Baha'i Faith/Symbolism
It is important to distinguish between literal and symbolic meanings in any religion. If you are not careful, you might end up interpreting symbols literally. Or, you might accidentally interpret literal text to be symbolic. So, in order fore something to be considered a symbol, their has to be an analogy. But, what can these analogies tell us about the Baha'i text that we are trying to interpret.
It's important to understand that there is no such thing as a perfect analogy. If you were to say that a pen is like a pencil, that is not a perfect analogy. Pens have ink. But, pencils use graphite. Furthermore, if you were to say that a pen is like a pen, that would not be an analogy at all. Thus, there is no such thing as a perfect analogy. However, there is such a thing as an analogy that bears fruit. That's why religious documents use symbolism. It bares fruit by making theological concepts easier to teach and learn.