Metaphors

Metaphors used to describe life can be very useful for communicating with one another, can help reinforce ideas about ethics, and are, most importantly, aesthetically pleasing to understand. A common example is the use of the phrase, “I felt her/his energy.” That is a very good metaphor, and I have used it to describe interactions that I have had with many people. Some with people very close to me, some with those I have met only once, or even with one or two with whom I have chatted on social networks.

Describing that “energy” experience scientifically instead of metaphorically is a real boner killer. Not to mention, metaphors help humans to transcend old world languages. Moving forward in our thinking: just because one might be so moved by and trained in metaphors as to come to believe some to be real in the real world, does not mean they are real. No one really parted a sea; no really saw a ghost; no one really read another persons mind; and prayer really does not cause magic (though I know it can help the one doing the praying, psychologically.)

So the lesson is: A metaphor does not prove God.