Essay 21 - The Life as a Journey Metaphor

Metaphors are yet another kind of pattern. They help with intellectual economy and sense making just like patterns, in general, and archetypes, in particular. They help us take something we do not understand well, such as life, and explain it in terms of something we understand a bit better, such as a journey. A journey has a beginning and an end with notable things along the way.

With the life is a journey metaphor we can understand life as having a beginning (birth) and an end (death). Along the way there are notable events. We often think of these notable events as passages and religious organization provide rites of passage to help us structure and make sense out of our lives by ritualizing the celebration of these passages.

There are rituals for baptism, acceptance into the group as an adult, marriage, and funerals. These are times when people become aware of the transcendental (that is, something greater than themselves) and are often confused about their roles in this thing greater than themselves. These rites of passage rituals help them navigate and make sense out of these events that occur. These events are meaningful as a result and are often made more meaningful by connecting them to the larger picture. For example, maybe the same clergyman who married the parents is also marrying the child. Perhaps a bride is wearing her mother’s wedding gown and her grandmother’s wedding ring. Maybe familiar wedding tunes such as “Here comes the bride” are played. The rites of passage help a person make sense out of the stages in their life.

The passages may even feel like progress, although the journey metaphor breaks down a little if the only destination that you are progressing to is death. The connection to the larger picture helps connect them to the transcendental. And these passages can be very meaningful. But keep in mind that meaning is derived from the pattern we superimposed upon the events as opposed to the event itself. Or following the triadic organization of meaning, the content is less important than the inference.

Here is something you can try. Stand next to your significant other and have someone face the two of you while reading from an almanac. It just will not feel as meaningful as a marriage ceremony. The content of this experience is overwhelmed by the inference.

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