Personal meaning
•Vague, so individual can develop individual interpretation and application.
•“It is not so important that we agree on the answers.  What is important is that we agree on what questions need to be asked.”
A symbol, when properly used, has greater value when it's exact definition is personal, individually-determined, and most meaningful to the one considering it.  Like words (which are in themselves symbols), symbols mean different things to different individuals, in different contexts.  Where there is general agreement, there is also communication.  Ideas, particularly moral and ethical ones, can be communicated much more effectively, in my experience, when they are symbolically represented.