The symbol of the Cross

  • 2019
Table of contents hide 1 Images of the cross 2 The cross in different social groups 3 With this sign you will win 4 The cross as two squads 5 The Cross in Biological Evolution 6 The Cross as Law 7 Nothing can come into existence without the power of the cross 8 Complementary and opposite

The Symbol of the Cross

In this work we review the symbol of the cross from many different points of view. You can see that the cross is a very old symbol that still has meaning.

The cross can have meaning in our lives both religiously, philosophically or artistically. In fact, it is a symbol that is very present in society, even in contexts that have no religious manifestation.

Different social groups have different ways of presenting the cross and even give it very varied senses.

The cross has been used for war and for peace. As a symbol of torture and as a symbol of liberation.

It can be interpreted as a law that applies to biology and social life.

Cross symbol

The cross can have a meaning in our life in a religious, philosophical or artistic sense. In fact, it is a symbol that is very present in society, even in contexts that have no religious manifestation.

Images of the cross

Normally the cross is considered to be the symbol of the Catholic church, however, its use has much more than 20 centuries.

The cross was a very good omen in ancient times. It symbolizes the sun and is in many Buddha images.

In fact, archaeologists have found crosses dating from the stone age .

There are many ways to present the cross. It can be said that the cross besides being related to the historical fact of the crucifixion, has a symbolic meaning that is not in contradiction with the historical, but that they complement each other.

The traditional way in which we recognize the cross is that of two equal bars crossed perpendicularly and is called the Greek cross .

The cross of a bar longer than the other, being the longest vertically is called the Latin cross .

The inverted Latin cross is called the cross of San Pedro.

Remember that the symbol x is also a cross and can be a mark to indicate a point. It is an intercession that, as we will see later, can refer to two forces that meet to produce something new. It is also 10 in Roman numerals.

It cannot be forgotten that in mathematics the X (X) and the plus sign (+) are also signs of multiplication and addition.

Another representation is the Tau ( T), this letter comes from the Phoenician cross and this symbol was used by the first Christians who lived in Egypt. Among the Egyptians the Ank cross was the symbol of immortality.

The Ank cross

Among the Egyptians the Ank cross was the symbol of immortality.

We can also refer to the cross with the three dimensions of space, which covers the vertical axis and the two horizontal axes, covering all spatial possibilities, which allows us to define a position. These six directions lead us to the idea of ​​a cube that indicates the directions above, below, north, south, east and west.

The cross in different social groups

Between the Jews and the Romans the cross was interpreted as a symbol of torture.

It is important to note that before the discovery of America, the Indians used the symbol of the cross . The conquerors and missionaries discovered with amazement that the cross was part of the symbols of the American Indians.

We can say that this symbol is integrated into the history of the human gender. In our century we are surrounded by more crosses than we imagine. If we look around we can recognize crosses in hundreds of trademarks, in flags of many countries or humanitarian institutions such as the Red Cross. The consumer society has integrated many religious symbols into economic life and one of these symbols is, of course, the cross.

The Cross on the Flag of Norway

The cross is used by many institutions and is in flags of different countries.

Some religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses reject the cross because they consider it of pagan origin.

Protestants use the cross without the image of the crucified, among other reasons because in resurrection, Christ defeated death and is no longer on the cross.

Catholics present it with the figure of Christ.

Because we have few opportunities to compare religions, we do not always perceive these differences .

The Rosicrucians do not use the image of Christ on the cross, they expose the cross with a crown of roses to express that flowers, as an expression of love, represent the spirituality of the human being.

With this sign you will win

The symbol of the cross, although it was used by the first Christians, became institutional from the Emperor Constantine. Who before a battle dreamed of this symbol and in the dream I hear the words "With this sign you will win." He used the symbol of the cross and won the battle.

From that moment he imposed the cross as a symbol of the Roman Empire and Christianity and forced his soldiers to carry the cross in their shields.

It is interesting that the imposition of the symbol of the cross in the Roman Empire is related to a dream as it increases its symbolic meaning.

The cross as two squares

Another of the senses of the cross of straight lines is the measurement with the square. Many times we want to resolve things improvisedly, however, to be exact we need to pay attention to what can be measured and weighed.

The squad reminds us that we must measure to have exact data. It may seem difficult to visualize a square on the cross, but we can help each other if we imagine two letters L and turn one of them 180 ° to build the cross.

Evolution of the Symbol of the Cross

According to Max Heindel in " The Symbolism of the Rose Cross " (Chapter XIX of the Rosicrucian Concept of the Cosmos) the current symbol of the Cross has been formed by an evolution. It refers to stages that are known as mythical. The author points out that before the current era there were three periods of which there is no written or material evidence. Link those times with the development of the human being.

