[10/1996] A reality that transcends the human Geist is essentially beyond language, forms, institutions. I would argue that symbols re such a transcending reality (1) must serve to awaken an experience of awe (past or present) and (2) should arise from within the experience of those sharing in that to which the symbol points and which the symbol opens. Corollaries are (1) that such language, forms, and institutions should be permitted to fade/die as well as to be born and (2) that no competitiveness should occur about such symbols. As examples of such symbols, see Bonhoeffer’s references to the gift of Barth’s cigar and to ‘the parcel’ in his prison letters.