On Symbols and Meaning
You believe you are the one
looking at the symbol.
Reading it.
Interpreting it.
Giving it meaning.
But stay here for a moment—
And look again.
Why this symbol?
Why this shape…
and not another?
Why did your eyes stop here
out of everything that could have been seen?
You will say it is preference.
Interest.
Chance.
But symbols do not arrive by chance.
They repeat.
They wait.
They appear
in slightly different forms
until something in you… recognizes them.
Not consciously.
Deeper than that.
Before language.
Before thought decides what something means.
There is a moment—
very brief—
Where the symbol touches you
before you can explain it.
That is not interpretation.
That is contact.
And once that contact is made…
the mind rushes in to translate.
To label.
To make it safe.
To make it familiar.
But meaning is not created there.
Meaning is assigned there.
The symbol already knew
what it was carrying.
The question is—
Why did it show itself to you?
And why now?
Some symbols are not meant to be understood.
Not all at once.
They unfold.
Slowly.
Across time…
across repetition…
across moments you will almost overlook.
Until one day—
without warning—
You do not read the symbol anymore.
You recognize it.
And in that recognition…
Something else recognizes you.
