Metaphors for life
09/10/15 04:40
OK blog readers, here’s a fair warning, I’m about to go off on one of my philosophical discussions. Those bored by this are invited to entertain yourselves by reading one of my blogs from the archives. Personally, I’m fascinated by philosophy and see even reactions against philosophy like the one voiced by astrophysicist Neal deGrasse Tyson when he spoke in Rapid City last week as a form of philosophy. Tyson claimed that he stayed away from speculative fields such as philosophy. Interesting thought for someone who works in the realms of speculative physics. It seems to me that his avoidance of speaking in philosophical language is in itself a philosophy, but that is a topic for another blog. I wasn’t able to get tickets to the Tyson lecture and so only know what i have heard second-hand anyway.
On with someone who doesn’t mind being called a philosopher. Alan Watts was a British-born American philosopher who died back in 1973. He was probably best known as an interpreter of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. There are plenty of contemporary philosophers who continue to circulate his quotes and keep his wonderfully complex ideas circulating.There are things that I think Watts got wrong. For example, he wrote, “I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” I would take the view that the illusion is the present, and that the realities are past and future. Present is only the meeting point of the two real realms of time. And all of that is, of course, a bit of speculation because time itself is a human invention and may exist only in our minds. It is a tool that we use to think about the nature of the universe, which in its vastness would overwhelm us if we didn’t come up with some divisions that enable us to look at it little by little.
Watts did make observations with which I resonate deeply. He wrote, “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance,” and “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
In trying to make Eastern philosophy more accessible to those of us with a Western perspective, he once observed, that a Chinese child will ask, “How does a baby grow?” but an American child will ask, “How do you make a baby?” I’m not convinced that the basis of that distinction is Eastern or Western. I suspect that members of indigenous tribes, especially those living in very isolated locations such as northern Canada, might also use a growth metaphor when thinking of children. I suspect that the difference lies not in location, but in the closeness to agricultural roots. Grow is an agricultural term. Make is a manufacturing term. We manufacture things from raw material and impose our designs on that material. Grow gives less credit to our action and participation and more attention to the natural processes of the universe. In that distinction of metaphors, as a father I have to say that grow better describes the process of parenting. There is so much in being a parent that is beyond our control. It becomes obvious very early that our children aren’t “ours” at all, but rather independent individuals who belong to the world. We can play a role in their growing, but we hardly have the power to make them.
Metaphors are important in our process of making sense of the world. I use metaphors constantly. If you read my blog for a while, you’ll know that seasons is a powerful metaphor for life for me. I am constantly referring to the changing of seasons as a way to make sense of my life. I’m not sure why I think of childhood as spring and feel that I’m entering the autumn of my life, but that way of thinking works for me. Part of it is that seasons change gradually. Right now we’ve had some rather cool autumn-like days, but this weekend will be much more summer-like. That is the way the seasons change: they fade into each other.
Life is like that. Some days I feel very young. Some days, in some contexts, I feel like I’m pretty old. We have a group in the United Church of Christ who have dubbed themselves the 20s/30s. They are ordained ministers who are in their 20s and 30s. Not only do I not qualify for their group, I soon will not even be able to refer to my years as an ordained minister as being in the 30’s. I just passed the 38th anniversary of my ordination.
When it comes to metaphors, ones from nature often work better for me than ones from activities that are expressly human. It is not that we can ever escape the simple fact that we are a part of nature, but sometimes our attitude toward nature is one of attempting to dominate. Since I use the metaphor of seasons to reflect on my own life and the lives of others, I am aware that the dominant cultural metaphor is different. Our culture insists that we can make whatever kind of life we want. “Take charge!” “Create your own reality!” There are plenty of metaphors for a human life that stand in contrast to a life of flowing from one season into another.
