The physical world and the cognitive worlds become linked through metaphors.

A metaphor is formed when two aspects of the world become linked together in a meaningful way. For example, we talk of a stormy meeting. We take the turmoil and chaos of a storm and make correspondences with the turmoil and chaos of a conflicted meeting.

Lakoff reminds us that metaphors are the fundamental building blocks we use to make sense of our world and provide a framework for acting in the world

While all layers are always present and all are vital to understand any situation, Inayatullah (2003b, p.6) places a “higher” value on the mythic/metaphor layer because it informs all the other layers. Meadows (2008) similarly believes the most effective leverage point in a system is one that “transcends the paradigm”. For Meadows the “highest” lev... See more