Relgious Metaphors?

[couldn't help but make this the picture for this post -- it's funny because most think that Evolution and God don't go together ... RELIGIOUS METAPHOR!! :) ]



So over the weekend we were assigned to read the chapter Conceptual Blending and Analogy from "The Analogical Mind." This was a really interesting reading even though it had absolutely nothing to do with religion. I especially liked the part about teaching the man from France to ski by telling him to think of himself as a waiter making him think that if he looked at the items on the tray he was carrying, he would run into things but if he looked straight ahead he would be able to properly deliver the contents to his table. Putting these two opposite things together made it easier for the man to understand that he needed to look down the hill (where he was going) rather than at his skis to get down the hill. But that's not really the part we needed to focus on for class .....

This task of trying to connect the way metaphors were talked about in this chapter to religion was an amazing challenge.... actually, I read it yesterday morning hoping to be done with my blog and ended up sitting on it because I hadn't a clue what to write.

To start off using a metaphor can make distinctions "between simple structures projection[ed] or structural alignment and the more complex projections at work in a integration network." Well to me, the integration network is the religion because it is the combination of numerous subsections of religion; i.e. Catholic, Buddhist, Unitarian Universalist, the list goes on and on. And you can make distinctions between these different religions by looking at there beliefs, worship, traditions, symbols, etc.

Also, some 'religious' practices/traditions are done simply because they are doing the same thing as everyone else for the sake of doing the same thing as everyone else. Such events as Christmas, going to church on Sundays, Thanksgiving, etc. They are shared to strengthen group identity and so that they all have a simple common structure.

Another part of this 'religious metaphor' I'm attempting to make is finding the target. "It is the action of one person that causes the precedes the failure of that same person." The thing that struck me right away as an example was to sin; if a person does something wrong (steal, cheats, lies) they will have failure(sin). A person's actions causes there own failure/ down fall.

Not sure if I properly connected this article with religion but there ya' go! :)