A great majority of human beings are incapable of even conceiving – let alone contemplate upon – God as the Supreme Power or Intelligence without any particular name or form. This is because of the limitation imposed by the body-mind complex and the consequent identification with it. However, an icon – an image or a picture or even a symbol – can definitely help in this process of contemplation, even as a limited window in our room giving us a view of the unlimited sky as long we are sitting in it.
If the symbolic meaning and significance or the icon is understood properly, the icon itself will become an actualized form of the ideal. Then, viewing it will be almost as good as viewing the original it represents. It is akin to remembering a person when we look at his photograph.
We may also look at it in another way. An abacus is needed (and used) to teach certain fundamental concepts of arithmetic, to little children. Similarly an icon, especially the one installed in a temple, along with the associated ideas, can help us to conceive of contemplate of God.
Icons or concrete symbols have played a prominent part in all religions.
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