Autor: Flanagan, Josef

Buch: Quest for Self-Knowledge

Titel: Quest for Self-Knowledge

Stichwort: Bedeutung, symbolische; Lächeln

Kurzinhalt: symbolische Bedeutung am Beispiel des Lächelns; Funktion des Symbols auf der "intersubjektiven" Ebene

Textausschnitt: The person you smile at grasps the meaning spontaneously and responds with a similar expression, thereby creating a temporary bond. Further, a smile is not an expression of your mind as found in Euclid's Elements. It is an expression of one person to another; it is expressive of the whole person - body and soul. Finally, the smile is not a verbal expression, it is preverbal. You learn to smile long before you learn to speak ....
Before you come to know your own personal identity, you feel a spontaneous identity with whatever and whomever enters into your field of awareness ....
... Here I wish to draw attention to symbols as our most spontaneous and primordial pattern of meaning which operates on all levels of being from unconscious, vital processes to higher realms of conscious knowing and choosing. Most importantly, symbols operate through images that evoke the feelings that supply the motivation for carrying out decisions.