From birth, humans begin to shift symbols.
One of man's unique mental abilities is symboling: assigning to things and events meanings that cannot be acquired with sense alone.
Symbols manifest themselves in our culture: our language, our ideas and beliefs, our tools and technologies, our rituals and institutions, and in our art. Symbols are woven into our perception of the world. They represent our realities and truths, our fantasies and understanding. Human experience is built layer upon layer of symbols, accumulating over millennia, with meaning and value generally changing slowly--but sometimes abruptly--over time. Progress is built upon the foundation of symbols laid down by those who proceeded us in the past, and our continued use and manipulation of symbols today.
