Atonement and Meaningful Symbols Across Cultures

Introduction

I've been thinking about atonement lately. In all cultures, there are timeless symbols like flags, anthems, and statues. People ascribe meanings to these symbols, giving them a purpose beyond their physical form.

On Atonement

These things can't provide atonement because they carry moral responsibilities specific to their own culture's view of the world. It doesn't consider the neighboring cultures since it aims to prioritize its own people as a community that transcends skin. So, when a country grants sovereignty to its people, it implies that those born in that place are seen as more just because of where they're from.

Moral and ethical changes are based on symbols that imitate immortality. Initially, we're completely free, but people make prisons out of freedom. Atonement isn't found in things created by people because the immortal symbols made in a culture will eventually fade away. Statues, banners, flags, anthems—they all have a limited lifespan. Men, however, persuade others that they are more than just animals.

In any situation, people desire life. They wish to recover from their mental health issues, physical injuries, and addictions. The person who promotes life becomes a hero. Cultures create heroes. People reside in places where they can witness immortal symbols like names on streets, parks, buildings, and reservoirs, which serve as reminders of the world where these immortalized individuals once lived in.

The Challenge of Atonement in Human Creations

Atonement is elusive in anything created by humans because it erodes people's self-trust, and this relates to self-knowledge. Any self-knowledge relies on true naivity; that one's self-esteem relies on the influence of others, which helps them avoid acknowledging their own vulnerability and mortality. Before the Enlightenment, there was a transformation of trust placed in immortal symbols within a ritual. But by using it as a resource, we couldn't understand its outcomes after it had been used.

A community had to consent to live by the redistribution of what would give them more life through a god figure who represented life. The first coins in human history were believed to have been the Lydian Lion coins in 6th century BC. Today, no one has been raised to be more than just flesh and bone through the use of Roman coins. They no longer hold a sacred status.

The Fascination of Surrendering Control for Symbols of Immortality

Why would individuals forfeit the control of goods based on a symbol of immortality? They would do that because in primal society, the one who had killed the most and as a result had the most representations of their own life being above death, would be the person to convince others that by creating a symbolic object that linked to their essence, every member who held that physical symbol would also possess the ability to conquer death and be immortal. Therefore, because group members aspired to have the same "aura" as this individual, they accepted their subjugation in the form of a symbol they could barter with.

At the same time, this elevates every culture to a state of sacredness because it uplifts those who engage with the immortal symbols created by that culture, which endure to the present day. These are lived-in experiences that people rely on for life. They are immortal symbols. Critique becomes sacrilegious because they provide people with meaning, and the pursuit of these symbols grants them life. Not only does it give them life, but at a fundamental level, they are lifted above death.