Mythogem # 3 - Metaphors That We Live By: How Metaphors Shape the Way We See the World

[M]ythology is a compendium of metaphors. — Joseph Campbell

The following prompt is based on cognitive linguists, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s thesis from their monumental work Metaphors We Live By: “If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor” (124). Therefore, if our thoughts, experiences, and actions are rooted in metaphor, then what do those metaphors of thought, experience, and action look like?

More specifically, what are the metaphors that each of us live by day-to-day?

It is important to be self-aware of such metaphors because they dictate everything about our social existence.

By researching your own personal, conceptual metaphors you will begin to see how both culture and personality shape the way we perceive reality.

So let’s begin with a definition of metaphor: “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (125, emphasis in original). This is the most applicable definition describing the function of metaphor, because metaphor transforms how we comprehend one thing using the terminology and experience of another.

All linguistic concepts (for it is hard to conceive of a concept outside of language) are structured through conceptual metaphors. Some of Lakoff and Johnson’s most popular examples include: ARGUMENT IS WAR, THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS, IDEAS ARE COMMODITIES, KNOWING IS SEEING, and LOVE IS MAGIC.

To further explore this idea let’s use the conceptual metaphor GOD IS LOVE. This is probably the most important conceptual metaphor within the realm of the Christian religion today: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8); “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16b). What this is saying in terms of the conceptual metaphor is that we can better understand God through the terminology and experience of love. Many apologists will advise one not to misinterpret these verses as saying that wherever there is love there is God and therefore the worship of love leads to the worship of God, or even that in some new age way God is literally love or that Love is literally god. But this type of thinking also misses the point of the metaphor; the metaphor defies logic because the metaphor is arguing that God is not literally love but that God can be better understood if we figuratively think about God through the language of love. The GOD IS . . . metaphor is a powerful metaphor that characterizes the entirety of a religion: its thoughts, experiences, and actions. Even on a personal level we mustn’t forget to ask ourselves, “What is our metaphor for God?”

GOD IS                     .

And though metaphors are embedded within a culture’s linguistic heritage, we also have the ability to create new ways of seeing: “New metaphors have the power to create a new reality” (131). Mythologist Joseph Campbell also expressed that, “If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” So like Shakespeare, who changed the world into a stage, we have the power to re-conceptualize our world through metaphor. What is your metaphor for the world?

THE WORLD IS                     .

Because cultural metaphors are socially constructed, they highlight “certain realities and [hide] others” (132). What this means is, take for instance any of the aforementioned examples, metaphors may help us see and experience one thing in terms of another, yet blind us to other ways of seeing, such as with the ARGUMENT IS WAR example; it hides looking at argument as anything beyond the concept of war. But what if—as Lakoff and Johnson suggest—we look at argument in terms of dance, or, as I would suggest, a journey, or conversation. Conceptually, dancing, journeying, and conversing bring out realities which lay hidden behind the war metaphor. Dance would suggest that argumentation is not a competition but a complimentary process of movement (action) as well as a co-created artistic expression; a journey would suggest that argument is not rivalry but understanding the experience of life through empathetic exchange; a conversation would suggest that those who argue are neither winners nor losers but are participating in a dialogue where each speaker gains valuable information from the transaction. Looking at argument as war hides the realities that argument can also be about co-creation, empathy, and sharing information/knowledge.

“[T]ruth is always relative to a conceptual system that is defined in large part by metaphor” (134); change the metaphor and you change the way we see truth: “Metaphor is one of our most important tools for trying to comprehend partially what cannot be comprehended totally: our feelings, aesthetic experiences, moral practices and spiritual awareness” (134). Metaphor reminds us of the limits of our experience but also helps us to transcend the limitations of our experience. Metaphor is the ultimate aspect of What-If Framing.

Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.

— Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist noted for his hypotheses regarding the relation of language to thinking and cognition and for his studies of Hebrew and Hebrew ideas, 1897- 1941

• What is your analogy, metaphor, or simile for “life,” “love,” “music,” “communication,” “reading,” and “writing” (remember that personal mythology is just as much about looking without to look within as it is looking within to look without)?
• What, then, does this reveal about how you see yourself?
• Where might your analogy, metaphor, or simile start to break down? And why is this contrast important?
• How do you see your major/career in terms of an analogy, metaphor, or simile?
• What is the significance of framing it this way?

Metaphor Analysis Mini-Project: As a separate exercise, consider the lyrics to your favorite song: What analogies, metaphors (explicit and implicit), and similes do they use? Why? And, most importantly, how does the analogy, metaphor, or simile create an argument? If you can’t decide on a song, follow the link to get started: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/juno/alliwantisyou.htm.

*All biblical quotes are from the ESV translation.

*All italicized keywords and verb phrases are representative of implicit metaphors.

Source(s):

Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson. 1980. “Metaphors We Live By.” Language, Thought, and Culture, U of P Chicago. pp. 124-134. Print.