Metaphorology

Expand Your Thinking and Change Your Life

What is metaphorology? The word has been coined, forgotten and then "reinvented" several times, but here's the definition we'll be using for this website: The study and conscious use of metaphors as a thinking technology and/or a science of personal transformation. You can consciously change the way you think, the way you experience life, and the way you respond to life by using different metaphors.

What does that mean? It can mean a better understanding that leads to better results. The purpose in creating this Metaphorology web site is to explore how we can tap into the power of metaphors. Let's get started...

Featured Pages | Favorite Metaphors | Thoughts

How to Create Personal Metaphors - When I climb a mountain, I leave my house and travel a paved road, and then another, to get closer to my destination. At some point I leave the easy driving on the pavement and take a dirt road that... Continue reading here...

Belief Is aProgram - If beliefs are programs we install in our brains, we can see that they are for a purpose. The purpose, in this case, is to help us better deal with life. Furthermore, a program is meant to serve us; we are not meant to serve it. When it no longer serves us well, we get rid of it and get a new one, a better one. We might also look at the design of a program, and see if we can change it, so it works better. A program (belief) that we should tell the truth, for example, may fail us if it doesn't allow for exceptions in certain cases.

Am I a Metaphor? - If human consciousness is a metaphorical creation as some speculate, could it be that spirituality is a way to radically change the metaphorical structure that determines our form of consciousness and therefore our actions?

Pages

Metaphorical Playtime - Get creative and see things in new ways... What is a belief? Some would say (optimistically) that it's a "truth." I think beliefs are "tools." The metaphor chosen can totally alter our perspective, but we don't have to see it only one way...

I Am a Metaphor -The Metaphorical Nature of Consciousness - The idea that consciousness is a metaphorical creation is not so strange as it might seem at first. Consider for a moment what happens if you tell yourself "I am James Bond." If you adopt this metaphor of yourself as James Bond, and play along with it for a moment, you'll notice that...

The Metaphors We Live By - The metaphors we live by include life as a journey, a game, a dream, and a movie. But how do these metaphorical perspectives affect our actions and our lives? Here's a look at a few of them, and how to best use them...

Spiritual Metaphors That Work - ...spiritual metaphors that work? I'm referring to the fact that the words are not the things themselves, and are only tools. Using metaphors is one of the most powerful ways to communicate an understanding of something, but they are tools, and so we have to...

Creating Personal Metaphors - An example and three questions for you.
Tips for Creating Great Metaphors - I let someone else do the writing.
Spiritual Awakening and Other Metaphors - They resonate, but...
A Change of Perspective - I was reading a magazine article and suddenly...
Metaphor Quotes - Some of my favorites.
A Short Metaphor Poem - Are we trapped in our words?
Metaphors - Thought-provoking ideas based on playing with metaphors.
Using Metaphors - Examples - Do you "understand" aor "overstand."
Great Examples of Life Metaphors - How they give us new understandings.
Good Metaphors - What is it that makes a metaphor so useful?
Metaphor List - The Less Common Metaphors - Ego is a slave master.
Metaphor Therapy - Be your own doctor with metaphorical medicine.
Money Metaphors - The common ones and some better options.
Lists of Metaphors - From several areas of life...
Examples of Metaphors - Some common and unusual ones.
Using Metaphors for Problem Solving - Creative solutions.
More Metaphors Gone Wild - An unleashing of metaphorical ideas.
Metaphors in Poems - A look at two poems that use metaphors.

Other Sites

Want Radical New Thoughts - Go sign up for the free Radical Thinking Course here: http://www.radicalnewthoughts.com

Beyond Mental Slavery - Discover traps in your mind and read excerpts from the book on this site: http://www.beyondmentalslavery.com

The Thousand Mile Hole - You can read excerpts from this book on deeper thinking here: http://www.thethousandmilehole.com

Steve Gillman's Blog - My personal blog, where I write about a varety of topics, is located here: http://www.stevegillman.com

Other Pages

Using Metaphors
Metaphors for Life
Metaphor Poem

Are You a Mind Slave?

Beyond Mental Slavery reveals our limiting mental processes - and what to do about them; a how-to guide for clearer, more powerful thinking.

Click here to learn more or to order your copy today!

My Latest Book

At the moment this one is available only on Kindle: The Thousand Mile Hole

Metáforas de la Vida Cotidiana

Una página en español sobre como las metáforas le dan forma a nuestra vida.

(A page in Spanish on how metaphors give form to our lives.)