Ilya Shambat
2012-04-29 12:05:17 UTC
Metaphor and humor can both be useful in achieving a deeper
understanding.
Metaphor is seeing similarities in different parts of reality. By
seeing these similarities it then becomes possible to see the reality
that underlies the parts. When Salvador Dali draws correspondences
between the behind of a rhinoceros and a rose, he doesn't just see
these similarities; he also sees what is under these similarities. And
as someone who has in the past used extended metaphor, I can vouch for
the usefulness of this approach.
In 1995, when I was 19 years old, I was posting to the Internet as
"DR. ROCKET" and was using metaphor related to this all the time. Soon
everything became one or another variation on that theme. My apartment
became a silo; my girlfriend became Rocket Queen; the cat became the
Rocket Catmonster. I got so into it that I was spouting out metaphors
all over the place and got quite good at it, and some people described
my writing at the time as being transcendent. The real meaning of this
term in the way that it was applied is that I was getting, through
metaphor - through comparing different things that existed - at a
deeper meaning that is common to those different things: A reality of
which all those things are a part and that, through extended
comparisons, becomes manifest in one's writing.
With humor, there is also a way to get at deeper meaning. While
metaphor is seeing the similarities in things, humor is the sense of
where they differ. Humor is the sense of the absurd. When Patch Adams
goes into a children's hospital ward and uses their toilets as if they
were shoes, the funny part is the absurdity of a grown man doing such
a thing. As someone who's used humor to the point of having people ask
me if I was a comedian, I have also found it useful for more things
than just laughs.
When a lady who's lived till she was over 100 years old was asked how
she did it, she said, "Pickles and a good sense of humor." I've come
to believe that the latter part was not only useful because laughter
is good for one's health; it's also something that can inform
understanding. And any number of humorists - Charlie Chaplin, Bill
Maher, David Barry, Dennis Miller, Chris Farley - developed very deep
understanding of things that have extended far beyond the demands of
their profession.
In the mechanism, metaphor and humor are opposites of one another.
Metaphor sees into reality through finding similarities among things
that are not usually compared; humor sees into reality through finding
differences and absurdities in things that are taken for granted.
While metaphor compares and then sees the commonality between things
that are apparently unrelated and challenges the mind to expand
understanding to see into the underlying reality, humor also
challenges the mind to expand its understanding to see the absurdities
in what is regarded conventional and to go past the conventional to
achieve a deeper insight into the workings of the universe that the
conventional provides.
Both humor and metaphor can therefore be useful guides toward deeper
understanding; and it is this that is the true virtue of both.
understanding.
Metaphor is seeing similarities in different parts of reality. By
seeing these similarities it then becomes possible to see the reality
that underlies the parts. When Salvador Dali draws correspondences
between the behind of a rhinoceros and a rose, he doesn't just see
these similarities; he also sees what is under these similarities. And
as someone who has in the past used extended metaphor, I can vouch for
the usefulness of this approach.
In 1995, when I was 19 years old, I was posting to the Internet as
"DR. ROCKET" and was using metaphor related to this all the time. Soon
everything became one or another variation on that theme. My apartment
became a silo; my girlfriend became Rocket Queen; the cat became the
Rocket Catmonster. I got so into it that I was spouting out metaphors
all over the place and got quite good at it, and some people described
my writing at the time as being transcendent. The real meaning of this
term in the way that it was applied is that I was getting, through
metaphor - through comparing different things that existed - at a
deeper meaning that is common to those different things: A reality of
which all those things are a part and that, through extended
comparisons, becomes manifest in one's writing.
With humor, there is also a way to get at deeper meaning. While
metaphor is seeing the similarities in things, humor is the sense of
where they differ. Humor is the sense of the absurd. When Patch Adams
goes into a children's hospital ward and uses their toilets as if they
were shoes, the funny part is the absurdity of a grown man doing such
a thing. As someone who's used humor to the point of having people ask
me if I was a comedian, I have also found it useful for more things
than just laughs.
When a lady who's lived till she was over 100 years old was asked how
she did it, she said, "Pickles and a good sense of humor." I've come
to believe that the latter part was not only useful because laughter
is good for one's health; it's also something that can inform
understanding. And any number of humorists - Charlie Chaplin, Bill
Maher, David Barry, Dennis Miller, Chris Farley - developed very deep
understanding of things that have extended far beyond the demands of
their profession.
In the mechanism, metaphor and humor are opposites of one another.
Metaphor sees into reality through finding similarities among things
that are not usually compared; humor sees into reality through finding
differences and absurdities in things that are taken for granted.
While metaphor compares and then sees the commonality between things
that are apparently unrelated and challenges the mind to expand
understanding to see into the underlying reality, humor also
challenges the mind to expand its understanding to see the absurdities
in what is regarded conventional and to go past the conventional to
achieve a deeper insight into the workings of the universe that the
conventional provides.
Both humor and metaphor can therefore be useful guides toward deeper
understanding; and it is this that is the true virtue of both.