Language and Metaphor Between Monotheism and the Unity of Existence

Description

This study addresses a somewhat novel topic: the relationship between language and metaphor and humanity’s worldview and its understanding of the relationship between Creator and creation. In essence, it connects several fields of human activity (linguistic studies, religious studies, and psychological studies). It is divided into two parts. The first examines metaphorical images as a specific expression of humanity’s worldview. The study identifies the two fundamental metaphorical images in modern Western civilization: the mechanical image and the organic image. It also applies the method of metaphorical image analysis as an entry point for understanding the underlying paradigm that dominates the Zionist mind, both in its relationship with itself and in its relationship with others. The second part of the study deals with a more abstract topic: the relationship between worldview and language, and the problematic relationship between the signifier (term, sign, name) and the signified (concept, referent, named). The study reveals that the linguistic perspective, which posits a relationship of connection and separation between signifier and signified, is typically based on the monotheistic view that God is the center of the universe, separate from it yet sustaining it. This view sees God in a relationship of both connection and separation from the world, with a distance separating the Creator from the created. Conversely, the perspective that sees a complete fusion or complete separation between signifier and signified is based on pantheistic thought, which posits that God has completely dissolved into His creation, thus eliminating the distance between them and making the Creator and the universe a single essence. The study then examines two types of discourse and language: metaphorical language, which is multi-layered and multi-dimensional, versus iconic and literal language, which is single-layered and multi-dimensional. Metaphorical language expresses the monotheistic view of God as simultaneously separate from and connected to the universe, while iconic and literal language stems from the belief in God’s incarnation in the world, His dissolution within it, and His unity with it.