(combine)

Communication – people to people, nation to na-tion – is a vital ingredient to understanding. It would be presumptuous to imply that standardized graph-ic symbols will result in perfect intercommunication; but perhaps this is the first faltering step to con-vince us that it is imperative for man to be able to communicate with any othe rman no matter where he may live. This need, accented by jet travel, is felt universally today. In consequence new symbols are springing up daily. But as these symbols multiply, confusion, contradiction and duplication become rampant.

certain images appear as symbols universally and are there-fore what he called the collective unconscious, built on cul-tural experiences and memories of our ancestors. He re-ferred to these universal images as archetypes that can be categorize into five groups: the anima, animus, persona, shad-ow and the self. In today’s world symbols retain their power to affect us, although we are perhaps less aware of their effects than in the past. Jung remarks that “things reaching so far back into human history naturally touch upon the deepest layers of the unconscious, and can have a powerful effect on it even when our conscious languages proves itself to be quite impotent.” Many shapes and patterns are uni-versal and similar patterns may decorate objects separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years. Symmetrical shapes appeal to our need for order, intricate shapes, such as puzzles and knots appeal to an urge to unravel myster-ies. A circle, for example, represents a continuous cycle and signifies non-being and eternity. Through the times, some symbols have remained constant over the years while some has evolved into new meanings or are entirely new. Take the Olympic rings for example, composed of five interlock-ing rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. The original designer was by Baron Pierre de

Carl Jung was fascinated by the way in which ordinary ob-jects or people appear in strange, often distressing, contexts in people’s dreams and sought to understand why. Many images he believed appear in our dreams as a direct prod-uct of the individual unconscious, which is a highly personal anagram of memories and emotions buried deep with us. Certain images appear universally what he calls as collective unconcious built on cultural experiences and memories of our ancestors. In today’s world symbols retain their power to affect us, although we are perhaps less aware of their ef-fects than in the past.

“Things reaching so far back into human history naturally touch upon the deepest layers of the unconscious, and can have a powerful effect on it even when our con-scious languages proves itself to be quite impotent.”

Through the times, some symbols have remained constant over the years while some has evolved into new meanings or are entirely new. Take the Olympic rings for example, composed of five interlocking rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. The original designer was by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912, the founder of the modern Olympic games. He said that the “ the emblem [was] chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914: five intertwined rings in different colors - blue, yel-low, black, green, and red - are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition.” The circle not only has the deeper meaning of continuity and human being, it also re-lates to a mystical and religious significance of the intersec-tion of two circles. In the late 1950s a report of the symbol in a news article “History of the Ancient Games” mystified the emblem and created a myth that the symbol had an ancient Greek origin. Now each Olympic games has its own unique emblem that plays with the basic structure with to create a unique statement about the host country.

A picture is “worth a thousand words” is borne out by the vast number of signs and symbols that now represent words and phrases throughout the world.

“The mandala is a basic form which can be found in nature, in the elements of matter, in the plant and animal worlds as well as in in objects and images created by man and his psyche” - Carl Jung

Through the times, some symbols have remained constant over the years while some has evolved into new meanings or are entirely new. I want to create a reference book or a dictionary of sort that follows such the evolution and the root of symbols by referring to archetypal symbols and basic symbols that are semiotic to communications.

Thesis