From time to time, there have been reformers in every religion who have stood against all symbols and rituals.
But vain has been their opposition, for so long as man will remain as he is, the vast majority will always want something concrete to hold on to, something around which, as it were, to place their ideas, something which will be the center of all the thought-forms in their minds. ...
...
It is vain to preach against the use of symbols, and why should we preach against them?
There is no reason why man should not use symbols. They have them in order to represent the ideas signified behind them.
This universe is a symbol, in and through which we are trying to grasp the thing signified, which is beyond and behind.
- Swami Vivekananda,
Talk in New-York
But vain has been their opposition, for so long as man will remain as he is, the vast majority will always want something concrete to hold on to, something around which, as it were, to place their ideas, something which will be the center of all the thought-forms in their minds. ...
...
It is vain to preach against the use of symbols, and why should we preach against them?
There is no reason why man should not use symbols. They have them in order to represent the ideas signified behind them.
This universe is a symbol, in and through which we are trying to grasp the thing signified, which is beyond and behind.
- Swami Vivekananda,
Talk in New-York
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