Adam Sheldrick - The Significance of Symbols

In the Rollo May reading on The Significance of Symbols, he talks about how man is the only symbol-using organism. This is important because this is what sets us apart from the other creatures in this world. The ability of “man’s capacity to separate inner meaning and the outer existence” is what gives us the ways that we can learn and understand symbols and put them into action and be able to communicate with them. This reading covers multiple of the concepts that we have talked about in class, such as the sacred with the history that comes along with symbols and how they have evolved over time just like humans have in terms of intelligence. Paul Ricoeur goes over his definition of a myth in his writings of The Symbolism of Evil. His interpretation of a myth is “a traditional narration which relates to events that happened at the beginning of time and which has the purpose of providing grounds for the ritual actions of men of today...” in this definition Ricoeur helps us better understand the way myths are used and how they have been passed down from generation to generation. 

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