Behaviour

Human and animal behaviour provides a vocabulary for symbolism, taken in its entirely. Taken in part, it also exhibits, a high order of symbolic purposes. For example, the image of a man chopping wood can provide a symbol, but a particular man actually chopping wood is normally not communicating symbolically. Animals actually mating, for example, would not be said to be communicating symbolically to one another, but pre-mating or courtship signalling and behaviour may symbolize their instinct or intention to mate. Human behaviour may be symbolic in nature, may provide symbols, or be referred to by symbols. Some classes that are especially significant in these respects are: vital behaviour or functions such as eating, drinking, breathing, resting, sleeping; and social and sexual behaviour and functions which include marriage and mariage rituals such as courtship, betrothal, engagement, wedding and honeymoon; and various phenomena such as banquets, dances and political and other assemblies. Other important classes of notably symbolic behaviour concerns religion, sports, and games. In the religious class there are liturgies, rituals, orgies, saturnalia, mysteries, magic, and rites including ablution, baptism, confirmation, initiation, holy orders, chrism, last communion, bar-mitzvah, circumcision, excorcism, transubstantiation, investiture, and sacrifice or offerings.

Among sports and games of all types there is a basic symbolism of contest, conflict, struggle, fight or conquest. These activities represent battles and wars, and more fundamentally, the aggressive and competitive instincts. There are solitary games and sports whose purposes are solely individual physical and intellectual development, and a very few philosophical or symbolic games whose purpose is spiritual, aesthetic or ethical development. These last correspond to paths of initiation and their required skills in some traditional religions, and are reflected in the interiorization of some recreational activities, e.g. Zen archery, Tarot, sacred dance, etc. Related to this is the class comprising the symbolism to be found in the major arts of music (e.g. symbolic tones), architecture, (non-monumental) sculpture, painting, drawing, drama, choreography and poetry; and in other arts such as landscaping, flower arrangement, jewellery design and industrial design. Other symbolic behavioural classes are: movement, including running, walking, jumping, journeying, quest, pilgrimage, flight, exile, ascent, descent, passage, sea-crossing, etc; professional, trade and artisanal activities of all kinds; the special class of searching for knowledge; including experimentation, analysis, reasoning, science, occultism, theosophy, meditation, yoga, etc; and the symbologies for the unknown and for the reality or realities that are the objects of the search including the potentials of human development.