Philosophies

The Ethics of a Borrowed Metaphor

On using imagery from a tradition that is not your own, and how to do it with more care than curiosity alone provides.

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By Mira Dev7 min readpremium
The Ethics of a Borrowed Metaphor

A metaphor travels easily. A tradition, and everything that built the metaphor, does not.

It is common, in contemplative writing, to reach for an image from a tradition other than one's own: a lotus, a well, a mountain path. These images are often genuinely useful, and genuinely not free of context, and the two facts sit uncomfortably together.

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