The Oreo Exercise

If you’re reading this blog with regularity, I could probably deduce a number of things about you. One thing I was wager is that most of you are aware of the massive amounts of symbolism that bombard us every day. You are also aware that symbols can have multiple meanings and change with time. Finally, I would guess that the Grail Seekers out there look at the world through these symbols in a different way than the general populace. Many of the theories that are presented to us about the Grail hinge on the interpretation of both visual and literary symbols. One has to go no further than the pictures of Rosslyn Chapel to see how heavily symbols influence a whole body of theories about the Grail. With that said, I thought I would do a little experiment in symbolism for this week’s blog.

Before reading any further, keep in mind that there is no validity to my answer to this experiment. I have no special knowledge that has lead me to these conclusions, and it’s basically a mental exercise. But I think that the results we might get from this will be reveling as to how differently we “read” symbols. (Further disclaimer, yes I realize this is goofy and that I doubt there will be much of a response. But I had fun doing it.)

Now for the experiment. Take close a look at an Oreo Cookie. (I would suggest looking a Golden Oreo, it’s easier to look at than the “Classic” Oreo. Forget that it’s a cookie, and pay attention to what is on the face of the Oreo. There’s a pretty intricate design that is baked into the top of each cookie. The question is how does one interpret that in a symbolic light?

If you care to, email or insert a comment of your solution before you read what I’ve come up with. I’ll publish some of the e-mails so we can see how differently everyone has looks at the same object. I’ll pick one of the solutions at random and send that lucky person a Grail Seeker’s T-Shirt from my Café Press shop. The deadline for this is midnight one month from this article’s posting. Also on May 13^th, I’ll publish my solution to the problem.