Perception of transcendent signs: Standing at the interface

Abstract

Perception of transcendent signs: Standing at the interface. – The article analyses the notions of a threshold and gate as symbols for human cultivation, for a person’s understanding of the world. A threshold appears to be the interface of at least two environments and spaces. It is a place of challenge, commitment, change, but also a place, which is solid, tangible, and substantial. A gate is destined to provide for entry; again, it separates spaces or environments. Within the Czech intellectual tradition, as early as in the 17th century, the symbol of a gate was used by Jan Amos Comenius to indicate entry into something new, more substantial, more valuable. The inability to perceive symbols and their meaning, eventually difficulties when it comes to reading symbolic language, may result in the inability to perceive transcendence.