Women's Leadership Blog

Metaphors Lie at the Heart of Change

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In the case of every historic scientific discovery and invention that is researched carefully enough, we find that it was imagery, either in dreams or in a waking state, which produced the breakthrough. 
- John Curtis Gowan

Creative individuals mentally play with images all the time, no matter what field they work in. But research shows that all of us are embedded in the world of mental imagery all the time... and our cognitive systems are based in metaphor. Even individuals who define themselves as "less creative" are at their most creative when they actively engage with images. While we may think of metaphors as tools to enrich our speech, the truth is that we are always looking through a metaphoric lens. We teach, learn and make changes through metaphor.

The metaphors that we subconsciously hold shape and define us; they give us the lenses through which we look at the world around us. Seeing the world as a hostile force, viewing other cultures as “enemies.” or believing that life is about making lemonade out of lemons are all examples of metaphoric lenses. 

Last year I attended a prestigious conference that is one of the premiere leading-edge forums in the world for social and cultural change. While most of the conference was quite inspiring, I was shocked to hear one of the keynote speakers consistently speak of his work in the Amazon rain forest as a battle against the large corporations who are destroying it. He was pumped up and aggressive, literally describing his mission as one of amassing “guns” and “tanks.” This man may have thought his message was rebalancing the ecosystem in the Amazon. But on a much more penetrating level, his message was war.

Metaphors are much more than interesting or quirky forms of expression. As the ground of our thinking, they are the “medium” through which we filter our thoughts and ideas. By extension, they play an important role in both individual and social change. It’s likely that real change happens on a metaphoric level, only later becoming evident on the physical level in the occurrences of daily life. Thus, when we notice and change our metaphoric pictures, we subsequently alter our thoughts and actions.

As George Lakoff has elegantly described, for most of us, the Republican party tends to conjure up images of security and family, while the Democratic party brings to mind protest marches and rallies for individual rights. Which images are more compelling to you? The politicians who are able to master metaphor are the ones who make an impact. Here are some reasons why metaphor has such an important role for initiating change:

• Metaphors provide concrete imagery. In his book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath writes that a primary quality of an idea that sticks is that it embodies a concrete image. For example, in religious proverbs abstract truths are often encoded in metaphoric language, such as the phrase: “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” “Sticky” ideas are full of concrete imagery.

• Metaphors make something universal. We live in a somatic world—we all have bodies that feel and senses that see and smell and hear the world around us. When someone says, “he was as cold as ice” we immediately understand what is meant in a visceral way. Metaphors facilitate our understanding.

• Metaphors suggest a story and/or felt emotion. Advertisers know that if they want to sell us something, they need to make us feel something. Deep down, we all want to feel life moving through us.

• Metaphors satisfy our heart’s longing for beauty. Metaphors are aesthetic; they’re like little pieces of art. Wouldn’t you rather hear about a “bird in the bush” than hear a series of projected numbers?

• Metaphors offer shades of gray. When you frame something metaphorically, it can be interpreted in multiple ways. It is likely that what the world needs now is not black-and-white ideas like capitalism and communism, but more creative combinations of ideas and methods. Metaphors take us into a creative realm.

• Metaphors “work” us. Metaphors are fuzzy and open to interpretation. Meaning is communicated in a less precise way, which in turn initiates a process of learning in the listener. Since metaphors are not literal, they force us to search for meaning.

• Metaphors surprise us. Eckhart Tolle called metaphors a way to "awaken us from the old grooves of repetitive and conditioned thinking." A good metaphor offers something fresh and renewing.

• Metaphors are inherently democratic. A good metaphor is not "flat" — it invites us to participate in it and offers a gamut of possibilities. We can find our own interpretation within it—there is no single “truth.”

• Metaphors are powerful. Metaphors are capable of creating new understandings and therefore, new realities.

For most of the thorny social issues that confront us in modern society, it’s useful to shift our focus to the metaphoric level. Every idea or solution that you propose embodies a way of seeing. Reality is always coming through a pair of glasses, a point of view. Reality is inherently creative.

About the Author:

Kim Hermanson is core faculty at Meridian University, and currently serves as adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, the Sophia Center at Holy Names University, and Esalen Institute. She is also the Arts Education Writer for the San Francisco Examiner.com. Previous teaching engagements include the Chaplaincy Institute, Book Passage, Berkeley City College,Flathead Valley Community College, University of California Berkeley Extension, and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.  You can visit her website at: http://aestheticspace.typepad.com/aesthetic_space/