What are your metaphors for life?

In the Study Guide for What the BLEEP do We Know!?, under the chapter on paradigms shifts, the is a section on Metaphors We Live By…

In my coaching work, I realised that metaphors are a great way to understand the core assumptions my clients have about the universe.

The Study Guide quotes ecophilosopher Joanna Macy's five central metaphors through which people in different spiritual traditions see the world:

world as battlefield,

world as classroom,

world as trap,

world as lover, and

world as self…

The authors added world as machine to the list…

There are many other metaphors for life…

A Journey

A Garden

A Battery

A Mission

A Prison

A Roller Coaster

A Mountain Climb

A Race

A Courtroom

What are your metaphors for life?

How much do you operate within each of these worldviews?

“Cleverness is always a barrier. And it is not intelligence it is a false substitute. An intelligent person is innocent. You can cheat an intelligent person very easily, but you cannot cheat a clever person because the clever person himself is a cheat. So never think that cleverness is of any value; it is based on fear. The logic behind cleverness is: if you don't cheat others, others will cheat you. So remain clever and always protect yourself, and before somebody attacks you, attack them, because attack is the best defense. This is the logic of cleverness: always pretend that you know, even when you don't.” ~ OSHO 

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life's a bitch, and then you marry one…

(too many to name)

A good president is like a drunken pope, Honest but unlikely.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

he he he

now be nice and  she won't become a bitch!   LOL must buy her cars, shoes, houses, vacations.  Not much to ask for, is it?   he he

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

No, You know the thing is with women in Europe, and especially in the netherlands, do not become happy of cars, shoes, a house, a vacation or anything (they will, but only for a short while). It is very easy to give actually. But Ironically most people see it as impossible. But it keeps her around until the end of time.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Hum, Domus - it isn't a wonder really.  The mood says so much -

Life's a bitch, and then you marry one… (too many to name)

Just my humble advice, which you didn't ask for, aren't obligated to try and probably don't believe it would do any good anyway but you could try

“Life is beautiful, and then she made it more beautiful”

and see what that gets you.  Course, maybe you like it the other way and can self-fulfill your beliefs.  Hope this is a case of opposites attracting and not like attracts like for the work would be much harder to accomplish if that is the case.

I'm not being sarcastic at all (just don't want you to misread my mood).  You have my sincere sympathy and compassion really, unless of course you were just trying to be funny and yet, the mood says so much.

I once heard a story about a man who was always saying “I'd give my right arm, if” such and such - you fill in the blank.  You may have already arrived at the eventual outcome.

If I ever see a drunken pope, I will look at who is president.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

You took the words right out of my mouth Deb.

I am living proof that perspective is EVERYTHING!

About six or seven years ago I was secretly planning to leave my husband as soon as I felt our son was on his own enough to make the time right to leave.  I constantly complained to my girlfriends about all of the things I felt was lacking in my marraige and all of the things my husband was or wasn't doing that led me to believe our relationship was going nowhere and never would.  I say I was secretly planning to leave because on the outside I was the same ol' wife I'd always been acting a part I really didn't feel inside.  At some point, and I really couldn't say what made me change, I decided to stop focusing on the negative and to begin focusing on the good.  Trust me before I made this decision if you'd asked me I wouldn't have been able to name a single good thing about my husband or our relationship because all I ever focused on what what I thought was missing in the relationship.  So I changed my perspective and slowly and surely things started to change for me.  It really wasn't that long before he started acting differently or so I thought he was but I know know that I had simply changed how I perceived him and therefore who I expected him to be and how I expected him to act.  I GOT EXACTLY WHAT I EXPECTED!  100% I can honestly tell you today that our relationship is fantastic on all fronts.  Sure he still does things that can be aggravating but they are so small and insignificant and there is so many positive aspects to him and our relationship that I don't hardly notice them and when I do it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.  I've never been happier and to think that if I hadn't decided to shift my perception of him and our relationship I might be alone and single today looking for something in other men that he had all along but I never allowed myself to see.

