Metaphors are names and symbols which mark something and allow it to stand for something else. Metaphors have symbolic meaning often above and beyond the named object or emotional state. As humans we come into a chaotic world. Those who have come before have given "things" names, and for us these "things" become the names and these names have powerful symbolic value.
For an example The Internet, one might say, is a metaphor for an Overmind, a vast cybernetic net of metaphor thrown over civilization at large, an active matrix of ideas and images commonly shared by the composite human mind and available to the individual throughout the world, regardless of caste, color, religion, gender of financial status. This is the true democratization of the metaphor. No longer is it limited by mere language, intellectual caste or economic privilege.
The brain merely serves as the control room where the screen of recognition is housed. We all know lots of things. We know more than any human in history. We know more than we will ever have reason or need to know. In our culture we stand beneath a constant shower of information, but we are seldom moved to "own" our knowledge. Our wisdom, knowledge and beliefs are like a closet of clothes with the price tags still attached. They are lacking in true ritual or value. Because information is so easily assimilated we tend to dismiss its intrinsic value. To follow the "clothes" metaphor, we try them on and then hang them back in our closet with the intention of wearing them at some point in the future, should they become "in fashion". But the understanding is that these metaphorical clothes can always be returned if un-worn. We don't have to "own" them. Sort of like our jobs, relationships, cars or cats, they can be exchanged, co-mingled or abandoned.
Reality, after all, is merely a group consensus. We give something a "name", and as a culture we agree on that symbolic name and so it is...it IS valued.
It is not the content nor the political slant that is important, nor even the creative ability exhibited within the juxtaposition of the words upon the page. It is instead, a process as old as Man: the naming and claiming of reality, metaphor by metaphor. This is the Metaphorical Imperative, as strong as the drive for food or water. This quest, which has driven the human race from the very beginning, is, in the final analysis, the quest for the seed of Truth.
For an example The Internet, one might say, is a metaphor for an Overmind, a vast cybernetic net of metaphor thrown over civilization at large, an active matrix of ideas and images commonly shared by the composite human mind and available to the individual throughout the world, regardless of caste, color, religion, gender of financial status. This is the true democratization of the metaphor. No longer is it limited by mere language, intellectual caste or economic privilege.
The brain merely serves as the control room where the screen of recognition is housed. We all know lots of things. We know more than any human in history. We know more than we will ever have reason or need to know. In our culture we stand beneath a constant shower of information, but we are seldom moved to "own" our knowledge. Our wisdom, knowledge and beliefs are like a closet of clothes with the price tags still attached. They are lacking in true ritual or value. Because information is so easily assimilated we tend to dismiss its intrinsic value. To follow the "clothes" metaphor, we try them on and then hang them back in our closet with the intention of wearing them at some point in the future, should they become "in fashion". But the understanding is that these metaphorical clothes can always be returned if un-worn. We don't have to "own" them. Sort of like our jobs, relationships, cars or cats, they can be exchanged, co-mingled or abandoned.
Reality, after all, is merely a group consensus. We give something a "name", and as a culture we agree on that symbolic name and so it is...it IS valued.
It is not the content nor the political slant that is important, nor even the creative ability exhibited within the juxtaposition of the words upon the page. It is instead, a process as old as Man: the naming and claiming of reality, metaphor by metaphor. This is the Metaphorical Imperative, as strong as the drive for food or water. This quest, which has driven the human race from the very beginning, is, in the final analysis, the quest for the seed of Truth.(From the E-book Metaphor Bridge, by Jann Burner)
Article source: EzineArticles
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