Using Metaphors - Examples
Purposely using metaphors to change your perspective and therefore
your understanding, can be a very practical way to get better
results in life. We use metaphors all the time, often without
even noticing, and not always to good effect, so why not become
more conscious of the ones we use? "My life is in the crapper,"
might become "Fortunately, I've been involuntarily enrolled
in the school of hard knocks so I can learn some very valuable
life lessons."
Sometimes using metaphors means turning them around and seeing
other aspects of them. For example, a man might feel that he
is a puppet, being pulled this way and that, made to dance on
cue and generally under the control of various puppet masters.
But what if he takes another look at that, with a slight change
to the metaphor? He decides that he has been a puppet, but that
he was the one holding onto the strings. Freedom is as simple
as letting go.
This isn't just a more pleasant way to see the situation.
It is a better understanding, meaning one that more closely describes
the reality. That is why it resonates with him. He sees that
the "strings" controlling him are of his own making.
They are his desire to win the approval of others, for example,
or his fear of losing a job he never liked anyhow.
This new way of seeing allows him to drop the fear and false
desires. He does not have to hold onto anything which doesn't
serve him. If you have not ever experienced a change that comes
quickly with a new understanding, you need to play with those
metaphors some more. They can point to truths that profoundly
alter how you live.
Inventing Metaphors
Using metaphors invented for a specific purpose is another
way to alter your perspective and discover better ways to approach
life. By the way, you may not have noticed that "approach"
is a metaphor here. What was once a concept of physically moving
towards something became a way to describe mentally coming towards
something. Metaphors are the start of new understandings, and
though we eventually lose the connection (who consciously notices
that "head of the class" is a body metaphor any longer?),
we can create even newer ways to see.
Beyond just inventing new metaphors using existing words,
we can even create new words that convey a different way to understand
something. In fact, I'll start right there, with "understand."
Some researchers have suggested that the word came as a description
of how people actually "stood under" their leaders
or even their carved idols to take instructions. We don't often
think of the word as having a metaphorical basis, but "under"
plus "stand" clearly must have started as a metaphor
of some sort.
My new word, then, is "overstand." What does it
mean? My current definition (I'm still working on this): "To
impose one's existing ideas, opinions and feelings on a subject
when considering it. For example, a person want his political
theory to be correct, so he only considers evidence which confirms
it. People often "overstand" things, meaning they "stand
over" it, in effect creating their own "truth"
rather than looking to discover and accept reality as it is.
By contrast, to understand is to "stand under" something
- specifically the truth. It is to be subservient to the truth.
We might say that true power comes from true understanding: seeing
reality without illusion or delusion or the desire that it conform
to our existing beliefs and ideas.
What we call understanding is often "overstanding,"
which gives us a sense of power because it confirms what we want
to be true - without much regard for reality. It is a false and
precarious power, of course. You don't get to ignore reality
for long without consequences.
Now, if using a metaphor like that makes any sense, it is
only because it points to something we can see (another metaphor),
and hopefully in a way that helps us see more clearly. There
really are different ways to "understand" aren't there?
Now, when you sense or see that your own or another person's
grasp of something doesn't quite "line up" with reality
(yet another metaphor), you might ask yourself if the understanding
is actually an overstanding.
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