Ancient man believed that stones contained divine power and that rubbing these stones deliver a meaningful coherence between this world and the next, a coherence that can literally mean the difference between hunger and sustenance, life and death.
Modern man, however, has lost his connection with the power of stones because modern culture has displaced it with the power of technology. Modern man seldom goes hungry for food; his hunger is a different kind – hunger for the power of stones that represent his encounter with the divine.
Significance of Grave Markers
Primitive men marked burial sites with stones. As grave markers, these stones served an even greater purpose: they reminded people that death was an illusion because eternal life remained, symbolized by something as unchanging as stones.
Stones speak from the most enduring part of the psyche – that part that is not colored or tinged by personality or life events. Primitive men understood this aspect of the stone; to them the stone spoke from the simplest and most immortal part of humanity – the divinity within.
Sacred Symbols in Stone
A poignant story demonstrating man’s recognition of the divinity within is the OId Testament story of Jacob who dreamed that the angels of God visited him and set up a ladder that reached the portals of Heaven. As soon as he awoke, Jacob took a large stone and set it up as a pillar in that very spot where he had lain to mark it as a sacred symbol of his connection with the divinity within.
Ancient societies were filled with stone sanctuaries arranged in deliberate patterns to mark the portal between the earthly and the divine. Egyptian stone tombs are made with hidden doorways allowing the dead unobstructed passage between this world and the next. Zen Buddhist Rock Gardens are constructed to imbue the earthly place with spiritual presence.
Rock paintings and engravings in caves prove also to be symbols of sacred encounters. Stones “speak” because they are seen as vehicles of divine inspiration and sacred power.
The Philosopher’s Stone
Perhaps the most complex and interesting example of the power of stones is the art of alchemy. The alchemist’s dream to synthesize the divine and the mundane into a whole is represented by the Philosopher’s Stone, symbol of an enlightened state of consciousness. This state is achieved by an elaborate process that burns away superfluous residues in order to reveal the innermost core of the self.
According to tradition, it is only through discipline and patient application of self to the Great Work of Alchemy that man arrives at the final state of enlightenment, when he cultivates the power to change reality on all levels.
Carl Jung describes this state as a form of oneness between the outer and inner worlds, the visible and the invisible, as can be seen in the experience of synchronicity or meaningful coincidence.
For Jung, synchronicities convey messages from the psyche that are pertinent to the self’s spiritual growth and development. It is through this encounter between the psychic and the physical, the earthly and the divine that man achieves spiritual balance and coherence.
Man’s consciousness of the power of stone has been displaced by modern technological culture. He can reclaim this consciousness by achieving spiritual coherence through the development of psychic power.
Source:
- Jung, Carl. Ed. Man and His Symbols. New York: A Laurel Book, 1964.
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