Page 6 - Quaker News & Views Nov 25 - Jan 26

SYMBOLS AND ALLEGORIES ACROSS DIFFERENT FAITHS AND CULTURES
Transcript of a zoom talk given to YM Special Interest group 2025

As we know, the infinite cannot be described by the finite. The words which have been used to refer to the
totality of the reality, such as God, the Light, Spirit, that which is beyond the beyond, only carry significant
meaning if a person has had some spiritual experience. That does not necessarily mean something very
dramatic – it could be a moment of quiet intuitive insight while walking in nature – but it opens up some area
of our being which enables us to answer George Fox’s question: ‘What canst thou say?’

Names for the divinity, of course, vary widely.

In the Jewish faith, although more than one name has been attributed to God, none of them can be uttered.
They are believed to be too holy. Native Americans speak of the Great Spirit, Hindus have Brahma, Muslims
have Allah and so on.

Over historical ages, however, certain symbols have been found to resonate with human beings across
cultures and religions.

We have the heart representing Love, the Light, seeds, pearls, the ocean and rivers, the moon, the journey
or pilgrimage, circles, silence, the sun, karma or justice, doors, gates and keys, doves and other animals, the
cross, treasure, music, waking up - and more.

Friends will not need reminding that A&Q 1 opens with the words: Take heed, dear friends, to the promptings
of love and truth in your hearts..’ And when in A&Q 9 we are asked to prepare our hearts and minds before
coming to Meeting, it is the heart which is placed before the mind.

Light is a powerful symbol. The Egyptian sun god, Ra , was believed to travel across the sky in a chariot every
day, bringing light and warmth to the world. Spiritual traditions rooted in the earth, such as those we now
call pagan*, revered the four elements, with fire connected with the sun. Christ is seen as the light of the
world. Muslims speak of the light of Mohammed. Ancient Greeks worshipped Apollo as the god of the sun.
The rainbow is also an interesting symbol. Thanks to Newton we now know that the colours of the visible
spectrum range from red to violet. If an artist put those colours in her palette and mixed them, they would
come out as a sludgy brown. But mix light of those colours and you get pure white light. Diversity into unity.

Plants grow up towards the sunlight and flowers open when the sun shines. Do we open ourselves to and in
the Light?

Jesus used the image of the sower and the seeds in one of his parables. The seed, though very small,
represents life, and in this metaphor it is spiritual life. It needs to be placed carefully in the right environment
if it is to survive and flourish. Isaac Penington too used this image: Sink down to the seed (the deeper life
within) which God sows in the heart.. Before the eighteenth century, everyone lived in an agricultural or
hunting community and could readily understand this imagery at a deep level. Pearls too have been widely
used in a spiritual context. They are regarded as precious stones because of their beauty and ability to reflect
a gentle almost shimmering light. One Islamic mystic has pointed out that the pearl within only develops
when the mouth of the oyster is closed – which we may interpret as praise of silence.

The ocean or sea is a rich source of symbolism. George Fox spoke of an ocean of love and light flowing over
an ocean of darkness. Rivers flow into and merge with the sea, which like life may be calm or turbulent.
Waves rise within it but they are never separate from it and will eventually surrender back into it. We now
know, of course, that life itself originated and developed in the ocean.

For people whose spiritual life is lived according to what we might called the Earth or pagan traditions, the
earth itself is a sacred living being. Pagan comes from the Latin paganus meaning a country person or
peasant. In ancient Greece, people believed that the rocks and rivers as well as plants and animals had spirits.

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