Think metaphor is random silly
stuff done by people who aren't clever enough to think clearly?
Limited to religious or hippie types? Not real hard information?
Well, then think again... Metaphor is an information transmission
device which is exponentially more *information dense* than
linear thought expression and indeed, one cannot actually get by in
the n-complex systemics of the human mind or energy system without
speaking this information rich super-language.
Here is a teaching example as to what happens when someone takes a
metaphor, namely the "Snow Globe" from the EmoTrance technique of the same
nature, and translates it into the "more sensible sounding" format of
linear thought and calls them a "Thought Ball" - and just HOW MUCH would
be lost in doing so.
Metaphor Magic - Thought Balls VS Snow Globes
[This is an excerpt from a letter written in response to the
questions as whether it wouldn't be better to re-name Snow Globes to
Thought Balls in order to avoid "putting off" "sensible" people into
rejection the process. As a brief reminder, troubles are poured into
a Snow Globe held in a persons hands and then lifted up and passed
over to the Higher Processing Systems - see
Snow Globes
Article for details of the process.]
Now to the question why they are called Snow Globes and not
Thought Balls.
I don't know if you have these things where you are, spheres made
of glass with bits of sparkly stuff and usually something else - a
local building or thing of interest, flowers, dolls, christmas
scenes, all sorts. The newer ones are cheap and made of plastic but
the really old fashioned ones were perfect spheres which rested on a
wooden base; people collect them.
When I first started playing with the concept of a higher energy
system to hand these things over to (which we now call, for ease of
construct, the "soul"), I also played with words and metaphorical
representations of all kinds; at one point I called the (rather
dreary!) higher organising systems "The Angel Child" and said that
the Angel Child needs toys to play with, else it gets bored and
unhappy, and that our various thoughts, feelings and experiences
would make the perfect toys. When I said it I got the image of an
old fashioned snow globe and a child being totally fascinated by it,
lifting it out of the wooden stand, holding it in both hands,
shaking it and making the little sparkly bits dance.
Now, as you probably know, I take metaphors VERY seriously and
the only reason I used to not talk about them much in public is
because many a fine human construct is turned off big time when you
start talking about "Snow Globes For The Angel Child" and I really
don't want to lose them; so in public I translate and talk then
instead about the far more acceptable "higher organising energy
system which exists in quantum space and is thus, to all intents and
purposes, immortal". So indeed, I fully appreciate where you are
coming from with the idea of thought balls.
However, there is more to the Snow Globes for the Angel Child
than just the translation would let you guess; there are many layers
of that particular metaphor which contain *far more* than the
linear-logic-proof translation.
Just few at random that I know of (I bet there are more that I
don't consciously know of!)
- A snow globe is essentially a TOY. At leat the unconscious mind
will understand that immediately and what are the presuppositions if
we take these things that we used to take so terribly seriously,
were so terribly afraid of, had such terrible problems with or were
so bitterly ashamed of into that format of lightness, even of
playfulness? This has *enormous* repercussions for the totality as a
whole, and what previous life experiences mean, and how important
they are in the overall scheme of things.
- There is the idea that a snow globe may contain *anything at
all* - the biggest most impressive church or huge public building,
for example - we've seen them, tiny inside a snowglobe, right? And
here we come to one of the possible limitation of a thought ball -
snow globes can contain *much more than just thoughts*. They
can take emotions, memories, feelings, decisions, metaphors,
energetic entities, dreams, prayers, wishes, conflicts, parts,
personalities, people, whole families, multi-layered, multi-time
events, houses, realities - anything at all and indeed, some things
completely directly and not just in the format of their thought
representations which is a pretty profound structural difference.
- There is the matter of the concept of the "globe". A perfect
sphere is one of *the* most powerful magical symbols known to man
(and/or woman and/or all others round here :-) There is a reason why
crystal balls are thus and not crystal flat viewing screens, and we
know this on some level, even though it may be impossible to explain
in consciousness or linear speech. There may well be some rather
central reason why we are handing over globes rather than spiky
dodecahedrons - once again, I couldn't explain but the very thought
just makes me shudder! Even a ball, which in essence looks like a
sphere, is not really a sphere or a globe, not quite. It is just
that little bit "harder" and I firmly believe that such small
differences in metaphor can make a lot of difference in energy work.
- Following on from that, snow globes are fluid inside. It's one
of their fascinations - they look like they're made of solid glass
but they are actually *liquid*. And although, once again, I couldn't
really tell you just why, I *know* they are different from similar
but solid spheres such as crystal balls, or empty spheres such as
bubbles. In writing the last word it seems to me that thoughts would
do very well in a bubble, actually, and could be passed over nicely
in that way. Just like in the cartoons!
- Now, with the snow globes, there's the matter of the "snow" -
the sparkly bits inside the snow globes. This again is not spurious
but has some very good reasons. I know a bit about that "fairy dust"
by now and it is really a most essential, really powerful metaphor
in its own right, describing one of the core principles of the
universal flow - in Christian mythology, for example, this turns up
as "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" (but they always had a way to make
things sound dour and dreary, I just mention it as a nudge in the
direction of just HOW important a metaphor this actually is).
Now, the thing with metaphors is that to take any aspect of any
one cohesive energetic reality thus described (such as a complete
snow globe with content) by itself and out of context is a
misleading thing and thus I avoid it (as in, you can't ever know
what a frog is all about by studying the bits of a dead one); if you
put all the above components together and then add all the other
layers that are tied in to something like this, it becomes
noticeable just what a "snow globe" may be as an energetic device.
Mess with metaphors like this at your own risk, and only, ONLY if
you are absolutely sure about what you are doing because you
*understand the richness and density* of metaphoric information
transmission. Otherwise, you would lose more than you would ever
consciously be able to comprehend ... with linear logic alone.
Copyright Silvia Hartmann 2003
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