Metaphors transfer meaning from one object to another
- Metaphor is spotting a thread of similarity between two dissimilar things.
- A metaphor says something about the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar.
- A metaphor describes what two subjects have in common.
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God is the ultimate metaphor
- God, in conception, is the ultimate abstraction for it transcends form.
- We have been using metaphors for God for thousands of years.
- All language about God is ultimately metaphorical.
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Our metaphors for God can contain great power
- Metaphors for God create bridges between what is known and unknowable, helping to convey what otherwise cannot be conveyed.
- Metaphors can help us gain clarity on what we mean by God.
- A metaphor is a ladder to God that can then be discarded.
- God metaphors can make more tangible our sense of what God does and how God works.
- Metaphors for God are more powerful and image rich than mere concepts.
- Metaphors for God are a kind of verbal art and a kind of poetry used to foster certain mind-states.
- Metaphors can help us connect to God.
- Our metaphors for God also have much to suggest about the purpose of existence.
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All metaphors for God are inherently limited
- All metaphors are limited for no metaphor is ever perfect.
- Every metaphor for God is incomplete and inadequate.
- Religion tends to get stuck in its metaphors by misinterpreting them as literal but paradoxically, metaphors, if taken too literally, tend to mask truth.
- Many of our metaphors are anthropomorphic, limiting our conception of God to human qualities.
- Some metaphors for God can actually repel or alienate us or cause us fear.
- Some of our metaphors are a thinly veiled attempt to control God.
- Some of our traditional metaphors for God (especially images of God as tyrannical ruler, patriarch and judge) have been greatly abused for personal gain through history and hence even the world “God” has become polluted for many.
- Many atheists may not believe in God but have a very clear metaphor in mind of the God they are fervently rejecting.
- We need new metaphors that can help us shed the baggage that we falsely associate with God.
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Metaphors for God become particularly limited when they are literalised and turned into rigid beliefs
- Some would have us stick rigidly to our existing metaphors for God imprisoned in tradition and “old world” thinking.
- It is true that some metaphors have greater power than others and thus, tend to have greater staying power .
- It is also true that metaphors that have been overly literalised and repeated tend to lose their power over time, losing their ability to provoke new questions and insights
- Our worship of literalised metaphors could almost be described as a form of idol worship.
- Therefore, it is best if we never turn our metaphors for God into literal truths that we rigidly believe in.
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Most of all, metaphors for God are limited because God is ultimately unknowable through words, concepts and images
- God is inherently unknowable, beyond all definition, beyond all conception, beyond all description, beyond all attempts at comprehension, beyond all words, images and symbols and beyond even all imagination.
- Language is simply way too limited when speaking about God even though we feel compelled to try.
- The truth is that all metaphors for God are simply pointers to an ineffable Mystery.
- In fact, all spiritual concepts, including metaphors for God, are ultimately pointers rather than truths.
- Hence, we must take our metaphors lightly.
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Our metaphors for God matter because they can have enormous impact
- Our spirituality is able to rise no higher than what our metaphors for God allow.
- Our metaphors for God can greatly expand or limit us and even poison us.
- Our metaphors for God influence what we believe God can and cannot do which influences how we perceive and use our own power.
- Our metaphors for God influence what values we esteem most in ourselves and others.
- Our metaphors have a profound effect on how we experience God.
- Our metaphors for God influence how we relate to God and how we relate to others
- Ultimately, we ourselves become like the image of God we have in our minds just as our metaphors for God are a projection of the image we have of ourselves.
- Research has shown our metaphors for God can profoundly affect our well-being.
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Our metaphors for God should be allowed to evolve over time
- In an atmosphere of freedom, our metaphors for God tend to evolve over time as our culture evolves, as our understanding and our level of consciousness evolves and as our knowledge of the world evolves through scientific discoveries.
- When metaphors are not allowed to evolve, they can become fossilised, breeding intolerance of the God metaphors others use.
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When it comes to God, we need a multitude of metaphors
- The dynamic nature of God is conducive to a whole range of dynamic metaphors.
- We greatly constrict God when we try to shoehorn him into a few static images especially when we mistake these metaphors for reality.
- We need multiple metaphors for God for no one metaphor can ever be even close to adequate.
- This explains why even traditional scriptures use multiple metaphors.
- Different metaphors will work differently for different people based on their personal experiences and preferences.
- The power of a particular metaphor can wax and wane for us as we grow up or our life circumstances change.
- Multiple metaphors for God make room for us to perceive God as both transcendent and immanent.
- Multiple metaphors make room for us to experience both union and communion with God.
- Multiple metaphors for God make room for us to embrace the paradoxical nature of reality.
- Different metaphors invite different ways we might be with God.
- Having multiple metaphors keeps God big and reduces the risk of literalism.
- Our human conception of God can be said to be the sum total of all our metaphors but the deeper truth is that God is none of them.
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We need to to explore and create new metaphors for God
- Readily discard metaphors that no longer work for you.
- Resolve to explore and create new metaphors of God that inspire greater love and inspiration.
- Explore and create new metaphors for God that (1) expand and even shatter your existing conceptions, (2) feel relevant to our modern day, (3) project affirming and poetic images of God, (4) provide the highest possible conception of God, (5) are playful and experimental.
- Never attempt to stretch a metaphor too far, especially into the realms of the literal.
- Never mistake a new metaphor for who God really is, keeping forever in mind all our metaphors for God are ultimately creations of our imagination.
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Some of the more powerful metaphors for God expand the conception of God beyond an object or person
- We can best expand our set of God metaphors when we realise that God can be perceived not only as a noun or an old man in the sky but also as a dynamic verb (a process of becoming) or as a formless Being we are grounded in or as energy we can harness or as a cosmic intelligence we can connect to.
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The ultimate role of all God metaphors is to help point us to a direct experience of God beyond the mind
- Ultimately, spiritual evolution is about moving beyond metaphors to a direct experience of God; an experience of the heart that leads to a sense of indisputable knowing beyond the mind.
- Any metaphor for God fervently believed in is a poor substitute for the living experience of God.
- Some religious and spiritual traditions focus more on knowing the Unknowable through silence, contemplation and negation, allowing one to rest in the presence of God beyond the realm of the mind.
- Once a metaphor has satisfied the mind with understanding, move beyond it and enter into the great silence into a state of pure being.
- Let go of need to know and embrace the exquisite Mystery of it All beyond all words and concepts. It is in this state that true knowing of God arises.
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How do you decide if a particular God metaphor has merit for you?
- First be clear on what metaphors for God you are currently using. How is the use of these metaphors effecting your well-being and actions?
- Assess how your metaphors for God might have changed over time.
- Assess alternative metaphors you have been exposed to.
- Trying on a new metaphor for God like trying on a new garment to see how it fits.
- Test a metaphor by assessing how relevant it is to your culture and circumstances.
- Test the power of a metaphor by asking where the metaphor takes you. Does it help you to see God as you wish God to be? Does it expand your belief or best of all, helps you relinquish all belief? Might it expand your experience of God and ways of relating with God? Does it help you make sense of the most difficult aspects of existence?
- Most of all, test the power of a metaphor by the extent to which it is life affirming, not just for you but for all. Relate to God and life as if it were true and see how the universe responds.
- Respect the metaphors of others and let them inspire your own.
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