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Metaphors and Structures

Posted December 23rd, 2009 by Heather Fester in Structures

I'm going to use this space to collect some thoughts on metaphor in relation to the spiral dynamics structures, and I may come back and update it as time and interest allows.

If the metaphors we use organize our cognition and mediate conscious experience (a la Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors We Live By), can we use metaphor as a structural test?  For instance, if my metaphors, unintentionally, use lots of dominator heirarchy lingo and imagery, does that mean that an aspect of my consciousness might be linked to a dominator heirarchy level?  For instance... We're going to "hit that target," "wrestle with the truth," "tip our hats to the trail blazer," etc...  Metaphors like this might suggest an earlier paradigm growing out of a more primitive techno-economic social structure.

The reason I think this might be a possible test is that not only are metaphors used (as skillful means) to communicate with people and translate an abstract idea in terms of something they have experienced, metaphors can also be perhaps a vehicle back into the consciousness of the speaker.

That said, I'm not suggesting that anyone police their metaphors.  It is just a philosophical quandry.

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Metaphors We Live By

Posted December 23rd, 2009 by Ambo Suno

Hey, Heather - synchronistic. For the last 6 months I've been making my way through the book - I lent it out recently, but I want to get into it some more.

I hope that this doesn't distract from your explorations. My slight tangent is how much I like the stated recognition by these authors that metaphor isn't just a poetic way to represent something. Metaphor is at the associational root of how we perceive, think, and interact in the world. Thanks,

ambo

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Jesus, Allah, Buddha, and South Park - Metaphors we laugh by...

Posted December 23rd, 2009 by GameOfThriving

Heather,

Fun! Religion stories are metaphors, and each can be approached through spiral dynamics (and everything else). The same object in a story, or the same process, event, character trait must be translated through the lens of our values/self. So, the metaphoric CONTENT is a tricky place to look, because the Jesus on the Cross is about torture (red), and ostracism (blue), and courage (orange), and shared ordeal (green), and forgiveness (yellow), and ecstatic transcendence (coral)... etc. Like a peek experience, the content has to be interpreted, and the interpretation is where the "tell" is about SD level etc.

AND, the narrative they weave AROUND the metaphor can tell you a lot. It is the relationship between the metaphors that helps you triangulate the CONTEXT in which the individual metaphors become meaningful. It helps us locate where the person is "coming from." AND, this typically requires 3-4 points of contrast minimally.

"Battle...win...triumph...rule" vs.
"Battle...sacrifice...humility...awe" vs.
"Battle...excellence...rewards...respect" vs.
"Battle...teamwork...vision...connection" vs.
"Battle...balance...solution...becoming..."

:-) - Cool Question!

 

 

 

 

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Mark Michael Lewis - The Thrive Coach - Know Your Purpose. Build True Wealth. Love the Journey. - http://GameOfThriving.com - http://OptimalHumanValues.com