Of Symbols and Spirit

Just read a great post about social Symbols in India. I think we can see the battle of Symbols to Spirit everywhere, be it India or USA. The Spirit of an action/emotion is first bound in a Symbol -- almost as an honor, as a proclaimation. The Symbol serves the beautiful purpose of reminding us of the Spirit that was first embodied in it. initially, the Symbol is one that is self-imposed, and granted authority by free will. But over ages the Spirit is often forgotten while the hollow Symbol remains, no longer serving as a reminder of the lost Spirit. Often, the Symbol, in trying to preserve its own glory, even perverts the Spirit and becomes a gesture of oppression and submission as it begins to be socially imposed rather than being a personal expression. While the Spirit of an emotion/action evolves with different individuals and changing times, the Symbols get set in stone (sometimes literally) and unable to change, they rot. The dominance of selected social identities (male, white, heterosexual, higher caste etc.) adds an extra factor by gradually eroding the Symbols into equations of power. So it is with the mangalsutra, the sindoor, the Karwa-Chauth, the sati, the dowry, the joint family, and the heterosexual marriage among countless others.