Showing posts with label Metaphor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metaphor. Show all posts

Friday, August 15, 2008

Germination of Oil Age

Plant sprouting like all processes of work requires energy. The energy comes stored in the seed which has a bit of fat (oil) which helps the seed to grow to the surface at which point it starts photosynthesizing light which allows it to grow into a large mature plant.

This is a great metaphor for the oil age. We exploited energy from coal, oil, natural gas, which was simply trapped under ground and created initially by photosynthesis millions of years ago. Whereas at some point that bit of cheap no-work-to-get energy goes away and we really need to start making our own.

-- Great metaphor, crappy point, worse post.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Not literally true in every respect.



Giuliani: I believe it, but I do not believe it necessarily literally true in every respect. I think there are parts of the Bible that are interpretive. I think there are parts of the Bible that are allegorical. I think there are parts of the Bible that are, um, meant to be interpreted in a modern context. So, yes, I believe it. I think it's the greatest book ever written.


Ah, the biblical equivocation of metaphor.

Metaphors are figurative language and as such aren't considered true or false. Declaring the Bible to be metaphorical allows one to assert the truth of the book without defending it. Subsequently slipping back to the definition of true in the sense of reality after the calls to defend the Bible subside.


One gets to call the Bible true, without saying something crazy like the Bible is a crazy and nobody sane would believe that stuff. Or that sure you believe in Jesus but you don't believe in Adam and Eve, even though from the text it would appear Jesus believed in Adam and Eve and (according to original sin) Jesus died in order to clear the sin, because (according to Trinity) Jesus was unable to just forgive the grudge he was holding against all mankind without a little Sadomasochism. That's what we want in our first-century wish granting zombie Jews (who when properly telepathically give enough passion for issues will pull us into the sky and make us live in eternal bliss), we need one with bad problem solving skills! However, to say that the story of Adam and Eve is a metaphor just adds insult (some insults are true) to injury.

Jesus apparently, according to the story, is exactly like Christian martyrs*, in that, he died for a lie.

*not to suggest that there were many of these.