The Symbolism of the Cross

"The cross is a symbol which in its various forms is met with almost everywhere, and from the most remote times ; it is therefore far from belonging peculiarly and exclusively to the Christian tradition as some might be tempted to believe. It must even be stated that Christianity, at any rate in its outward and generally known aspect, seems to have somewhat lost sight of the symbolic character of the cross and come to regard it as no longer anything but the sign of a historical event. Actually, these two viewpoints are in no wise mutually exclusive ; indeed the second is in a sense a consequence of the first ; but this way of looking at things is so strange to the great majority of people to-day that it deserves dwelling on for a moment in order to avoid possible misunderstandings.
The fact is that people too often tend to think that if a symbolical meaning is admitted, the literal or historical sense must be rejected ; such a view can only result from unawareness of the law of correspondence which is the very foundation of all symbolism. By virtue of this law, each thing, proceeding as it does from a metaphysical principle from which it derives all its reality, translates or expresses that principle in its own fashion and in accordance with its own order of existence, so that from one order to another all things are linked together and correspond in such a way as to contribute to the universal and total harmony, which, in the multiplicity of manifestation, can be likened to a reflection of the principial unity itself." R. G. View Less