Our lives take place not only in the context of the vastness of the universe, but also in the midst of human community. Old is a matter of perspective. I’m pretty old to the members of our church’s youth group. I’m not all that old when I have dinner at Westhills Village, a local retirement community. Recently I attended a choir rehearsal where the only person younger than me was the director. That makes the metaphor of seasons even more vibrant for me. In a season, different plants change at different paces. Different colors come from different sources. All, however, are caught up in the flow of time.
I’m open to changing my metaphors, but I can’t imagine the task of living a life that is true without employing some kinds of metaphors.
On with someone who doesn’t mind being called a philosopher. Alan Watts was a British-born American philosopher who died back in 1973. He was probably best known as an interpreter of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. There are plenty of contemporary philosophers who continue to circulate his quotes and keep his wonderfully complex ideas circulating.There are things that I think Watts got wrong. For example, he wrote, “I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” I would take the view that the illusion is the present, and that the realities are past and future. Present is only the meeting point of the two real realms of time. And all of that is, of course, a bit of speculation because time itself is a human invention and may exist only in our minds. It is a tool that we use to think about the nature of the universe, which in its vastness would overwhelm us if we didn’t come up with some divisions that enable us to look at it little by little.
Watts did make observations with which I resonate deeply. He wrote, “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance,” and “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
In trying to make Eastern philosophy more accessible to those of us with a Western perspective, he once observed, that a Chinese child will ask, “How does a baby grow?” but an American child will ask, “How do you make a baby?” I’m not convinced that the basis of that distinction is Eastern or Western. I suspect that members of indigenous tribes, especially those living in very isolated locations such as northern Canada, might also use a growth metaphor when thinking of children. I suspect that the difference lies not in location, but in the closeness to agricultural roots. Grow is an agricultural term. Make is a manufacturing term. We manufacture things from raw material and impose our designs on that material. Grow gives less credit to our action and participation and more attention to the natural processes of the universe. In that distinction of metaphors, as a father I have to say that grow better describes the process of parenting. There is so much in being a parent that is beyond our control. It becomes obvious very early that our children aren’t “ours” at all, but rather independent individuals who belong to the world. We can play a role in their growing, but we hardly have the power to make them.
Metaphors are important in our process of making sense of the world. I use metaphors constantly. If you read my blog for a while, you’ll know that seasons is a powerful metaphor for life for me. I am constantly referring to the changing of seasons as a way to make sense of my life. I’m not sure why I think of childhood as spring and feel that I’m entering the autumn of my life, but that way of thinking works for me. Part of it is that seasons change gradually. Right now we’ve had some rather cool autumn-like days, but this weekend will be much more summer-like. That is the way the seasons change: they fade into each other.
Life is like that. Some days I feel very young. Some days, in some contexts, I feel like I’m pretty old. We have a group in the United Church of Christ who have dubbed themselves the 20s/30s. They are ordained ministers who are in their 20s and 30s. Not only do I not qualify for their group, I soon will not even be able to refer to my years as an ordained minister as being in the 30’s. I just passed the 38th anniversary of my ordination.
When it comes to metaphors, ones from nature often work better for me than ones from activities that are expressly human. It is not that we can ever escape the simple fact that we are a part of nature, but sometimes our attitude toward nature is one of attempting to dominate. Since I use the metaphor of seasons to reflect on my own life and the lives of others, I am aware that the dominant cultural metaphor is different. Our culture insists that we can make whatever kind of life we want. “Take charge!” “Create your own reality!” There are plenty of metaphors for a human life that stand in contrast to a life of flowing from one season into another.
Our lives take place not only in the context of the vastness of the universe, but also in the midst of human community. Old is a matter of perspective. I’m pretty old to the members of our church’s youth group. I’m not all that old when I have dinner at Westhills Village, a local retirement community. Recently I attended a choir rehearsal where the only person younger than me was the director. That makes the metaphor of seasons even more vibrant for me. In a season, different plants change at different paces. Different colors come from different sources. All, however, are caught up in the flow of time.
I’m open to changing my metaphors, but I can’t imagine the task of living a life that is true without employing some kinds of metaphors.