Patterns & Metaphors
Meetings as symbolic configurations
Other Names:
Meetings as aesthetic symbols
Template:
The following are useful symbols through which meeting structure may be understood in new ways:
[1. Monument or memorial:] Whereby architectural or decorative elements are disposed in relation to some central focal point. Such elements often reflect aspects of the central theme of the monument. In the larger memorials a considerable degree of symmetry is usually to be found.
[2. Memory devices:] Whereby items to be remembered are associated with or "impressed upon" some easily remembered configuration such as the elements of a memorial, the features of an ornamental garden, a suitable pantheon, etc. The items may then be "recovered" by progressing through the configuration in whatever order is appropriate.
[3. Mandalas:] Whereby a complete set of complementary figures are disposed symmetrically in relation to one another around a central focal point in order to indicate both a succession of possible experiences and a progression to more or less fundamental levels of experience. Each such experience is understood as essential to the harmony and evolution of the whole. Mandalas, or their equivalents, are used as attention focusing devices in different cultures.
[4. Symbols:] Such as a crown, a chalice or a stupa, which may be viewed as a configuration of elements constituting a "receptacle" for energies, qualities or attributes thus held in balance.
[5. Abstract forms:] Some may wish to see the gathering as energies patterned onto more abstract forms: spiral, hierarchy, network, tensegrity, mandala, matrix, torus, polyhedron, knot.
[6. Symbol systems:] Some may be attracted by seeing the interweaving energies at the gathering in terms of a particular symbol system such as astrology, the I Ching, any pantheon, etc. These could even be used to identify imbalance in the energies represented, blockages in the evolution of the event, or threshold tests and challenges.
[7. Imagery and dance:] Such a gathering can also lend itself to comprehension as a pattern of aesthetic images, or as a dance of energies.
