THIS WEEK

 

THE VESSEL OF THEMES

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When you come to Cottonwood Gathering you have the opportunity to contribute theme ideas to the Vessel of Themes.

Write the thought onto a slip of paper, fold it in half, and drop it into the glittering Vessel.

At the end of each Gathering, someone reaches in to the vessel and pulls one of the ideas out and reads it aloud, and this then becomes the theme for the following week.

Here's what gently arose its power last Sunday:

 

“Symbolism”

Sometimes the easiest way to communicate an idea is to use a SYMBOL, which you can say is a picture or image that carries a meaning.  

 

Symbolism, perhaps, is the art of packaging a meaning into a Symbol and then teaching it.

 

I sometimes think of a symbol as being like a "box" that contains a meaning.  Refer to the "box", and the meaning is conveyed.

 

One example is the Heart-shape, which most people agree contains the meanings of Love. Or the ancient symbol of the Swastika which billions of people from ancient times through to today still understand to be a symbol of well-being, prosperity, good-luck.

 

Interestingly, a symbol's meaning (inside the "box") can be changed behind the scenes without the user noticing, or, such as the case of the swastika, a new meaning can be assigned to the image and then widely promoted to give the symbol the new meaning in the mind of the target population. This, of course, can result in the user calling for something that is not intended.

 

In computer programming there is an element called a VARIABLE that is used to control some aspect of what the computer program is expected to do.  A VARIABLE is a symbol who's meaning is intended to be changed later by those who know how, and thereby give the symbol a new meaning, and so change the behavior of the computer program. But on the outside, to the user the symbol looks just the same as before.

 

Another example of a changing symbol I'm remembering: A brand of food with distinctive packaging that symbolized health and healing. I remember how, after many decades, the entire brand was sold to new owners some years back and those new owners decided to change the manufacturing process into something significantly different and, in many peoples view, no longer healthy to eat. But the brand-name, the logo, the label on the store shelf are still the same image, conveying the same symbolic message of health and healing to the customers. The meaning of the symbol has been changed, yet the memory of the symbol’s old meaning LIVES ON! You can see this happening in politics and the media, if you look for it.

 

So I occasionally find myself checking to see what meaning is now residing in the symbolism "box", rather than assuming the same old definition is still in play.

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The Circle is Open!​​

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Seven Daughs