The image below, part of a study I never got to publish, shows three well-know universal symbols. From top to bottom row: angels (human creatures with bird wings), the ancient ouroboros (serpent or dragon eating its own tail), and the enigmatic flower of life. (1/5) 
I've long been obsessed with visual archetypes and cultural metaphors. Most recently, I've found solace in the notion of human universals, described as "features of culture, language, behavior, and psyche" that are common across all human societies. (2/5)
One reason why this area of research is so appealing to me, particularly at a time where we're increasingly polarized, is that it focuses on our similarities, on what all of us have in common, irrespectively of race, culture, or creed. (3/5)
During my research, I've encountered various universal symbols, such as trees, wheels, spirals, angels, which have emerged somehow independently across many regions of the planet, in different stages of human civilization. (4/5)
The seemingly spontaneous appearance of such archetypes without a well-established, or understood, web of influence continuous to be a bit of a riddle. Some archetypes and stories are truly omnipresent. A good example is the flood myth: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myth (5/5)
