The Limitations of Metaphorical Thinking
In my upcoming book, The Thousand Mile Hole,
I have a chapter on metaphors and metaphorical thinking. More
specifically, it is about how to consciously choose different
metaphors to understand things in new ways and to generate ideas.
The book covers many techniques for thinking more deeply and
creatively.
Beyond Mental Slavery, on the other hand, is
not about actively brainstorming in new ways. It's about getting
beyond the various programs and unconscious biases that corrupt
or limit one's thinking. Interestingly, as useful as metaphors
are for generating more creative thoughts, they also can easily
mislead us hiding the parts of a phenomenon that don't fit into
the ruling metaphor. To demonstrate, lets start with a common
example of metaphorical thinking.
In their book, Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff
and Mark Johnson argue that metaphors are very much a part of
our experience of life. They point out how the concept of "argue"
is understood by most people in this culture through the metaphor
of "war." We see this in the many related expressions,
such as to "shoot holes" in an opponents theory, or
to "attack" his "positions" and "defend"
our own. They do a thorough job of pointing out how prevalent
the metaphor of war is in regards to argument, but these few
examples give you some idea.
The authors go on to imagine a culture where an argument is
not seen as something to "win" or "lose,"
and not something where you "gain ground" or "lose
ground." They imagine a people who see it as a dance, with
participants as performers, sharing the goal to "perform
in a balanced and aesthetically pleasing way." They suggest
that in such a culture the process of arguing could not be seen
in the same way,talked about in the same way, or experienced
in the same way. Furthermore, from our cultural metaphorical
perspective, we would look at such interactions as something
else entirely, rather than as arguments.
In other words, metaphorical thinking leads us in certain
directions, and not just in poetry or fiction. Metaphors affect
our thinking and therefore our actions as well - our whole experience
of life. This is the basis for my suggestions on how to use new
metaphors for new ideas. But there is a problem with how metaphors
affect our thinking and actions.
To start with, we use metaphors more frequently then we realize,
and often without being conscious of the process. Because our
thoughts and actions are structured by them, we have a difficult
time seeing any aspects of reality that do not fit those metaphors.
For example, because we inherently view argumentation from a
perspective of a battle or conflict,we do not easily see the
cooperative aspects of the process. We don't see that to argue
in any semi-coherent way, we have to already agree on many things
(we can't argue what is good or bad if we don;t already agree
that good and bad exist).
In a battle we defend ourselves, and because we see an argument
as a form of conflict we defend our beliefs - which are extensions
of our self. This makes it difficult to recall - in the "heat
of the battle" that we want to get at the truth (assuming
that some of us do want this). The priority of "winning"
is clearly at odds with learning where we are wrong or how we
might gain a better understanding.
As another example, consider that in almost every culture,
status - and therefore (for some) self-worth - is metaphorically
associated with elevation. We "climb the ladder of success,"
appeal to "people in high places," and "rise to
the top." Or we "fall from grace" or get "stuck
at the bottom." Lakoff and Johnson refer to this as an "orientational
metaphor" (others are "up is good," "down
is bad," "happy is up" and "more is up").
Naturally because of this pervasive view of status and success,
we easily see the advantages of having power "over"
people, of being "above" them in various ways, but
we also easily miss the disadvantages of high positions. Everyone
attacks obvious wealth and success, for example, but the quiet
and lowly millionaire enjoys his money in peace - something easily
missed when we aim only for an elevated status - and can only
think in those terms.
Metaphorical thinking is almost impossible to avoid according
to Lakoff and Johnson, and I agree. It is inherent in how we
understand almost everything, whether we see it or not (how often
have you stopped to think about the metaphorical nature of expressions
like "head of the class," "stealing ideas,"
or a "market crash?"). The solution to the limited
view of reality this creates in our minds then, is to become
more conscious of the process and to choose to look at things
in new ways, with new metaphors.
Click
here to get your copy of Beyond Mental Slavery |
