Many Americans and visitors from overseas have visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and been inspired by it. The strength of line of the building and the huge statue symbolize the integrity of the man it honors. The visitor will not be tempted to confuse the perishable symbol with the eternal truth to which such integrity points.
The pineapple placed on many a church dome is a symbol of immortality and of hospitality, inviting the passer-by to find rest in the sanctuary.
Each of us can think of symbols encountered in daily life—for a further example, the numerals one through nine. Even a word is only a symbol pointing beyond itself to some object or concept or idea. A symbol, then, elucidates, often rendering intelligible through sign or image something that would otherwise seem merely abstract. Since the sign or image is only symbol, we should not confuse the symbol with the substance, but must always look beyond it. Part of one dictionary definition of "symbol" reads: "Something that stands for or suggests something else . . .; a visible sign of something invisible."
