True religion is often fostered in a man by the use of a symbol. If a visible representation of the invisible God helps a man's worship, he is entitled to use it. If he has need of a symbol of the Infinite Spirit--be it man, angel, or Incarnation--to help him feel that It is something more than an abstract conception, that It may become existent and real, then its use is of assistance. If the symbol evokes a higher mood for the worshipper, it is an effective and worthy and honourable device which is unaffected by its failure to do this for others. It is one use of the symbol to lead him from the familiar outer plane of awareness to the unfamiliar inner one, to throw a bridge over which his mind can cross into perceptions beyond its everyday zone. He has passed from the tyrannous rule of exterior attractions to the gentle sway of interior ones. Until the time comes when the external symbol is no longer needed, he would be as foolish to cast it aside prematurely as another would be to refuse it altogether. But if he begins to believe that this image is thereby permeated with divine power in its own right, he begins to go astray. The worship of any false deity is the degradation of reason. Hindu pilgrims make their threefold ceremonial perambulation around smug idols and expect marvel and miracle in return. Reason denounces these futile propitiations of an unheeding deity.
-- Notebooks Category 17: The Religious Urge > Chapter 2 : Organization, Content of Religion > # 37
