Experiment with two fork signs
The best illustration of the theme of "combination of open signs" is provided by two open fork signs (as for road junctions). We will meet part of this series of signs again in the philosophical sense in the table concerned with dualism, but here they are considered only in their purely formal aspects.
Two opposed forks either attract or repel each other, depending on the value given to the triangular shane. which may be seen either as an arrow or as an angle sign (in mathematics, greater or lesser than).
By coming together, the extremities join up and form a square, which was already present in imagination. In this way the two forks completely lose their character and the square prevails.
A further inward movement reveals the forks once again showing clearly the importance of the stroke endings. The reduced square loses much of its autonomy through the shortening of its sides and the reemergence of the two fork shapes.
If the two signs are centrally superimposed , the original fork shapes disappear completely and can be recalled to the mind's eye only with a great effort, since the arms of the signs have been changed into three newly formed and extended straight lines. The resulting shape is a much more simply structured, symmetrical star.