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I think the most famous metaphor for life is “life is like a box of chocolates”!

My metaphor for life is:

Life is like trailblazing in a fenced forest. ~ you may not know what lies ahead on the path you choose, but you will always reach the fence.  You can be happy or sad, or lost or have a destination in view, but you will inevitably reach the boundries of this life on earth.  What lies beyond the fence, is the rest of the universe and greater conciousness. 

peace~light

annabelle 

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Annabelle,

Since trees and forests mean so very much to me - I am keeping your metaphor as a wonderful way to look at life.

Deborah

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

From a Teacher

About life, love, and happiness

I learned from a teacher

About tests, trials, and tribulations

I learned from a teacher

About the past, the present, and future

I learned from a teacher

About give and take, cause and effect

I learned from a teacher

About numbers and the alphabet

I learned from a teacher

About composure and attitude

I learned from a teacher

Life is a teacher

By John D. Evans

http://pods.zaadz.com/jdpoetry1

http://www.jdpoetry.com/

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Hi Alex and zaadzsters friends,

Life as the artist of the soul.

I have been thinking whether we create/ shape our lives or the life creates us. The quick answer is that we create our lives. We have the power to be the artist of our lives. However is that the best way “to be”? What if we let the life being the artist of the soul.

Often we are struggled trying to control our lives and to shape it.

I wish I felt the freedom to leave myself to the hand of “life” creating “me”.

Metta

Bilgi

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Hi Bilgi,

I love your Mettaphor… I interprete it as “Life is the canvas/art of the soul”, easier to leave it at that than trying to define the artist… or co-artists… SOUL… our SOUrce of Love. I see us as co-creators…

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I love that concept of life as a personalized metaphor!
Life - what is?
A mirror
An elevator
A bliss
A piss
A glory
A walking dream
A song
A question
An answer
A prayer
A mess
A destiny
A choice
A game
A fame
A downfall
A rebirth
An ilusion
A harsh reality
A Fairy tale

and everything in between……
and I love it!

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At first it is an innocent raindrop in the sun and later it heavily rains on us uncovered celebrating mass

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like standing in front of a white canvas with every colour of the rainbow beside you and translating thought into form

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Life depends on the view point of yours. World will appear as to how we are viewing it, while we wear a spectacles of  red in colour, and blue will show everything as blue. When we are happy, the world too seems to be happy, when we are not happy , the world too appear similarly. Actually it is a play ground where we all are playing different games or sports, so that we learn more for our experience.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

To me, life is like flowers growing through a fence.

Let me explain.

Imagine an old fence (iron, picket… doesn’t matter), falling apart, bent, splintered and worn. It’s obviously seen better days.

Somehow, though the disrepair, a flower grows, poking through the ruins or wrapping itself around the wreckage of times gone by.

Unfortunately, Earth is the fence. Fortunately, we are the flowers.

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This would come from a long list of quotes in my 'favorite thoughts from thinkers on not-thinking' files.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I love this!  I might also add, however, that 99.9% of every thought we have today is merely a repitition of the same thoughts we had yesterday.  On the beat goes on.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Jonathan,

your metaphor reminds me of this T-Shirt I just saw. The image really speaks to me, just like your metaphor. And fortunately, the world gives us both, because without ugliness there is no beauty, yin and yang.

Peace!

Simone

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LIFE AS MIRROR

Namaste
Wendy
aka
Machete Girl

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

The people of the world as my family
Every day as a blank canvas
Anger as a loss of Sense of Humour
Life as Bernard Shaw saw it- busily keeping a blazing torch to hand on to future generations
Rudeness as a weak person's attempt at power
Love never runs out simply grows stronger when more people join it

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Life is. (period). It just is.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Now that we've dug up some metaphors for life, consider the following…

Which metaphors do I live by?

What are the threads of beliefs that form the web holding these metaphor in place?

How do these beliefs colour my perspective of reality?

Which metaphors do I live by, the freedom from which would give me the freedom to go Beyond Possibilities?

