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/lit/ - Literature

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21595466 No.21595466 [Reply] [Original]

Why are metaphors so pleasant to our minds?

>> No.21595469

>>21595466
Stop trying to speak for me.

>> No.21595470

>>21595466
Our minds like to figure things out. The moment something is more than just face value, our mind has to - even just briefly - interact with it. Interaction with something is mentally stimulating, and mental stimulation feels good.
Also, metaphors make it possible to "codify" complexer subjects into less complex imagery, so they are often (not always) an elegant way of conveying a lot of information at once.

>> No.21595547

>>21595466
It's fundamental because the unconscious functions on the level of symbolism, concordance between ostensibly dissimilar things and pattern recognition. Dreams, poetry, and myth communicate on this level.

>> No.21595551
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21595551

>>21595466
Because it presents the possibility of hidden knowledge (gnosis), that one thing can be another thing or more than one thing. Tbf Similes do that job better.

>> No.21595750
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21595750

>>21595547
The conscious works on the level of symbolism too

>> No.21595881

>>21595466
Metaphors are a kind of abstraction into familiarity
Our minds work off of abstraction, in nearly every respect, we abstract an extremely complex stream of information into the parts most useful to our survival
We also like to recognise patterns, which is an aspect of this generally, but particularly for metaphors

>> No.21595895

Because it's a pleasant shortcut to what the author is thinking. A summary, if you will.

>> No.21595925

>>21595466
They have the same appeal as a joke. A joke generally relies on a sudden shift in perspective, a kind of unexpectedness which is also non-threatening. A metaphor feels like that. Two very different things turn out to be similar. (This also satisfies our passion for finding pattern and order in a jumble of chaotic data.)

>> No.21595965

>>21595881
Oh our mind abstract things? Then imagine motion without an object being in motion. Just plain motion. Or imagine color without any specific color. Or imagine extension without it being an object that is extended. Haha check mate atheist

>> No.21595971

>>21595750
Is it conscience or conscious?

>> No.21596427

>>21595965
You might actually be autistic since I can imagine these things except minus color perhaps

>> No.21596442

>>21595466
Some things can only be expressed in metaphors. Its the only way to reach out to bits of the sublime that transcends speech.

>> No.21596457

>>21595466
Reality is a cliché from which we escape by metaphor.
- Wallace Stevens

>> No.21596485

Brains evolved for millions of years and spoken language has been here for only a comparative split-second.
We may think we have a decent handle on it but frankly we're just one step above monkey grunting and whooping. I imagine that in a couple more million years language itself will evolve (and our brain's ability to parse and formulate language will evolve with it) and people from the distant future will be as unintelligible to us as we are to chickens.
Anyway I think metaphor speaks to this. Sometimes to best way to express an idea is to tie it to other, seemingly unrelated ideas and images. Whoop whoop, grunt grunt.

>> No.21596498

>problem solving is good
>problem solving is evolutionary beneficial to survival
>you solved a problem, here's a little dopamine hit
>brain doesnt realize solving trivial vanity word game problems isnt the same as solving food, shelter, tools, survival problems, sends a dopamine hit anyway