  • In the first of these times man only had a physical and vital body. Man was similar to plants that in addition to having chemical elements, these are organized in such a way that they manifest life. It was represented as a column (I). In this sense it can be noted that plants can also be symbolized with a column.
  • In the second era, in addition to the physical and vital bodies, the wish body was integrated. Humans were organized similarly to animals that, in addition to expressing life, also express instincts. This era was represented with a Tau (T). Life had reasons for action. Animals can also be represented with this symbol.
  • At the next time, Atlantis, which was described by Plato, the man in addition to his physical, vital, and desires bodies, had a mind and this stage was presented with a cross with four arms +. The mind gave meaning to desires and developed cunning and then wisdom.

The cross is also a symbol of matter, suffering and reincarnation. We beings need the physical experience of material life in order to grow and achieve spiritual development.

The Cross in Biological Evolution

Plants have their roots in the earth and their sexual organs (flowers) are directed to the sky, the root is the brain of the plant; instead, the human being orients his sexual organs to the earth and the brain to the highest.

It can be said that plants are in an inverted position with respect to humans. Both are columns. They are crossed by the animal kingdom. The vertebral column of the animals is parallel to the earth. The plant and the man have an upright position and intersect with the columns of the animals.

The Cross as Law

Nothing can come into existence without the power of the cross

Dr. Israel Rojas affirms that the Cross is not only a symbol, but also represents a Law that is this:

NOTHING CAN COME TO EXISTENCE WITHOUT THE POWER OF THE CROSS .

All that expresses life is the encounter of two powers. That encounter produces a transformation. Nothing is transformed if there is no crossing of forces.

Everything crosses: Two musical notes, two colors, two chemical substances, a man and a woman conceive a love and also a son, the encounter between our thinking and a new idea moves us to act differently.

The interaction between the centrifugal force, which drives us outward, and the centripetal force, which drives us towards the center produces stability or movement, depending on which of the two dominates .

The cross also means that the human being must expand horizontally and vertically. This implies that every person must develop their senses to achieve greater sensitivity in the material world and must also seek the highest and develop their spirituality.

In digestion, this process also occurs. Digestion creates, allows the production of new cells and the elimination of others. Eliminate substances that do not suit.

Our mind is related to the world and sensations are its food. By this way he acquires new experiences. What makes us have greater possibilities to achieve our goals.

Israel Rojas in his work The symbolism of the Rose-Cross reads as follows:

It is necessary to learn to think like the philosopher and feel like the artist, because by gathering in a crucial crucial amalgam the high thinking of the philosopher, to the divine sensibility of the artist, the most enchantment arises The soul of the true superman.

The superman is the one who knows how to cross feeling with thinking, thus spirituality develops. This tells us that the artist without intellectual development and the intellectual without artistic development are incomplete beings. The cross between the intellect and the sensitivity is necessary to achieve a development with a superior balance.

Complementary and opposite

The cross, therefore, can refer to both the complementary and the opposite.

Man and woman are not opposites, they are complementary . However, we all know that sometimes they can present themselves as rivals, as opposites.

When they are presented as opposition, unity is not possible and in this case it is functioning on a lower, selfish and materialistic level. This situation can be solved by dissolving the link.

It can also be overcome through love.

This reminds us that love of neighbor (horizontal bar) is related to love of God (vertical bar). It can be understood as the union between matter and spirit, that is, the union of the individual soul with the cosmos.

The sacrifice of the cross ceases to be a suffering, to be a liberation . This idea leads us to a very different concept from what is usually known as sacrifice. You can give up something we need or you can give up something that we no longer need, because we have acquired a superior good.

A person attached to the life of the senses suffers if they have to separate from their assets, but if that person discovers an ideal, he can renounce his assets without implying a sacrifice . Another example is that of the mother who sacrifices herself for her children. In his resignation there is an act of love that compensates for any loss.

As we can see, the symbol of the cross allows us to analyze multiple situations, which is why it is a symbol. We can never cover all your possibilities of interpretation.

This idea that nothing can come into existence without the crossing of two elements can be very useful to understand many situations of daily life and ask ourselves if those two elements that intersect in our life make us dependent on selfishness or if they help us to free ourselves through love

The responsibility is always ours.

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REFRENCES

Max Heindel Rosicrucian concept of the Cosmos. Kier editorial.

Israel Rojas Romero. The Symbolism of the Cross. Ancient Rosicrucian Fraternity.

Author José Contreras. Scholar of the theme of Reincarnation and Karma. Editor of the big family of hermandadblanca.org

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