Life Analogies

Life can be simple to explain despite its complexities in actually experiencing it. 

There are many analogies to life. Life is like a wheel – there are ups and downs. Life is like the ocean – calms and storms. Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get. Analogies that make sense and make you exclaim “Yes! This is how I FEEL.” 

Describing life then is more about finding a way to convey perfectly all of the EMOTIONS life brings, rather than a scientific description. 

The other day I saw a photograph that maybe suited my feelings about life. I was sitting in a lazy boy chair at a community acupuncture center and on the wall was a large photograph of a rickety bridge made of rope and wooden steps from a first person point of view. The bridge seemed suspended in fog, and in the distance the viewer could make out further steps and the faint outline of a beautiful, peaceful, leafy tree – one you might imagine Buddha to have sat under to meditate. 

So life is like an old, rope bridge – some steps are sure and some are broken or missing. The bridge leads to nirvana, and people may walk alongside you or behind or in front of you, but in the end the journey is your own. You might make it to the end, and other times the step cracks and you go hurtling through the fog. This can tie into sayings like “she was holding onto life by a thin thread.” 
Taking this one step further maybe you take the analogy to envision that if you are an evil person you fall short and get snapped up by hungry crocodiles. If you are a good person you can continue floating downwards until you end up at the peaceful tree - magically.

"Magic isn't an exact science. If it were...it'd be science." -Jenkins (The Librarians, TV Show)