Which metaphors do the person I want to be live by?

Namaste,
Alex Chua

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

The World as a Healer! Could you guys add that to your list of metaphors?!



For me life is like this Rumi poem:

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

What an awesome question.

The thing I think I have said more often than anything else is that I view this life of mine as a sacred obligation.  It is both an honor and an invitation to honor.

I believe that each one of us hold in our being something we are asked to contribute.  And we are invited to honor that in each other as well.  I guess that is why accountability is such a huge issue for me.  I am enormously mindful of my words and actions and how they may impact others.  (does this mean I don't really stumble from time to time?  ummm nope)

It does mean that I have no ego involved in sorting through things and looking to see if I need to adjust my thinking, make amends, change my behavior, or shed my defenses.  The more naked and honest and wholesome - yes, I said wholesome - I can be, the less I am of harm to this beautiful world around me.

This life is sacred.  This life is an obligation.  That is my belief.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Alexchua thank you for inviting me to your ZPod and this thread. At a glance I am drawn to the Hopi Elders message as I feel very connected to the American Indian heritage. From your list of metaphors what resonate with my philosophy and experience are journey, garden and mountain. My from the heart sharing throughout my website clearly reflect this :)) Those of you that have viewed the What the Bleep movie are familiar with my mentor Dr. Emoto's research and work with messages from water. Those of you that have read his books on message from water have an awareness of the effect and power of our thoughts and words.

 ”HADO creates words
Words are the vibrations of nature
Therefore beautiful words create beautiful nature
Ugly words create ugly nature
This is the root of the Universe” -Masaru Emoto

Infinite Love and Infinite Gratitude, Eveline Maria
http://www.soulartgallery.com/
www.cafepress.com/emsoulartgifts

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is what I believe or think it is, so I should be very careful with my thoughts…

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

My first boss taught me all I needed to know about life…

“Life ain't nothing but a shit sandwich, and every day is just another bite”

However, I have since evolved to believe…

“I'm standing under the spout wher blessings come pouring out”

Burner Philosophy…

“Light a man a fire and you keep him warm for the night. Light a man ON fire and you keep him warm for the rest of his life”

About life, Mario Andretti (racecar driver) once said…

“If you think you have everything under control, you aren't driving anywhere near fast enough”

Inspiration: Neale Donald Walsh wrote: “To get In-spirit (inspired) you have to be OUT of your MIND”

How is life going?

“If life was any better I'd have to clone myself”

Problems…

There are only two kinds of problems allowed in my awareness, quality problems and SEP”s

Quality problems = having to choose whether to mix my martini with Kettel One or Grey Goose, tough choice, quality problem

SEP's = Someone Else's Problem, not mine

=^.^=

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LIfe is………so just be…….

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Both of you sum it up perfectly… which also explains why we need to examine our metaphors for life… they are the web of beliefs that underlies our thoughts… & if we are not aware of them… they don't just influence but control our thoughts…

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

The world is a classroom … it can be a lover. Life is certainly a journey and sometimes a roller coaster. And life can be a garden – a beautiful, thriving garden or a chaotic garden with lots of weeds. I always wonder at our judgment of weeds – weeds are the most durable, the most thriving of vegetation and yet we judge them as bad. Hmmmmm. Life is pretty much in the eye of the beholder.

Worn-out garments are shed by the body,
Worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller within the body,
New bodies are donned by the Dweller, like garments.

Not wounded by weapons, not burned by fire,
Not dried by the wind, not wetted by water,
Such is the One.

Not dried, not wetted, not burned, not wounded,
Innermost Essence, everywhere, always,
Being of Beings, changeless, eternal, for ever and ever.

                                  Bhagavad-Gita

Can't do better than that.

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Life is letting go.

