Metaphors

We live in a world where everything is defined by metaphors, and they are used to help make sense of the world that we live in. Metaphors are used to make complex ideas easier to understand, and they shape the way we think. Metaphors are necessary in our lives.

Many common metaphors are centered around life. Many idiomatic expressions stem from this metaphor like “playing your cards right” or “it’s the luck of the draw.” There is even an entire board game dedicated to this metaphor. Another common once is thinking of life as a road. The problems that each person faces become known as roadblocks and obstacles that must overcome. This is also frequently seen in poems and most people probably think of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost with its famous line, “I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” This image of a diverging path is often used in reference to making decisions with each taking you in an entirely different direction.

My favorite metaphors are those about time because I am aware of significant differences in how it is viewed by other cultures. In our culture, time is viewed as being linear. At one end of the line you are born, and at the other end you die. In thinking this way, common metaphors that come to mind are thinking of life as a day, with the sunrise beginning life and the sunset ending it, or life as a year, where life is usually divided into the seasons which each represent a different time in your life. However, these metaphors can also be tweaked to correlate with other, typically more eastern countries like India, where time is thought of as being cyclical. The metaphors of life as a year or a day could be thought of as continually cycles that will always repeat themselves. What is interesting to note is that this metaphor aligns itself with the belief of reincarnation in Hinduism that is common in that area.

Each metaphor that is used is revealing of the culture that uses it. The metaphor of time being cyclic might reveal that that area is strongly influence by Hinduism. So, what do metaphors that we frequently use today tell us about ourselves and the culture we live in?