HEALING AND THE INVENTION OF METAPHOR - THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SYMBOLS REVISITED

In this essay, I argue that a theory of meaning adequate to account fo r the effectiveness of symbolic healing and psychotherapy requires som e variant of the three concepts of myth, metaphor and archetype. Myth stands for the overarching narrative structures of the self produced a rid lent authority by cultural tradition. Archetype stands not for pre formed ideas or images, but for the bodily-given in meaning. Metaphor occupies an intermediate realm, linking narrative and bodily-given exp erience through imaginative constructions and enactments that allow mo vement in sensory-affective quality space. This pluralistic perspectiv e itself constitutes a middle-ground between constructivist and realis t approaches to meaning that can integrate causal and interpretive mod els of symbolic healing.