Archive for the ‘metaphor’ Category

You and Your World ~ Metaphorically Speaking, Part III

Monday, January 9th, 2012

“Much of the experience you’re having right now is coming from you; it’s not happening to you.” (jc)

Is your life a living hell on earth–or do you feel like you’re dwelling in paradise? Do you feel like you’re sinking slowly in quicksand–or are you standing firmly on solid ground?

The world you experience is a metaphor created by your beliefs; your reality statements.

Your metaphors represent your beliefs. They change as your beliefs change.

I can’t prove that to you directly, but you can easily prove it to yourself. Here’s one way to do that now:

Think of a person you used to like–maybe even once loved–but you don’t anymore. Remember the way you used to think, feel, and behave around that person when you did like them, and notice how that’s different now. Think of the way you described the effect they had on your life then–and the way you describe it now.

If male, maybe he used to be your knight in shining armor and he made you feel like a princess. Now, he’s become  your personal Nightmare On Elm Street.

If female, was she ‘The Goddess of your universe’ back then, only to become ‘The banshee from hades dragging you into eternal hellfire,’ now?

If so, what happened? Did that person really change so drastically?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Either way, it doesn’t matter. Because what did change is you.

You acquired new information through observation and experience. That information became your new set of reality statements about that person–and your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors around them changed accordingly. Your experience had to change to match the new reality statements. (Or is it the other way around? Hmm!)

Your way of describing your reality through the use of metaphors changed too. And it happened automatically. You didn’t have to stop and make up new metaphors.

You’re different now–and so is your world. See?

You give the world your own unique meaning by the way you interpret information. That’s the way it works for every person, object, or event in your experience.

If that weren’t true, you could show a photo of an event in your life to anyone and they would see your experience in that picture as clearly as the other details. But they can’t, because your experience isn’t in the picture.

It’s in your mind.

Your reality is as unique and individual as you are.

We may agree upon some general observations like, “The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. That’s why we have night and day.” Nearly everyone accepts this as true, but is it?

No, it isn’t. It’s a convenient metaphor we use to explain our experience of day becoming night, becoming day again.

The currently accepted truth is that, as the earth rotates, it creates the illusion of the sun moving from one horizon to the other.

But the illusion of sunrise and sunset was accepted as factual by many in the past–as though the sun were actually moving. And that spun off a whole series of faulty beliefs that gave rise to an earlier version of the universe we now know was incorrect.

Your brain doesn’t like having incomplete information.

So, it fills in the blanks–often with nonsense–because it wants to complete the story.

For instance, if you lived in a village downwind of a cheese factory, and you worshipped the turtle-god, your belief-experience might be, “The earth is a gigantic ball of cheese riding on the back of the turtle-god. That’s why we have night and day. And that’s why everywhere you go, it smells like cheese.” 

You might even laugh at the idea of the earth floating and spinning in space.

But myths like this have been perpetuated from one generation to the next by people as a means of explaining their experience. One person’s myth is another person’s truth–and many will go to great lengths to defend their truth.

No two people see or experience the world, or any part of it, in exactly the same way. Yet, because it seems so real, you can easily make the mistake of confusing what you believe to be true–as a literal fact.

This makes the world a really fun and exciting place to play. Nearly seven billion different tightly wound realities all living *peacefully* together.

I call this The Principle of Diverse Realities partly because an idea like this has to have a special name, or it won’t be taken seriously. Also, I googled and no one else is using it, so, what the heck.

Here’s something new for you to listen for: how often do you hear or say the phrase “I know that (blah, blah…)” throughout your day? Most people say it hundreds of times when, more correctly, they should be saying “I believe that (blah, blah…).” Because that’s much closer to the truth.

Understanding the relationship between experience and your belief-metaphors opens up opportunities for making some great changes. When it comes to change-work, knowing how to manipulate your metaphors can be a very powerful tool for changing contextual experiences in your life.

Enough for now; but stay tuned. Because in the very near future, you’ll be getting a chance to learn a little known secret that, when applied, could give you more control over your life experience than you ever dreamed possible.

Hi. Welcome to my Universe.
If you enjoyed this, please Like, Share, Tweet, Comment, or everything to the left of this dot.
And thanks for being you. You’re the only you there will ever be. That makes you awesome.

 

In the meantime, you can click here to learn more about metaphor from Andrew T. Austin, one of the emerging Masters of Metaphor.