Why deeper inner experience is often described through metaphor, myth, and imagery
At a certain point in inner growth, something curious happens.
The experiences become harder to describe in plain, literal terms.
You may notice:
- feelings that don’t fit into simple emotional categories
- insights that arrive all at once, not step by step
- moments of stillness that feel full, not empty
- a sense of connection that goes beyond personal story
When this happens, people often start using symbolic language.
They speak of:
light
depth
awakening
soul
inner space
energy
For someone grounded in practical, everyday thinking, this can feel like a sudden shift into mysticism.
But symbolic language doesn’t appear to make things mystical.
It appears because literal language has limits.
The Limits of Literal Description
Literal language is excellent for describing things we can measure, categorize, or point to.
It works well for:
- objects
- events
- behaviors
- concrete facts
But inner experience is not always linear or easily defined.
How do you describe:
- the feeling of being deeply present?
- the sense that an old identity has fallen away?
- the quiet clarity that comes without words?
These are real experiences, but they are not objects.
So people turn to metaphor.
Not to exaggerate —
but to communicate something that cannot be held in purely analytical terms.
Symbol Does Not Mean Supernatural
When someone says, “I felt a lightness,” they may not mean literal light.
When someone speaks of “inner space,” they don’t mean physical distance.
When someone uses the word “soul,” they may simply be pointing to the deepest sense of self they can feel.
Symbolic language is a way of pointing, not proving.
It gestures toward experience. It does not demand belief.
You are free to hear symbolic language as poetry, psychology, or personal expression — not as a statement you must agree with literally.
Why Symbolic Language Increases Over Time
Early in inner work, most of the changes are psychological and emotional. These are easier to describe in everyday terms.
But as awareness deepens, experiences often become:
- more subtle
- more spacious
- less tied to personal story
- harder to separate into neat categories
Symbolic language helps bridge that gap.
Myth, metaphor, and imagery allow people to speak about inner states that logic alone struggles to contain.
This doesn’t mean the person has left reality.
It means their inner life has grown more nuanced than literal description can easily hold.
You Can Relate Without Literalizing
One of the biggest misunderstandings about symbolic or spiritual language is the idea that you must take it at face value to benefit from it.
You don’t.
You can read about “light” and understand it as clarity.
You can hear “energy” and understand it as emotional or physiological state.
You can hear “soul” and understand it as your deepest sense of self.
The symbol points. You translate.
The value is in what resonates, not in agreeing with every term.
Why Symbolic Language Can Feel Safer Than Explanation
Interestingly, metaphor is sometimes more honest than literal explanation.
A person might say:
“I feel like something in me is waking up.”
They are not claiming a biological event. They are expressing a lived shift in awareness.
Symbol allows room for nuance. It admits:
“This is real, but I don’t have exact words for it.”
That humility is often more grounded than forcing a rigid explanation.
The Transition Into Deeper Language
As you continue to grow, you may find your own language changing.
You might begin to speak more in images, feelings, or metaphors — not because you are trying to sound mystical, but because your inner life has expanded beyond tidy categories.
You don’t have to force this.
You don’t have to resist it either.
You can let language evolve naturally, the way music shifts when emotion deepens.
And you can always stay anchored in daily life, relationships, and practical responsibility. Symbolic language does not replace reality. It gives voice to dimensions of experience that reality alone doesn’t fully describe.
The Quiet Understanding
If you encounter work or writing that uses symbolic language, you don’t have to decide whether it is “literally true.”
A simpler question is:
Does this help me understand my experience?
Does this help me relate to my inner life with more clarity or compassion?
If yes, the symbol is serving you.
If not, you can set it aside.
Symbolic language is a tool, not a requirement.
And as inner experience deepens, tools that speak in images sometimes reach places that plain description cannot.
Light Crosslinks
You may also resonate with:
• You Don’t Have to Believe in Anything to Grow
• When Awakening Stops Being Mystical and Starts Being Human
• The Quiet Way Change Spreads
About the author
Gerry explores themes of change, emotional awareness, and inner coherence through reflective writing. His work is shaped by lived experience during times of transition and is offered as an invitation to pause, notice, and reflect.
If you’re curious about the broader personal and spiritual context behind these reflections, you can read a longer note here.
Life.Understood. 