{"id":2466,"date":"2025-05-09T09:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T09:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/?page_id=2466"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:04:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:04:54","slug":"glossary-symbol","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/?page_id=2466","title":{"rendered":"GLOSSARY – Symbol"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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SYMBOL<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cThe\u00a0symbolon\u00a0<\/em>is not something other<\/em>, as is the sign, nor is it the<\/em>\u00a0reality; rather it is\u00a0that which appears\u00a0through it precisely as symbol \u2026 All symbol is symbol because it symbolizes and not because it is interpreted by its contents \u2026 If language were simply an instrument to designate objects or merely transit information, no discourse on God would be possible (The Experience of God).<\/em><\/p>

For Panikkar, symbol is the basic element of religion, and he addresses what symbol is in many places throughout his work. The\u00a0symbolon<\/em>\u00a0is not an epistemological sign, but rather the manifestation of that which reveals itself only through the\u00a0symbolon<\/em>. Symbol comes from\u00a0symballein<\/em>, \u201cto bring together\u201d, to relate two different things; therefore, it is not simply objective nor purely subjective, \u201cbut rather constitutively a relationship \u2026 reality itself does not break even in the subject\/object dichotomy\u201d. For this reason, the symbol is only symbol for those who relate directly to it, and thereby symbol constitutes an authentic mediator. The very word God is \u201ca symbol that reveals and veils itself\u00a0<\/em>in the symbol\u201d (The Experience of God).<\/em><\/p>

Unlike concepts, which claim to be univocal, symbols are polysemous, and therefore eminently relational, relating subject and object: \u201cThe symbol is symbol when it symbolizes, and when it is recognized as such. A symbol that does not speak directly to the one perceiving it ceases to be symbol \u2026 Consequently, for Panikkar, \u201cto recognize being as symbol is to open a new chapter in the encounter of cultures and conceptions of the world\u201d (\u201cPhilosophy as Lifestyle\u201d).<\/p>

Panikkar critiques Plato\u2019s and Aristotle\u2019s notions of\u00a0symbolon<\/em> that so determined the concept in the West. The classical Greeks presumed to distinguish the symbol from what it signifies: symbols simply reflect or prefigure in an obscure way ideals and archetypes. For Panikkar, however, this is the expression of a typical defect of Western culture with its separation between the heavenly and earthly worlds. In the thought of Panikkar, the symbol does not point to another reality. Rather, that which is symbolized is present to us in and through the symbol.<\/p>

The symbolic difference aims to express the symbolic structure of all reality, which transcends the subject-object dichotomy, situating itself in the very relationship between subject and object. It is the \u201cexisting difference between symbol and reality\u201d; a difference that is neither epistemological nor ontological, but symbolic: \u201cwhat reality\u00a0is<\/em>, is its symbol; the\u00a0is<\/em>, is the symbol of the real.\u201d<\/p>

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SYMBOL \u201cThe\u00a0symbolon\u00a0is not something other, as is the sign, nor is it the\u00a0reality; rather it is\u00a0that which appears\u00a0through it precisely as symbol \u2026 All symbol is symbol because it symbolizes and not because it is interpreted by its contents \u2026 If language were simply an instrument to designate objects or merely transit information, no discourse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2466","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2466"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5311,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2466\/revisions\/5311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}