In 2020, Jonathan wrote an article called A New Laboratory for Symbolic Thinking, where he said the following:

We understood that re-acquiring that ancient world view which brings multiplicity into unity is not a question of merely learning new things. Rather, symbolic intuition is the very frame by which we can make sense and participate in raw information around us. Symbolism is not an arbitrary attribution of meaning and metaphor, but all is about pattern. It is the glue that holds things together in a world which is far too big for us; and which naturally fractures into a million details as we try to account for all its facets. The Symbolic Worldview can only be reached by a kind of “metanoia”, a changing of the mind leading to a direct grasping of patterns through a deep experience of how they cohere together. 

This inaugural volume of The Symbolic World Journal contains articles, interviews, poems, and original artwork from talented contributors from within the Symbolic World community, as well as the spaces adjacent to it. Here they explore, through word and image, these symbolic patterns which pervade and even uphold our cosmos.

The theme of the initial issue is Creation, and with a “beauty-first” spirit the writers and artists explore a wide variety of symbolic ideas related to this idea which are at once both challenging and inspiring. This is intended to embody in a small, yet physical way, the "laboratory of symbolic thinking” that is The Symbolic World. It emerges from below, crafted by those who have been inspired by the myriad discussions around symbolism and beauty that so many have experienced or participated in over the years. It is an offering of love from the community, to the community.

This first volume of The Symbolic World Journal features the work of the following:

Writers

• Fr. Stephen De Young
• Dr. Mario Baghos
• J.P. Marceau
• Daniel Mitsui
• Cormac Jones
• Dan Sherven
• Norm Grondin
• Katherine Hurl
• Kenneth Florence

Artists

• Mark Fisher
• David Flores
• Christopher Mihaly

Poetry

• Nathan Woods
• Jonathan Dear
• Mary Angela Douglas
• Katherine Hurl

Interviews

• Aidan Hart
• Colin Miller
• Dariusz Max