developing
an understanding of one's own creative process you can learn how to inspire, find
and record symbolic thoughts, helping them to occur, recognizing them when or after
they do occur and documenting them so that you don't loose track of them. Oftentimes,
you will produce such material but not consciously realize it until you reflect
upon it or study it later. Dreams are chock full of symbolic thoughts. My thoughts
after a good night's sleep are often primed for symbolic insight. Reading about
symbols helps as well as reading mythology, comparative mythology and immersing
yourself in symbolic art, literature and movies.
Symbols are the best expression of an idea that is only half conscious. In my experience,
I have found symbols to be an array of ideas in polarized pairs of opposites that
weave together like Celtic knotwork. Tracing the knot demonstrates that the array
of ideas forms one long elaborate strand that includes a wide range of subject matter.
The polarized pair of opposite ideas work against each other creating a sense of
ambiguous meaninglessness. Their polarized ends connect with other polarized opposites
that otherwise do not intersect (they crossover like knotwork). This connection
of end points is a source of great meaning and a sense of deep insight. All together
a symbol produces what I call a feeling of significant ambivalence. Its like talking
to a con-artist who mixes truths with lies until you feel jerked around and foolish.
But there is no greater resolution of meaning at the symbolic level. You must grasp
the whole thing and put it down on media to share it. It is exhausting and doubtless
you will want to go to sleep rather than complete the task at times. At other times
you will be tirelessly inspired.
It is possible that a symbol is physically grounded in a series of re-entrant neural
pathways that have developed mutually re-enforcing connections. The connection
may be based on neural firing patterns or neural architecture or both. The symbol
which, with further study, I might equate to the archetype, would reflect this behavioral-architectural structure in the brain. These may be a common or even universal feature
of human brains. When an archetype or symbol displays itself in the thoughts and
feelings and actions of multiple individuals across various times and cultures,
it argues the case for a common physical basis for that thought or behavior.
So symbolic thinking becomes thinking that most reflects the inner structure of
the brain. On an individual level, repetitious contact with this internal structure
becomes the basis for the development of intuition. But given that intuitive knowledge
is not based on external specifics and its patterns are revealed by sheer repetitious
personal experience, a communal language of intuitive intelligence is poorly developed.
This keeps intuitives relatively isolated and underappreciated until they find a
mode of expression suitable to their capability. It may be that symbols are the
true objects of intuitive knowledge, just as the physical world of the senses is
the media of sensation ('sensation' in Jung's psychology of personality types is
a complementary opposite function of consciousness which an individual will tend to
preferentially develop at the expense of the other type, in this case, intuition).
A symbol that has been uncovered, described and incorporated into a culture or several
cultures would no doubt be considered an archetype. I suspect that the number of
possible symbols is unlimited but that cultures have tended through mutual influence
and other practical considerations to in some kind of Bell curve have a common
subset of these. Now that we can look back over the stories and beliefs of many
cultures and ages, we are in a position to intentionally explore the world of symbols,
to flesh out the realm of intuitive knowledge.
I have uncovered one symbol in this way and have attempted to describe it in my
essay The Depth of Consciousness. This essay was the
culmination of my Masters' degree work and represents an accomplishment with great
personal meaning. I hope that on this web site I can flesh out some further ideas
to frame this essay, perhaps rewrite it, and connect it in a more intelligible way
to other ideas.
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