Feeling Lost In A Forest Of Symbols

If you are like me, you sometimes feel lost in what seems an endless forest — infested and overgrown with imagery and symbolic forms — where no pure light and nothing tangible may penetrate.

For instance, it seems every time I turn around I see this fictional character — a symbol, if anything is — in various embodiments: human flesh, reinforced plastic, ink on paper, metal, and neon, to name just a few of his after-life, perceptible manifestations

Where an altar and podium usually appear, this chapel features a fiberglass Elvis Presley. With The King of Rock n’ Roll looking on, weddings take place; already married people renew their vows; and various unspecified “commitment ceremonies” are staged. At this venue customers also memorialize deceased fathers, mothers, children, aunts and uncles, and even long-term animal companions. In their advertising the proprietors invite potential celebrants to: “Honor your life’s journey with rites of passage.” In case any sales opportunities have been overlooked, the facility can host unspecified special affairs, yet to be imagined.

Without speaking to the creators of this concept, it is near-impossible to draw a straight line connecting Elvis to formalized rites of passage. How does this legendary but dead-and-gone musician relate to major transitions in a stranger’s life?