Jann Burner

Metaphor bridge

March 20, 2007 |  4 comments
Image Credit: sxc.hu The following images and ideas are metaphors. They are not held to be hard truth in the empirical sense, more these metaphors are meant to be truth sensors. When a specific metaphor and a reader's personal experience close, they set up a vibrational resonance. When the "resonance" is first felt one might note a feeling that "this makes sense". As the vibrational field continues to close one might begin to see the particular matrix of metaphors as "true". Then comes the "Ah ha…" feeling which means that one might notice a slight "deja vu" feeling as if the "idea" or metaphor stream is more than objectively true, it becomes an "inner truth" and then if the metaphor bridge arches from the printed page directly into the reader's heart it becomes intimately personal and is capable of dissolving long held frozen emotion resulting in tears, shaking, or other signs of physical discharge. Metaphors are names and symbols which mark something and allow it to stand for something else. Metaphors have symbolic meaning often above and beyond the named object or emotional state. As humans we come into a chaotic world. Those who have come before have given "things" names, and for us these "things" become the names and these names have powerful symbolic value. For an example The Internet, one might say, is a metaphor for an Overmind, a vast cybernetic net of metaphor thrown over civilization at large, an active matrix of ideas and images commonly shared by the composite human mind and available to the individual throughout the world, regardless of caste, color, religion, gender of financial status. This is the true democratization of the metaphor. No longer is it limited by mere language, intellectual caste or economic privilege.

The purpose of a Metaphor Bridge is to better align Spirit, Mind and Body through the use of metaphors in order to create a Bridge between the Spirit and the physical body of the reader. The brain merely serves as the control room where the screen of recognition is housed. We all know lots of things. We know more than any human in history. We know more than we will ever have reason or need to know. In our culture we stand beneath a constant shower of information, but we are seldom moved to "own" our knowledge. Our wisdom, knowledge and beliefs are like a closet of clothes with the price tags still attached. They are lacking in true ritual or value. Because information is so easily assimilated we tend to dismiss its intrinsic value. To follow the "clothes" metaphor, we try them on and then hang them back in our closet with the intention of wearing them at some point in the future, should they become "in fashion". But the understanding is that these metaphorical clothes can always be returned if un-worn. We don't have to "own" them. Sort of like our jobs, relationships, cars or cats, they can be exchanged, co-mingled or abandoned.

The purpose of a Metaphor Bridge is to communicate commonly held knowledge in an uncommon manner so that by the time the "reader" passes over the bridge they will be closer to "owning" that which they already know and posses. Reality, after all, is merely a group consensus. We give something a "name", and as a culture we agree on that symbolic name and so it is…it IS valued.

The following is a common metaphor which one could call "Sand", as reflected through five layers of consciousness. The five layers are:


"Sand is something to make cement out of. Buildings are made of sand. There is power and money to be had in general contracting."



"Sand is the beach and it is fun building a sand castle and then observing the tide come erode it away."



"Each grain of sand is distinct and utterly unique and yet a complete metaphor for the earth. A handful of sand slipping through one's fingers is a universal metaphor: it is time."



"The grains of sand upon the beach, under laying bed for all the oceans of this world are merely thought: the shadow of a busy mind merrily racing onward scrubbing itself clean--faceting the stone until the light shines through without impediment--until the stone is as clear as glass; until there is not even a smudge upon the mirror; until it is just a window; until it is just light, shinning through."



"Twinkling light the many stars of this universe are strung like luminous grains of sand around Christ's own tree of Being."

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If you enjoy Jann Burner's columns, check out his new book on Amazon - "The Claire Letters" - a spiritual love story between a San Francisco taxi driver and an elderly retired teacher from Texas. Very inspirational. Comments (4)

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