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Cocoon at the Crossroad

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Blue Butterfly

“Somewhere along the road of life the ugly caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly, the green jacaranda tree bursts into luminous flaming lavender, and the ugly duckling into a swan. Pierce the thin veil between transcendence and time, and like Alice falling through the rabbit hole of an alternate consciousness, we find ourselves living in awe and wonder of the miraculous nature of life.” -April 2005, Science of Mind, Daily Guides, page 63

Love and Gratitude, Eveline Maria
http://www.soulartgallery.com/ 
www.cafepress.com/emsoulartgifts

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Thanks for sharing this Eveline! I love watching & taking photos of plants & trees but have never heard of jacaranda trees…

I thought this was a misspelling but “green jacaranda tree bursts into luminous flaming lavender” was too exciting to ignore!

Googled “jacaranda” & lo & behold! What a feast for my eyes!

http://www.jamesharrisgallery.com/Artists/Marcelino%20Goncalves/Images/Jacaranda.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors." width="538" />

http://www1.lf1.cuni.cz/~kocna/flowr_my/p6040805.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors." width="539" />
P.S. & thanks for the tip on how to add pictures to my posts ;-)

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Wow! Thank you  for this beautiful embrace. Absolutely breath taking :)) ~e~

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

 LIfe is a Parade.

I say this because I am living on an island off the coast of Belize and one of the main joys of our small apartment is that we are on the parade route.

You can hear them coming down the street, and the excitement that comes from being in a place where they have parades often has changed my outlook on life.

In filling our hearts with joy, hapiness and things that make us smile, we will be able to acomplish more good and make positive changes than if we focus on all  bad stuff that is happening.

 Celebrate life

Celebrate each other

Celebrate often

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He's a Beautiful Moth! Not a Butterfly!

(on the lovely blue Moth photo above!)

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Mine has always been so so serious - life is a lesson, a struggle.
And it is only recently I have realized my metaphor is NOT a reality.
It  is, however, a  springboard  for  what I really want ~
If the lesson is learned - then fulfillment is now the new metaphor, and I am loving it.
Whereas I  endured the previous one, I can embrace and really BE in this one!

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I observe and experience life like a river, sometimes smooth and sometimes rough, sometimes clear and someties messy.
Sometimes I feel I am just to be pulled or pushed along, other time I feel I choose which way I am floating to. All in all I love life.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I view life like that of a baby growing to an adult back to baby again.

I have often watched and observe the elders and seen how childlike they seem the older they get.  Again… one's body grows to a stage of dependance again.  One's mind again is in need of the guidance.  But how good to be childlike.

I view the courage and joy of a child and wish one could carry that through all the years of ones life.  We get to a stage where we don't want to be told but tell what to do.  The childlikeness turns into childishness.

To have the trust, faith and hope of a child right through.

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This made me think of a circle, or a series of cycles, – I think life is like that.  What you don't finish you come back around to do again.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is but a dream within a dream. Shakepeare

Words are how we define it-
it is a choice we make.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

The river metaphor is one of my very favorites. Garth Brooks put it very nicely in a song of the same name. Thank you Garth…

“The River”

You know a dream is like a river
Ever changin' as it flows
And a dreamer's just a vessel
That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you
And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle
Just to stay between the shores…and

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide…yes

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

There's bound to be rough waters
And I know I'll take some falls
But with the good Lord as my captain
I can make it through them all…yes

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
'Til the river runs dry

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Thanks Marty. You reminded me of a metaphor I discovered last summer when learning to sail. It was a lot of hard work. I was bruised, battered, dumped into the lake, hit by the boom, straining muscles I didn't know I had… but at times exhilarated and joyful, enjoying my instructor and companions in learning, especially my boating partner, and grateful for the opportunity to learn, not only about sailing, but about myself, my limits and capacities, and how sailing is like life - the joy and despair, catching the wind and running, being becalmed and feeling stuck… you see how it goes. I'll let your imagination fill in the rest.

Brightest blessings,

Nicole

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Hi Marty,

Herbie just posted this today in the Beloved's Teahouse. The beginning reminded me of your metaphor…

Still

Still I wonder how it is to be a stream,
From a dark well constant flowing,
Winding seawards over ancient mossy wheels
Yet feel no need of knowing?
Still I wonder how it is to be a tree,
Circled servant to the seasons,
Only drink on sky and rake the winter wind
And need no seal of reasons?

