Challenging alternative implications of metaphors for dying

Metaphors To Die By (Part #7)

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Of interest in the following is the distinction between the emphasis on a singular quality, cause, modality or static framework, and that implying a dynamic modality -- even a sense of developmental emergence. This applies especially to metaphors to die "by". Especially intriguing is the sense in which "by" is best understood metaphorically through a form of peristalsis -- suggesting a cognitive equivalent. Peristalsis is a radially symmetrical contraction and relaxation of muscles which propagates in a wave down a muscular tube, in an anterograde fashion, as in the gastrointestinal tract, in the process of defecation, and in the uterine contractions at birth.

BY: Metaphors to die by: Use of "by" offers two senses:

• exploitation of the metaphors to frame the reason why the death (of others) should be ensured, perhaps as a rationalization typical of the grooming of those on suicide missions or as martyrs to a cause. This is the essence of Lakoff's warning: Metaphors can kill. In this sense one can be killed by a metaphor, or ensure the death of others. It might be termed "cognitively toxic".
• use of the metaphor as a framework or pattern of guidelines by which the transformation associated with death can be enabled.
  

As with many tools, distinguishing the two senses in practice requires discernment.

FOR: Metaphors to die for: Use of "for" suggests the sense in which they metaphor is taken for the reality for which it is appropriate to die. Rather than some cause or belief being comprehended with the aid of a metaphor, the metaphor is interpreted as defining that cause.

The point is made by Joel P. Bowman (Metaphors We Die By (and For), SCS Matters, 21 May 2011) arguing that one of the examples often cited is "argument is war." Ideas are attacked, defended, and shot down. We may even "destroy" someone's theory or "kill" his or her idea. Opinions stated as facts become the metaphors people die for. He presents the following metaphors as basically "a call to arms," pitting one side against the other in a war of ideas:

-- budget jujitsu / divine truth-bombs / sparked a firestorm
-- being held hostage / a ransom note
-- dangerous judicial activist / aggressive left-wing ideologue
-- Nazis / Tea Party storm troopers / walked in lockstep
-- enhanced interrogation / torture
-- pro life / pro choice

Bowman cautions:

.... The idea is to become increasingly aware of the metaphors lurking in language so that you can be aware of the implied meanings and the degree to which you want to be influenced by them. Remember that the influence can be either "for" or "against." When you hear that certain politicians are "marching in lock-step," you may be inclined to agree or disagree before considering the meaning -- and the motivation -- behind the metaphor. As you become more aware of the metaphors that influence subjective experience, I suspect that you will start choosing your own metaphors with greater care: Metaphors we can live by rather than those we might just die for.

FROM: Metaphors to die from: Here "from" offers another variant of use of the metaphor functioning as a cause of death, rather than enabling the experiential process of dying.

WITH: Metaphor to die with: Use of "with" implies "with the aid of", namely during the process of dying. However it also recalls the biblical adage: Live by the sword, Die by the sword. (Matthew, verse 26:52). It could also be understood as indicative of the test question: By what means would you least like to die -- with the implication that that is how life will be experienced.

IN: Metaphors to die in: Use of "in" suggests the metaphor is functioning as a vehicle through which dying is experienced. This recalls the framing of realiy through models and simulations -- some of which coud be understood as enabling various forms of crisis due to their inadequacy (Uncritical Strategic Dependence on Little-known Metrics: the Gaussian Copula, the Kaya Identity, and what else? 2009)

THROUGH: Metaphors to die through: In one use this can be understood as corresponding to the "in" case. In another there is more of the sense of enabling "break through", as implied by a catalytic, modwifery, or obstetric function. In terms of a more complex understanding, "through" recalls the magical function of a mirror through which it is possible to step -- "through the looking glass" offered by the vision metaphor and its reinforcement of observation. The stress here is then on its paradoxical cognitive implications, as variously argued (Stepping into, or through, the Mirror: embodying alternative scenario patterns, 2008; World Introversion through Paracycling: global potential for living sustainably "outside-inside", 2013; Intercourse with Globality through Enacting a Klein bottle: cognitive implication in a polysensorial "lens", 2009).

ON: Metaphor to die on: Use of "on" offers several senses. As with use of a skateboard or a surfboard, knowledge is variously "surfed" over without being sucked "in". It ccould be understood as an indication of the nature of detachment in its meditative sense. However "on" may also imply a form of dependency, as with a cognitive prosthetic or Zimmer frame. Finally "on" may imply a metaphor so powerful that it constitutes a mind altering drug from which detachment is not possible. As a drug, it offers the further interpretation of being potentially an overdiseIn its ultimate form, the metaphor is an overdose.

Meta-for to die for? The construction of "metaphor" encourages specualtive word play with respect to "meta-for". This follows from provocative framing questions (What is meta for? Poetry-making and Policy-making, 1993; Raymond Fox, What is meta for? Clinical Social Work Journal, 17, 1989, 3, pp 233-244; John Carbonaro, What is Meta for? Animal Earth Right, 19 July 2013). What is the meta(physical) insight, or meta-model, to be "re-cognized" as for? A higher frm of order? A dynamic? An emergent process? A means of sustainably "holding" complexity as competence declines in the dying process? a A mnemonic container for that which becomes increasingly difficult to retain -- when confronted by a form of "cognitive incontinence"?

There is some value in honouring the traditional recognition of mutiple "heavens" as meta-perspectives for the living-dying process.

Indicative configuration of metaphorical qualifiers

This suggests a relation to the "metaverse, as discussed below

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