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Metaphor and Humor
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Ilya Shambat
Apr 29, 2012, 8:05:17 AM4/29/12
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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.
TruthSlave
Apr 29, 2012, 11:55:47 AM4/29/12
to
You could be making a point about the metaphor, in order to make
a point about the metaphorically minded, and so speak of those who
will only ever see the surface. Lets call them The Literally Minded.
They would of course need the point to be made clearly so as not
to miss the point.
The Literally Minded might as well be machines, as they looked
to service their function. Our mechanically minded, farming old
data for the contentious, would miss the joke as they saw only
what was written. What follows would be another kind of farce,
humour in the cruelest sense.
Machine 1: "spotted reference to 'Rockets' by an individual with
odd sounding name".
Machine 2: "report flagged by machine 1, filed as level 3 warning,
context unclear, date omitted ..
In time, after much had passed and previous level 1 and level 2
warnings have been exhausted, this level 3 warning might finds
its way from circumstantial to full blown Investigation. Well
what else to do with over reaching machines, and under employed
mechanics?
Cue Walter Mitty, and this rare chance to make it into the major
leagues. Walter knows he is only as important as his reports, and
so he jumps at this opportunity to over egg the pudding to arrive
at a predetermined conclusion. If its flagged as serious, it must
be serious.
In the old days, Walter would have had a direct connection to the
source, there would be a human chain of accountability. X says.
Once that investigation was concluded, it would be filed away with
the signature of x, as the show moved on. These days, the same
data, waits for whomever else follows Walter. Our machines, which
we say are always improving, would have to learn without feedback
on its mistakes.
One wonders if our machine's programmers have a sense of humor,
or even if those acting on the opinions of other machines would
have this knowledge of the machine, as they responded to the call.
The facts, such as they are, would only be known once, as opinions
not facts prospered.. propergated.. proliferated as profligate
excuses for more and more machines.
Of course this failing of our human systems was known even before
the machine age.
Quote
An apparent objective official investigation may become a
weapon of political control simply through the suggestions
that inevitably accompany it. The man who is under
investigation is almost automatically stigmatized and blamed
because our suspicions are thrust on him. The very fact that
he is under scrutiny makes him suspect. Thus, even the
so-called "democratic power to investigate" may become the
power to destroy. We must beware of this danger! Already the
approving or disapproving way of interrogation changes man's
thinking about facts.
http://www.ninehundred.net/control/mc-ch8.html
THE R@PE OF THE MIND: The Psychology of Thought Control,
Menticide, and Brainwashing, by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D.,
Instructor in Psychiatry, Columbia University Lecturer in
Social Psychology, New School for Social Research, Former
Chief, Psychological Department, Netherlands Forces,
published in 1956, World Publishing Company. (Out of Print)
@ used to spare our machine's blushes.
Metaphors as a way to confound our machines is nothing new.
Ways to confound, preserve and thus illuminate. One wonders if
our self indulgences should now come with health disclaimers.
WARNING: Machines have no sense of the Metaphor and certainly
wont have enough sense to see humor!
I wonder do sociopaths, as the closest in kind to the machine,
have a sense of ridiculas.... :^)
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