Symbol & Archetype A Study of the Meaning of Existence

Every religious tradition or metaphysical worldview involves a system of powerful symbols, most of which bear common meanings across cultures, continents, and time. This volume explores the significance of the most recurrent symbols and archetypes in human history and elaborates a compelling theory for why symbolism plays such an essential role in human life. The work explores certain basic aspects of symbolism in relation to the Divinity, the hierarchy of the universe, the function of human, faculties, and qualities, the human condition, natural objects, works of art, and the final ends, all with reference to the great living religions of the world, and in particular to Christianity and Islam.

Martin Lings was the author of the authorative biography Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources and other works on Islamic spirituality, including A Return to the Spirit, A Sufi Saint in the Twentieth Century, and What is Sufism?