08/01/2018

B17 How much Christian symbolism can it be?

If one tries to make a systematics of symbology from a hierarchical point of view, one becomes first and foremost aware of the host representing the body of Christ, for something more important than the relationship to God is unimaginable. Through the process of transformation, the host becomes the representative of the Redeemer. That a food chemist after the rite could see no difference to the previous state of the wafer, believers know, as well, that the process is to understand symbolically, in particular the eating of the host. Nevertheless, in the face of the Tabernacle - now rather of the Savior - most of all confessions have been made.

Tabernacle St. Ignaz, Mainz

In terms of acceptance believers have no trouble, but they appreciate the possibility to be close to God with the heart, and with the heart is meant simply the whole emotional world. Symbols have access to it - a very special feature.

Tolerance is demanded of others and unbelievers when they encounter processions or hear ringing bells. How much symbolism do those tolerate who think differently, to which we also count the indifferent for the sake of simplicity?

Who is aware in everyday life that the division of the days of the week took place in analogy to the creation story? And the chronology since the birth of Christ seems to be of a practical nature insofar as if one counts from the Big Bang, the date would be far too long.

But there were times when it was over with the tolerance of symbolism. We are talking about the introduction of the Revolution Calendar 1793 and the decimal time, ig. that the day was divided in 10 hours and the hour in 100 minutes. It was about making the view free and rational thinking accessible. But was that all, a new calendar?

His first shock came to the medieval worldview from Nicolaus Copernicus. Since then, the earth was not any more in the center of the universe. Nonetheless, the notion that the Harmonia Aeterna or Harmonia Macrocosmica, as the name implies, was in tune with the harmony of the music, was literally enriched with Christian symbolism up to the sign for repetition. Critics would probably bring the term contamination into play.

For example, the octave got its name from the 8 Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. The Greeks never used the numeric word. Likewise, they did not know a prim, because they defined an interval by the spacing of two unequal sounds. However, the early Christians saw in the consonance of the prim the A and in the consonance of the octave the Ω. In the 7 steps on the way to God - the Jacob's ladder became the scale - they recognized the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: fear of God, piety, charity, bravery, mercy, love of the enemy and wisdom. Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, and Si, the opening syllables of John's hymn, have since referred to the coming of the Redeemer, as did his time, John the Baptist. The 2x3 symbolism of the Star of David is found in the major and minor triad, and according to Censorinus (3rd century AD), a child in the womb also developed according to harmonical laws. A list with claim to completeness could hardly end, because in everything - in and around us - nothing was seen but God's creation and everything was harmonious – what else?

Today, Christian symbolism would be called the corporate identity of the world manufacturer, but nobody wants to go back to the Middle Ages. On the other hand, the term love of the enemy remains in memory and from the daily news we hear about the civilization progress since those days.

The direct way of symbolism to the heart - primarily through music - allows a suggestive influence by the churches, of which one does not want to hear anything in school lessons due to the separation of church and state. Therefore, the topic encounters resentment and the media shy away from it because of the "heated times of religion politics." Spiritual independence is different, cultural and historical interest as well.

Symbolism goes under the skin and has an influence on the psyche. Friday the 13th, the trauma of Good Friday in conjunction with the 13th participant in the Last Supper - the Betrayer - is an example of this and is still a household name today. As with good, symbolism also works in evil, not by magic, but by psychic predisposition. So the swastika is able to trigger flashbacks; on the other hand, it gives the followers on the right hand spectrum the feeling of strength. Symbols, as such, are essentially without sense, comparable to placebos, which have an impact to the psyche. Therefore, one could also speak of psychostimulants, with comforting qualities (devotional candle), self-glorifying (power and status symbols) disquieting (bad luck symbols) or frightening (symbols of violence and death). Their effect is very receiver-dependent, because we also hear from people who like black cats and spend a very happy time with them.

How strong the effect of the symbols is, can be determined by an ignorant way of thinking, so to speak in a self-experiment by means of a mental counter-test. For example, cooking coffee with holy water, but who does? It would be a taboo, blasphemous, even if no one else ever knew about it. In the Middle Ages, host-sacrileges received heavy penalties.

The recommendation to the provinces of Germany, not to issue license plates which can be associated with the Third Reich, including the 18, since the first and eighth letters in the alphabet stand for A and H and thus could be read as Adolf Hitler, shows the historical change in interpretation, if we remember the prim and the octave.

Anyone who sticks to the rational and does not devote himself to the hope of an eternal life - in general, the processing of death is a central theme of religions - appreciates the advantage of not having to deal with speculation about the otherworld. What the one regards as a testimony to the omnipotence of God is for the other hocus-pocus. Some etymologists derive the term from the Latin saying, poorly understood from a distance: "Hoc est enim corpus meum," which brings us back to the Eucharist and the Blessed Sacrament.

The Low German dialect finds a simple summary for all these complexities: "The ones owl is the others nightingale". The owl stands for wisdom, the nightingale for the beauty of song. One could also find something very worthwhile in both, because diversity is not yet a contradiction. Therefore a yes-no-decision does not necessarily result from the subject.