A Symbol Is Not the Thing It Represents
A menu can help you choose a meal. It cannot feed you. The difference is obvious until the symbol itself begins to feel like the thing it points toward.
Money is one example. A banknote has a role in a shared system of exchange. Its value does not come from the paper containing the goods or security we hope it will provide. When we mistake the sign for the whole experience, we can lose sight of what we wanted it to make possible.
A celebration can work this way too. Christmas has a particular religious meaning for those who observe it. A date and its rituals can also call someone to live the meaning they find there beyond one day. The symbol need not be discarded or flattened into a universal claim to ask what it helps a person practice.
Taking a symbol literally can give it a place. Taking it symbolically can reveal its reach. The useful question is what the sign points to, and whether that meaning is present in how we live.