Speaking of metaphors: recently I thought that metaphors and poems are a bit
like the gems of language. As you know gems are rare and valuable and have
often a highly symmetrical structure. The rhymes in poems mirror the symmetries
of words, while metaphors and analogies mirror the (timeless) symmetries of
ideas.
Take for example the metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY. I think this is one of the
metaphors in "Metaphors We Live By" from George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. It
indicates certain similarities and symmetries in the ideas behind the concepts
for "life" and "journey". There is a beginning and an end connected by long
winding path, etc. So basically metaphors are all about symmetries which let
you describe one idea in terms of another.
-J.
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