Creating 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 approaches the mountain more closely. Then, I park
the car and I begin to walk a trail that may be well worn at
first, even large enough for horses or off-road vehicles. Eventually
there is nothing more than a narrow foot path.
Actually there are many roads to get near the mountain, and
many paths on and around the mountain, but whichever ones I take,
even they all disappear as I near the summit. At some point,
there is nothing to follow. I just scramble over the rocks and
climb higher until I am on top. This is a true description of
my typical trip to climb a mountain.
Now, as I thought about this process, which I have completed
many times, it occurred to me that this is a great metaphor for
the search for truth! To get to the mountain top - the truth
- you choose among the roads, which are well traveled, and take
to the paths, where fewer have gone. Then at some point you even
have to leave those behind and find your own way to the top.
To expand on the metaphor, anyone can say that the mountain
summit is their goal, but if all they do is circle below on the
many roads and trails, how will they ever reach it? Perhaps this
is why many religions and philosophies fail us, because by themselves
they're nothing more than the roads and paths circling the mountain,
either higher or lower, but never reaching the summit. Until
a man or woman is ready to leave the last path behind, the summit
cannot be attained.
This is an example of using a well known personal experience
as a metaphor to better understand something else.
Questions
Ideally you will consider choosing or developing your own
personal metaphors, so I leave you with several questions to
get you started.
- What experience or process in your life can you describe
in a few sentences or paragraphs?
- How could that be used as a metaphor for something else?
- In addition to helping our understanding of something, how
can metaphors get in the way of better understanding?
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