The white lotus is one of my favorite religious symbols.  It reflects a state of mental purity and spiritual perfection.

The lotus grows in murky, muddy waters, starting from dark roots that symbolize past events that can anchor us down in life.  But then, as we seek something higher, more spiritual and less material, we grow the stem.  This growth symbolizes the progression of our soul through the waters of experience, of hope, of striving for more, and we reach triumphantly to the surface to a higher state of consciousness, spirituality and faith. We emerge with a beautiful bloom of enlightenment full of pure love and happiness.