Self-Actualizing Metaphors and Evolution of the Personal

I criticized this book last week because I couldn't see how it could be applied to my own life, as a student, writer, or general world inhabitant.

It turns out that if I had just gone on to finish the book, that would no longer have been a complaint. I was, in particular, interested in a tiny section in the back of the book, titled "Self Understanding." Self-understanding, like most other types of understanding, is an area in which I could use some work. My process, I think, would be more efficient if the curriculum were not constantly changing.

But in the context of the book and it's examination of metaphor and its unconscious purpose in our lives, self-actualization requires a conscious look at our use of language.

For me, it relates to the section of the book where Lokhoff and Johnson were discussing the placement of words within a sentence, where "I taught Harry Greek" implies better learning and more direct communication than "I taught Greek to Harry."

"Well, yes, officer, technically the cocaine was a drug procured for me."

This is a common complaint among high school composition teachers. Student spend too long getting to their point because they are trying to sound smart. It seems worth at least mentioning here that there is something wrong with the fact that we connote confusing and cyclical with "professional."

But if it is important to speak clearly, it is equally important, in terms of self-acceptance, to understand what rhetorical moves we are making when we speak complexly and why.

What I finally took out of this book was the knowledge that an understanding of metaphor (the why) and the resulting action (the what) can help me understand the movements my brain makes in between them.

And it doesn't get much more relevant than self understanding.