Big spring clean ongoing, and came across this, which I thought worth sharing.

It forms part of a discourse on symbols, the individual and the unique manner in which the same symbol resonates differently for each 'viewer'. The whole piece, written some 12 years ago, attempts to convey the difficulty experienced by the casual observer trying to make sense of the number relationships revealed in the study of Arimathea. (I won't boggle your mind with the number specific bits... )

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No two people interpret a symbol the same way. If they claim to, then one is deluding either himself or the other. There is a reason for this: which can be expressed in terms of where the individual has been (and hence his experience of the symbol and his ability to decipher it) and where he is going (i.e. his need to decipher it at all!)

Travelling along a well signposted road for the first time, the traveller sees the signs to all other places between his place of origin and his ultimate destination. Many travel the same road, but have varying places of origin and very different destinations. All see the same signs, but readily ignore the information not relevant to their individual journey.

Only when a sign appears which contains information important to the individual traveller does he take notice and absorb the information thereon. Even so, all the other information contained on the same sign, although clearly displayed, is easily, and completely, ignored as irrelevant to the journey being undertaken.

This clearly demonstrates the danger of words.

Should a sign appear:


...the traveller can readily see the way to turn, the information relevant to him is readily observed, and correct judgement (interpretation of the action required to reach the destination) is easily made. In this case - leave at the next exit.

Should the sign, however, appear:

...the traveller is in real danger of missing the information he requires, pertinent, perhaps only to him, on this particular journey. So much verbage is merely distraction from the usefulness of the symbol.

Ideally, the traveller wishes all signs:

...with no extraneous information which may confuse, or hinder his ability to correctly interpret the symbol, its relevance to him, and allow him to continue his journey successfully and smoothly.

The more simple the symbol, the more loudly it speaks.

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Of course, part of the joy of the journey is getting lost for a while on all the interesting side roads...