Still I wonder why I wonder why I'm here
All my words just the shaft of my flail
As I race o'er this beautiful sphere
Like a dog who his chasing his …
Tailors and tinkers, princes and Incas,
Sailors and sinkers, before me and like me …

Still I wonder how it is to be a bird,
Singing each dawns sweet effusions;
Flying far away when all the world has stirred
Yet seek no vain conclusions … …

Still I wonder if I passed some time ago
As a bird, or a stream, or a tree?
To mount up high you first must sink down low
Like the changeable tides of the
Caesars and Pharoahs, prophets and heroes,
Poets and hobos, before me and after me all the
Painters and dancers, mountainside chancers,
Merchants and gamblers, bankers and ramblers,
Winners and losers, angels and boozers,
Beatles and Bolans, raindrops and oceans,
Kings, pawns and deacons, fainthearts and beacons,
Caesars and Pharoahs … …

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Thank you Nicole, that was beautiful.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

To me “Life” can mean 3 things:

• 1) “Life” as in the phrase “the meaning of life” which I define as meaningful purpose for being part of everything.
• 2) “Life” as living creatures that experience birth, growth and death.
• 3) “Life”” as in all that exists and ever existed and will exist.

The Fractal metaphor works for them all.

My metaphor for “life” is a Fractal Struggle against entropy.

 Visit this page to view some most excellent fractals. http://www.fractal-recursions.com/files/anim/anim.html

This metaphor extends indefinitely in every direction forever. The meaning of life is simply to enfold naturally, which you will do with or without effort in a struggle against entropy. Birth, growth and death are just steps in the unfolding of the fractal which will be repeated infinitely, eternally. The matrix of the fractal is matter and energy. Living matter is the expression of the most highly organized matter and energy that enjoys expressing itself in ways that defeat entropy. Human life is so highly organized that it has the ability to consciously interact with the rest of the universe. Consciousness is the highest level of organization matter and energy can enjoy. A human can refine individual consciousness to truly be aware of place in space and time by allowing the senses to fully revel in their delight and pain and then to unassumingly and truthfully consider them and remember. Memory is the tool that individual humans use in the fight against entropy. Written knowledge is the trove of human knowledge plus the added entropy of the struggle.

Good question I enjoyed that.

Walter

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Wow!  I actually wrote about the same thing on <a href=http://anonymous-julie.blogspot.com/2006/04/existential-questions-are-infinitely.html>
my blog</a> a couple of months ago… but I used it to describe reality.  Cool!

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

My metaphor for life is the cyclical nature of the seasons…Throughout life we experience many springs, summers, falls, and winters…We're always somewhere along the continuum of blooming, maintaining, changing, and losing, and back to blooming…(imagine a cherry blossom) Seamless transition between seasons, one leading to the next and even though the cycle repeats (the highs and lows of life), each appearance is never really the same…I just did a reflection on this on my site www.espaceonline.net…             

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Hi Everyone - what a great thread!  I grew up being taught “Live is a bitch & then you die” and “Wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which gets filled the fastest”.  Hmmm.  Great stuff, huh?

I have since discarded such ridiculous notions and I steal my new thoughts from a favorite bumper sticker (this is much more fun than the above!):

“What if the Hokey Pokey is what it's all about?”

Love to All,  Ayla

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I would like to invite you all to join a new pod. The Smaction Love Corp. aka. Love in Action.

This was a new board (at the request of the creator) on the zaadz Love Corp pod just before it disappeared.

Let’s spread love…

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

How about “Success In Life Does Not Occur Down A Linear Path.”

