More Metaphors Gone Wild
What the heck are "metaphors gone wild?" They are
simply metaphors that we play with - without any real rules -
to gain insight, to get new ideas, and to have fun. Here are
a few examples.
Random Metaphors
Conscience Is an Accountant
The accountant for his soul told him that he had to stop.
If he didn't he would soon be morally bankrupt. But accountants
are often ignored.
Freedom Is an Abused Child
Freedom was still an abused child at the beginning of the
twenty-first century. It was pushed this way and that by billions
of its parents, most of whom never wanted it in the first place.
It was neglected by the its philosopher-mothers who should have
fed it, and had "duties" piled on it by the political
fathers who should have let it play. And then there were the
million step-parents who simply tried to beat it to death. But
it was a tough child.
Family and Friends Are Dream-Abortionists
You are pregnant with dreams soon to be brought into your
world. But then there are your family and friends, who encourage
your doubts, and come for your dreams with knives in their words.
They are abortionists who are always willing to help you kill
your dreams before they are born.
Metaphors Gone Wild - Metaphors for Ideas
Mind Is a Country - Religion Is a Dictator - Ideas Are
Concentration Camp Inmates
In the country that was his mind, religion was the dictator.
All thoughts were commanded to conform to its colorless dogma.
But there were forbidden ideas that ran quietly through the wilderness,
laughing and playing. They were the enemy.
But to him, they also represented freedom, beauty - something
outside the bleak atmosphere of dogma. Sometimes they did not
seem evil at all. At times he even wished he could visit with
these ideas. That infuriated the dictator.
Any ideas that did not bow before this religion were hunted
down. Religion is a jealous dictator. They were rounded up and
sent to a dark corner of the mind, to the concentration camp.
Here they were slowly starved to death, not given the care they
needed to sustain them.
They huddled together, too tired to laugh and play. Eventually
they died, and there emaciated bodies were cast aside as worthless.
This murder was called love, and the name of the concentration
camp was faith.
Ideas Are Diseases
Ideas are diseases specific to humans, who seem to have no
natural immunity to them. Once infected, a person becomes a carrier,
and spreads the disease upon opening his mouth, picking up a
pen or turning on a computer. The only defense is to counteract
them with other ideas, and like drugs with nasty side effects,
we find that sometimes the cure is worse than the original sickness.
Drowning in a Sea of Ideas
He was of the land, but he swam in the sea of ideas, thinking
that if he kept his head above water he would not be affected.
Of course he was wrong. Like the others, he had forgotten his
amphibious nature, and the permeability of his skin.
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