The symbolic theme may be described as follows: The fundamental concept is unity amid diversity and tension in the creative intellectual process that strives to bring forth a new individual. The design of the mace interprets this theme in the idiom of the life process: from the seeds at the base of the stave the mace grows in unity and strength until it differentiates by a four-fold separation into diverse elements.
The four-fold diversity is significant because of the four Faculties existing at the time the mace was presented to the University, and as well, of the four Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo. These diverse elements together form a crown, and the points of the crown, while tending toward a union do not quite touch but remain as individuals suspended in tension and yet engaged in a deep harmony. This creative process is focused, not on the traditional spherical orb of static perfection, but rather on an elliptical silver ovum – the egg-shaped symbol of creativity – the marvellous potential of a new individual life.