Patterns & Metaphors
Beings made by beings
Other Names:
Man and woman
Template:
Legends, literature and cinema employ the symbolism of beings created by beings. Among the human-authored creatures are Galatea the living statue, the wooden boy Pinocchio, the alchemists' man in a jar (homunculus), the Kabbalists' drone (golem), Dr Frankenstein's monster, the cyberneticists' robot and the biologists' clone. Another group of symbols are beings created or otherwise caused to exist by non-humans, for example, angels or Adam and Eve.
Metaphor:
Human-authored 'creations' represent the epitome of scientific mastery and also the goals of a magus, Faust or cognitive superman. They symbolize a condition of psychic inflation or megalomania, as well as vain effort. They are also closely connected with illusion and delusion. Their existence is usually represented as unintentionally brief, and their functioning unreliable. As this is true of the angels as well (said by some to be created and to expire daily, and by others to include the rebellions host, led by Lucifer) it is interesting that the being man, is said, to have been created by another being, as a symbol of everything in the universe. Treating man consistently with the other symbols in this class, his existence may also be said to be brief and subject to illusion, and his behaviour unreliable. Man's meaning as a symbol may therefore be metamorphosis or universal change since he is a transitory activity himself, seeking form.<
