Language and Metaphor - Between Monotheism and Oneness of Being

Author: Dr. Abdelwahab El-Messiri

This study addresses a somewhat novel topic: the relationship between language and metaphor, and human perception of the cosmos and conception of the relationship between Creator and created. In other words, it links several fields of human activity (linguistic studies, religious studies, psychological studies). It is divided into two parts. The first part deals with metaphorical images as a concrete expression of human perception of the cosmos. The study identifies the two fundamental metaphorical images in modern Western civilization: the mechanistic image and the organic image. It also applies the method of analyzing metaphorical images as an entry point for understanding the underlying dominant paradigm in the Zionist mind, both in its relationship with itself and in its relationship with the other. The second part of the study deals with a more abstract topic: the relationship between the perception of the cosmos and language, and the problematic relationship between the signifier (term, sign, name) and the signified (concept, referent, named). The study demonstrates that linguistic perspectives which posit a relationship of connection and separation between the signifier and the signified are usually based on a monotheistic worldview which holds that God is the center of the universe, transcendent yet caring for it. Thus, God is in a relationship of communication with the world and yet separate from it, and there is a distance separating the Creator and the created. As for the view that sees a complete integration between the signifier and the signified, or a complete separation between them, it is based on the pantheistic view, which holds that God has completely incarnated in His creatures, thereby eliminating the distance between them and making the Creator and the universe one essence. The study then discusses two types of discourse and language: multi-level and multi-dimensional metaphorical language, in contrast to iconic and literal language, which is one-dimensional. Metaphorical language expresses the monotheistic view of God as simultaneously separate from and connected to the universe, while iconic and literal language is a product of the belief in God's incarnation, immanence, and unity with the world.