The Metaphorical World

As Iain McGilchrist pointed out in his book “The Master and His Emissary”, the mind perceives the world first in its metaphorical form. Which means that at first, we observe something and try to grasp it by comparing it to something familiar.

The unknown therefore becomes relatable and we can continue our exploration of something which could be beneficial or harmful to our survival. The specifics of the phenomenon then are worked out bit by bit and stringed together in a succession of thoughts and impulses, to then come to a decision.

The thought process then becomes something of discernment of stripping the “unnecessary” from the “necessary”, so that we can be able to get the best out every given situation. This happens so rapidly, that we become unaware of the process itself, although there are people who retain the ability of sensing a “wholeness” in situations.

Usually, artists remain aware of the fact that many things happen at the same time: feelings, behaviors of others, the past, future plans, relationships, facts, thoughts, etc.. It’s a constant conglomerate of information which then is shaped into an artefact, a painting, or a piece of music. Therefore, art in general retains that wholeness and reminds us of just that ability to see the world as whole, interconnected, and meaningful.

A piece of art is like a psycho-active script, which induces trance and immediate dissolution of subject-object duality. Art can only be perceived by the metaphorical mind since its utility is obviously zero. Its main function is to address the metaphorical mind and to alleviate its constant marginalization by the selective, utility-driven part of the mind. The aspects of the metaphorical mind which are discarded and not deemed “useful” must find its expression somewhere. And art fulfills that need, simply by engaging with it.

The metaphorical mind also is that part of us which generates values, social cohesion, and culture. Culture is an expression of the collective metaphorical mind. A product of constant interaction of insecurity and adaptation.

Since social situations are extremely fluid, we have no means of predicting their outcome and we rely heavily on the metaphorical to assess the situation in front of us and come to socially acceptable behavior. The social substructure is therefore always metaphorical. As long as the common metaphorical understanding of what is being observed within social interactions is prevalent — like “this situation is like a journey through the mountains” — then social conflict is kept to minimum and group interaction can focus on a common interest.

We can observe the metaphorical world very well in politics and media which operate a lot with analogies and narratives. The construction of narratives and its agreement of a majority within an interest group, be it a political party and its voters, a union, or any civil society group, is vital to its success and its retainment of power structures. The opponents of such a narrative are classified as being outside of this framework and even labelled metaphorically as such. Outside, let there be monsters.

Within utility-driven originations, the metaphorical world is often marginalized, at the expense of meaning, cohesion, and motivation. The focus on rationality and its obvious and rapid benefits, outperforms the metaphorical in terms of having leverage onto physical reality. Members of such groups then seek alleviation elsewhere. Or the metaphorical erupts in internal conflicts and corruption, off-setting quick gains.

Having said all that, one can safely say, that meaning making cannot persist without the metaphorical world and all those seeking meaning within their lives should give it the attention it deserves.