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I would ask what life? The life in time and space? Is this the real life? I think not. I find myself striving for something, that is not within this framework but still within my memory. So what is life? I don't know. But it must be more then this and it can not have an opposite. Life is truth. It is neverending. And if the idea of truth has any value, it can have no exeptions. So truth is only true, when is has no opposite. Like life.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a journey and the destination is the journey.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a waking dream
Life is an adventure
Life is a journey home to self
Life is love
Life is learning how to live
Life is a mystery
Life is a stage
Life is the projection of our unconscious onto the screen of matter
Life is a chance for the seed within to grow, unfold and flower in all its magnificence
Life is a celebration
Life is a dance, a song
Life is a tapestry we all weave
Life is a chance for love to express itself in all its miriad forms

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is exactly how you want it, believe it and create it to be.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a question.

Are you ready?
Whether you answer yes, is determined by how willing you are to grow. Will we rise to encounter the full moment?
Are you ready to transcend?
Enlightenment could strike at any moment. It's all a matter at saying yes to god's gift.
Are you ready to be one with eternity?
It's a life long process, but eventually we all say yes.

Re: What for me is life?

I want to sum up my philosophy on life and metaphorically sumarise it at the end:

I have always felt intuitionally interconnected to everything; everything was always a reflection of my thoughts, my self. The first question I had rationally and not intuitionally asked my self, over ten years ago, was 'yes the universe was ever-expanding or contracting (at the time the scientists were still confused) but what was it expanding or contracting into?' It was a mind-blowing thought, why did anything actually exist? It then took love with my ex-girlfriend to really help me see and feel intuitionally a destiny, a pre-determined purpose. But what really enlightened me in a rational sense was a series a severe spiritual awakenings in which my external world completely reflected my internal world. They were in sync, my thoughts manifested into my environment non-physically. Sometimes it was instigated by love, others it was mind-expanding drugs but everytime it was unplanned: spontaneous and sporadic. I know rationally from these experiences is that all i have to do is build a neurological net in my head which revolves around synchronicity, which I am slowly developing to an advanced state (these experiences now occur every day).

But for years I wanted to sum up the purpose or meaning of what we experience as life in one word. It took me many tiring, draining and yet empowering hours to find an answer. It also took many other issues to be faced before I could really get to the fundamentals of it. But i found it (at least for myself): GROWTH! Growth of the soul or spirit, growth of God or Source, growth of existence or reality. But it took concepts like karma and freewill to be investigated first.

But how do I fit 'freewill' into a pre-determined destiny?

My take on it is this: A straight-line is a pre-determined destiny, the growth of the soul. And freewill (the ego) is our fate (our karma), which is not pre-determined but determined by our personality. As we move forward, our fate can be lived directly along the line of destiny or we can sway from to left or right, yet our destiny will always bring us back to it where relevant . There are an infinite amount of ways to learn the same lessons, and learning lessons is growth of the soul. So we freely choose (within reason) how to learn those lessons which are pre-determined. But in a sense I do not believe that most of us have much freewill. The majority of people in my view are mostly reflections of their environmental conditioning and surrounding. I used to be myself to a major extent but then I gained some sense of independence and begun to navigate my thoughts and actions quite freely. Yet I believe I am under 50% freely controlled as I also believe that the most we can liberate ourselves is at 50%. The rest is pre-determined and considering we exist in a third-dimensional dualistic construct - love/hate; light/dark; yin/yang; positive/negative; spirit/ego - it is paradoxically illogical to trancsend that reality. I am who I am and will always have those limitations, which I actually am proud and content with.

Why do I believe in the soul?

Its quite simple: if karma is a fundamental principle in my experience of reality, if what i give is what i get and what i get is what i give then why was i born with such a blessed existence? I (as in my essential core) felt as if i had earnt it, actually created it and it certainly wasnt established this life. Thats why i am very grateful and committed to evolutionary spirituality because I not only have a duty and obligation to my ego and to my soul, but to the beach I call God. I am an individual frequency, or manifestation of God.

to summarise metaphorically:

I am like a grain of sand within such a magical and miraculous beach of God. But i am as much a part of that beach and that beach is as much of a part of me.


peace out…

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is like a buffet consisting of all possibilities and potentialities; all you have to do is choose what you want to create!

