A new tree of knowledge: Metaphor gleaned from the governing body of a Christian congregation.

摘要

In this study, I have explored metaphors as they organically emerged in the daily life of the leaders of my own spiritual congregation, seeking to discover their unconscious conceptual systems, or what Lakoff and Johnson called the "hidden hand" of the unconscious. I wanted to see not only what consciousness and unconsciousness looked like as metaphorical thought, but also how they reflected the everyday life of those individuals. My method was to attend one meeting of the congregation's staff and one meeting of its governing body to assess their use of metaphors. I videotaped and transcribed the meetings, after which I analyzed the texts using hermeneutic cycles of interpretation. After determining the metaphorical taxonomies expressed by the group [based on Lakoff's categories], gave the coresearchers a copy of those taxonomies, asking them to reflect upon and incubate their reactions. I then met with each of the coresearchers individually to explore their responses. The coresearchers had many interesting insights, both about the nature of metaphors and about how the specific metaphors that emerged in their meetings reflected on the individuals and the congregation as a whole. Most of the Discussion chapter in this study is devoted to analyzing the major themes that emerged in those interviews. The remainder of the chapter is mostly devoted to considering the transpersonal aspects, not only of the metaphors that arose in this study, but of metaphors in general. By heightening awareness of how metaphors are used in everyday discourse, this study transformed not only my own consciousness but also, by their own admission, that of the coresearchers. Hopefully, it will similarly enhance the consciousness of all the readers of this study and, beyond that, of all the people with whom those readers interact in the course of their lives.