“Metaphor is … the language of the imagination.”
The insights that we desperately need to guide us to life-affirming behaviors and a sustainable community are often communicated in metaphors. So, what is a metaphor? It is a word, phrase or story that is not taken literally; it suggests a similarity to a very different word, phrase or story. We might think of it as an analogy, a simile, a likeness or sometimes a symbol used to further clarify a point.
According to Thomas Sheehan in his book The First Coming (1986) “Palestine was a culture of [metaphorical] storytelling, and Jesus was a master of the art. His stories were not moral or intellectual allegories that required exegetical deciphering [intellectual analysis], but straightforward and concrete descriptions that drew his listeners into the drama and called for a decision on their part.”[i]
“A major problem with religion is the confusion caused by the difference between literal truth and metaphor. If religious myth and metaphorical stories are taken literally then the shift to a more profound worldview, one closer to the true nature of reality, is made more difficult. Ignorance of this kind becomes a significant barrier to Self-Realization.”[ii]
Insight # 31 comes to us from June Singer (1920-2004), an American analytical psychologist, author and co-founder of the Jung Institute of Chicago. She helped to popularize Jung’s theories in the U.S.
“Metaphor is the stuff of which myth is made. It is the language of the imagination. Using it, we fashion individual myths and collective mythologies. The individual myth finds expression in all of us through dreams and fantasies, hope and fears, and all the other non-rational experiences that evoke an intensity of feeling that reason cannot encounter.”[iii]
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Additional Reading:
- Metaphor, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
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[i] Sheehan, Thomas. The First Coming. New York: Random House, 1986, p. 72.
[ii] Henry, Roy Charles. “Metaphor.” The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1. May 2018, p. 346.
[iii] Singer, June. Seeing Through the Visible World: Jung, Gnosis and Chaos. San Francisco: Harper, 1990, p. 12.