Re: What are your metaphors for life? MAP!

My metaphor for life is wanting to see maps, your MAP!, any social network's map if they say they are gravitated around wholly coherent human relationships of world change

Hi-trust maps have many usability practices, love of  future history cultural understandings and transparency rationales such as:

*Globalisation revolution parallels between 1500 and 2000. Around 1500, captains sailed the blue to the new world; their logs were progressively integrated into a wholly new atlas of markets; that open source collaboration is what entrepreneurial economists and I  http://www.normanmacrae.com/netfuture.html have argued for 23 years  world citizen networks could be integrating through web-logs and world congress meetings such as ClintonGlobalInitiative or MicroCreditSummit or TedTalks Prizes . But note the weblogs we search for are not performed only for individual journalistic kudos nor clique insider referrals, but connecting exploration of change world, opening up ever deeper and wider

*A map is as mathematical as any audit or spreadsheet but ultimately its value is iteratively proven by transparency use for all who care; is there a way on to the map that immediately attracts your emotional and intelligence energies?; enables you to start connecting trust-flow relationships, simple organisation of productivities and demands?

*Just like systemic entrepreneurship requires that a leader (or leadership team) defines a contextual gravity of human progress beyond unsustainably taking money out of a system, change world maps demand a transparency of questioning and answering- what's this map designing brand communities  and  project service actions around?  who's reality-making is this truly for? is this mapping system inclusive of everyone and every society whom time will compound sustainability consequences around? does it have the unique depth to inspire courage and innovation every time that true drama of leadership investment will be needed?

*Is a map transparent at the borders of what it gravitates around? Can it interface other maps of equally hi-trust and see-through design? Can it empower flows like action learning which abundantly multiply value in use and through collaboration unlike consumption of things and competition only models that assume an economics of scarcity and so compound externalisation and fail to discover about zero-sum world trade games

*There is also one valuation clue that some people get very angry about. Holistic maps are built for sustainability around triangularisiation and holons that can go more deep micro, look up to macro and interconnect. Anyone who claims to offer you a system theory but who is unable to show you component holons and trianagularisations does not have both a human and mathematical validation for what they are asking you to spend time theorising into human practice

Love to discuss any of these views of maps with anyone any time - chris.macrae@yahoo.co.uk">chris.macrae@yahoo.co.uk - and whether we could map some pods around here that could be interconnected http://guidemakers.net/ http://worldcitizen.tv/ http://sustainabilityclub.com/  

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

To Life:
From: kiki5711

Thank you for the journey.  This has been one incredible vacation, however, I don't wish to come back.  Once is enough.

Sincerely yours,

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is the ultimate realty show.  (Is your audience laughing or crying?)

Not sure I believe in your comments about cleverness; arrogance, sure, but cleverness/intelligence are necessary if we want to grow/advance …  surely you are not advocating another Cultural Revolution like they did in China?  (squelch anything creative/clever because we should all be equally

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I have three favourite metaphors for life:

1. Birth

2. A growing plant

3. A “haunted house” in a fun fair

Birth …… This metaphor is endlessly flexible, it describes so much about how I see life experience. From gestation to the first breath, a baby's journey into life is a microcosm of our whole existence, as individuals, families, societies. In each moment we are coming into being. Even (or especially) the pain is growth and progress. Birth/life is creative, messy, unpredictable, powerful, magical, scary, hard, and indescribably beautiful. Such fierce innocence and courage in the simple act of becoming.

The plant… the plant is undaunted by concrete, cold, parasites, wind, broken branches, bites from leaves, obstacles. It lives. If circumstances bring it to the side of a stone cliff, it will hold on there, its whole life. If there is a crack in the sidewalk, where the sun comes through, the plant will follow it out into the light. A plant will die trying. This, I believe, is the spirit of life, including ours.

