If you haven't taken the Symbolism Test from yesterday's post, please make sure to go here first and take it. Looking at the answers before you take it will mess up your own.
1. Trees stand for friends.
2. Basically this determines if you like to have a lot or just a few.
3. Water is friends of the opposite sex.
4. Again, whether you like to have a lot or just a few.
5. The path is the path of life. Is it narrow? You like to follow the rules. Is it wide? You like to have a lot of leeway. Is it smooth or rutted? Is your life a highway (sorry couldn't resist)? Mine was lined with trees on both sides suggesting that I see myself as having friends along through my life.
6. The key is knowledge. Is it present on your path?
7. So did you throw knowledge away? Put it in your pocket like I did? Bury it in the woods like one of my classmates?
8.The cup is a special friend. Some people had disposable cups. Others had down-to-earth tumblers that were purely functional. Mine was a teacup with chips out of it. This really speaks to me. Every really good friend I've ever had has been just a little broken. Perhaps that's why. Think about the colors of your cup too. Traditionally, white is purity, red is not, etc.
9. Did you kick your cup away? Did you put it in your pocket like I did again (Cargo pants weren't in then but I'm thinking I must have been wearing some)? Did you put your key inside your cup -- sharing knowledge with them -- like one of my classmates?
10. The bear is problems. I was amazed at this since my bear was a teddy bear. What teen views problems that way? The majority of the class had big scary live bears.
11. Again, my classmates handled their bears in the same ways I had seen them handle problems before. They either ran away from it or climbed a tree (leaned on a friend) for the most part. If memory serves, I carried mine with me. I don't know if that means I internalize my problems or just deal with it. It might have been a little of both.
12. The fence represents your feelings about death. Obviously, if it is serene, the idea of death isn't worrisome for you. I always kind of viewed it as a part of life, not a part that I wanted to experience any time soon, but a part nonetheless. Others had very scary fences.
13. Did you run away when you saw the fence? Approach it? Climb over it?
14. What you see on the other side of the fence is your ideas or feelings about the afterlife.
The fence and beyond was what I remembered when listening to the radio show I mentioned. They were discussing how people's personalities and life experiences might affect their personal view of what Heaven would be like. The one thing that I remember clearly from taking this test was how peaceful my fence and the meadow I envisioned beyond were. I was already a Christian when I took it and I know that was reflected.
On the other hand, I also remember very clearly the self-proclaimed atheist's fence. Hers was tall with barbed wire on the tops. As she described it, it was like a prison fence. It was dark with guard dogs straining at their chains barking. It was a fearsome thing. And beyond it was nothing but darkness. The teacher didn't tell us what these things meant before we shared our answers.
But hearing her description was very telling to me. There was nothing but fear waiting for her at the end. I truly hope that has changed since then.
I hope you got a kick out of doing this. It obviously made an impact on me when I took it as a teenager.
4 comments:
That was fun. I didn't write down my answers, but I remember my thoughts. I picked up the key, wondered who it belonged to and what it opened, and then put it in my pocket and carried it with me. I found the key very intriguing.
My favorite was the bear. My bear was real and somewhat scary (b/c it was a bear), but my reaction was to stand still and think about the situation. Was the bear close to me or far away? Did it even notice me? Could I keep walking and be fine? In my mind, the bear would probably leave me alone, and if things got bad, I could always play dead or run screaming or do whatever came to me:). I can definitely see some application to my attitude toward life's troubles.
My fence was nice (rustic and unpainted), and so was the field beyond it.
The only thing was the trees and the water. I love both trees and water, and I love to be surrounded by them (esp water). But I don't feel like I need a ton of friends, especially friends of the opposite sex. Hmmmm...
Thanks for posting this!
That was fun! I love lots of trees and love water but not to be surrounded by it. My path was in the woods but smoothed with sand so you dont have to look down while you are walking and can enjoy all the trees. I picked up the key, brushed off the dirt, and put it in my pocket. The cup was a plastic Disney "Chip" cup which I picked up for my kids. When I saw the large brown bear crossing my path, I froze so I wouldn't get his attention. My fence was a waist high weathered picket fence with forest on the other side too. I just walked alongside it. All was very peaceful. Very interesting ...
Okay, here are my answers.
1. I like trees, now. But I didn't like them for a long time. I learned to like trees while I was at Harding. It's also when I learned to make (and enjoy) friends.
2. Yes. Trees are good. Well, no. Being surrounded by trees causes me anxiety.
3. Umm... water's okay.
4. No. I don't like to be surrounded by water.
5. My path was a smooth path through a wooded area. Which is weird given my mixed feelings about trees. But it was really calming and beautiful. I remember being thankful for the trees and wishing they were a bit closer, but I had to stay on the path. The path was winding, so that I could not see what was ahead. The trees were very green, like just after a good rain.
6. Yes, I saw a key.
7. It was really LARGE. Like a key from an old, fairytale story. I thought, "Well that looks useful (insert sarcasm here)." I felt obligated to keep the key, though I felt that it was not useful to me. I was wishing I had found a different key.
I thought this was extremely interesting b/c I often feel that my college education was usless. I'm not convinced that my study of chi-square or Khirbet Qumran or OCPD brings anything to my daily life. But that's just me.
8. The cup was very cool. It was the Eco Cup, which I have been planning to send to my bff as a birthday gift.
9. I could keep the cup. I had to let it go to continue on the path. Very sad.
10. The bear was brown and real. I saw it off to the side of the path. I walked by it thinking, "That's not my problem."
Maybe that reflects my resolve to let Jesse many of the different problems were are facing right now? I've decided that I should back off and follow his lead on a lot of issues. It's been so freeing to me!
11. Just walked on by.
12. My fence looked like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1235/539629742_64f2ac8dbc.jpg
13. I walked along side it, waiting for a break in the fence so that I could pass through.
14. Beyond the fence was a large valley, and mountains beyond that. I knew I was supposed to come out of the trees, and into the valley, and cross over to the mountains.
Very cool! I really enjoyed this. I enjoyed it so much that I bribed the kiddos with ice cream just so I could come and share my test results. Thanks for posting.
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