NEW META-MODEL DISTINCTION: Metaphors

Metaphors / Metaphoring

When we look at language at both the level of individual words and statements, metaphors are everywhere. They lurk in the corners. They often visit us like angels unawares. At yet other times, we have to smoke them out. Why are there so many metaphors in our language? Primarily because language itself is metaphorical. Language operates by means of the structure of metaphors. That is, in language you present symbols to stand for other things.

As language boils down to metaphor, this is one of the essential ways that we create concepts. We compare what we know with what we seek to know. We use references common in our experience as a template or format to structure a new learning. We relate one domain of experience to another. The word meta-phor shouts this at us. The root meaning of metaphor is “to bear”(phorein) + “above, over, about” (meta). So in metaphor-ing, you take one thing and use it as a model for how to think about, perceive, and understand another ideas.