Life as fun-fair haunted house…. Three years ago, I had the pleasure and honour to attend a weekend seminar given by Zen priest Edward Espe Brown. He gave a metaphor for zen that collided with my recent experience of attending a fall fair. He said ”Zen is to feel your way along in the dark. You have to go slowly. Then, you are ok, even if you don't know where you are going.” It was about being careful, mindful, fully present and authentic. And he was teaching us that truly, you are fooled if you think you do know where you are going. You've never been there before. Following a pre-set idea of what it will be like will only make you more lost, and more scared when it isn't as you expected. By putting your own preconceptions ahead of you, you block out the true experience.

bows,
crow

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

I've never thought about this, but what comes to mind is based on the teachings of Abraham (Jerry and Esther Hicks).

To me life is a delicious journey of creation.  I came here in this particular space time reality with this particular set of genes to see what I could do, what I can create with this particular body while immersed in the physical.  I'm participating in a play with so many characters to interact with.  I am on the leading edge of thought!

Namaste'
Tracy

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

We are all here to co-create part of the infinate possibilities in which makes the Universe a whole…Create the reality of your desire, which you have the power to do, in love and harmony with the Universe…

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life as Love.

Fear as death.

World in the mother of all transitions (in human time).

World culture shifts from mechanical to quantum.

The Web mirrors the connections so many of us are making internally.

http://world5.org

Two years ago my lifelong search for integration resulted in the idea of World 5.0 - because the world needs a new operating system.

The name doesn’t matter, but we need a context for appreciating our connection and the new world view supplied by quantum physics.

The Time is Now. The Answer is Love.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

to be or not to be is that really the question ? because im allready everything and so or you !!!

hug wana

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a Theater.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a book, it's pages empty, it's covers unblemished and gilded.

We begin by reading the words scribed by those who tend us.

We continue by scribbling in the margins and underscoring phrases that resonate, reasonate, percolate.

We eventually clench the quill in tight fingers, and push away all other hands, thinking to make it 'ours'… writing in heavy, blocky letters… swirls and curls and cursives coming intermittently, as rain falls, or shadows, or mountains.

We sneak looks at the pages of others, copying shamelessly when it seems something that should belong on our pages.

Sometimes, we share pages. Sometimes we shred them. Sometimes we simply stare at the blankness and wish someone else would do it for us.

The card in the back occasionally niggles… a reminder there will be a day when the book must be returned to the library. Wistful thoughts of keeping it, refusing to submit to the truth of the loan.

The blessing of the book rests in many things… that no matter how much is written, we never run out of pages until we're done…. that no matter how many times we forget and leave it at the coffeeshop, the laundromat, a friend's house, on the bus, it always finds its way back to us…. that regardless how many errors or edits or redacts we commit to the pristine weave of its leaves, it never quite becomes ruined…. that, at any moment, regardless how much is written, we can decide to take the story in an entirely new direction… the page is accepting, the quill never runs dry, and the red ink of our editing is never indelible.

And, like any book, it exists only to deliver insight, learning, and the chance to have either… both… all.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

If you are not having fun, you are not doing something right.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Love the butterfly metaphor.  Was recently reminded through a daily message about the well known life metaphor where two people look at the same glass - one sees the glass half empty and one sees it as half full. It is powerful not only in the positive and negative aspects, but also whether our minds and thinking are half empty or full. Am I seeing life with a half empty consciousness - lack, fear, want? Or is my consciousness one that is half full or overflowing with fullness, gratitude and energy? Or does the mixture of being half full (water) and half empty (air) make the whole? How do we see our life filling up our empty glass?

In peace,
kd

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a journey,  pack light….

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

Life is a journey and the world is a classroom, so life is a journey in a giant classroom.  The journey is directed by our own thoughts and emotions, wants and needs.  The classroom is already here, not created by ourselves but by others before us.

Re: What are your metaphors for life?

My favorite metaphor for life is the scene from the movie Parenthood (1989) Steve Martin is Gil.
Grandma's Rollercoaster story:

[Gil has been complaining about his complicated life; Grandma wanders into the room]
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil:  What a great story. (sarcastic)
Grandma:  I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.