New Tree of Knowledge

This study explored metaphors that emerged in the daily life of the leaders of my own spiritual congregation. I sought to discover their unconscious conceptual systems (what Lakoff and Johnson called the hidden hand of the unconscious). I wanted to see what consciousness and unconsciousness looked like as metaphorical thought. I also sought how they reflected the everyday life of those individuals. I determined the metaphorical taxonomies expressed by the group (based on Lakoff s categories). I then gave the co-researchers a copy of those taxonomies and asked them to reflect upon the taxonomies and incubate their reactions. The co-researchers had many interesting insights. Some were about the nature of metaphors, and some were about how their specific metaphors reflected on the individuals and the congregation as a whole. This study transformed not only my own consciousness but also that of the co-researchers by heightening awareness of how metaphors are used in everyday discourse. 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.