Exploding Metaphors: Reflections on the Methodology of Cusanus’ Divine Metaphorics

This paper will highlight Cusanus’ use of what Hans Blumenberg has termed “exploding metaphors” for God. I first will contrast explosive metaphors with standard analogical or mapping metaphors. Analogical, or mapping, metaphors aim to elucidate or situate something opaque, elusive or unfamiliar by referring it analogically to something already well known or familiar. Explosive metaphors do not aim to elucidate in this way. They do not aim to produce knowledge or contextual understanding about the nature of God by helping us to see a fitting, comparative analogy with something already well understood or deeply familiar. Explosive metaphors function, rather, to shatter our familiar ways of knowing, understanding, and orienting ourselves in our existence. They do not aim at conceptual clarity or contextual understanding but rather at a radically transformed state of awareness. They aim to propel us into an ineffable experience of (or unity with) divine infinity itself. This paper will look carefully at Cusanus’ methodology for constructing explosive metaphors and consider two specific examples of such metaphors in his work: the infinite sphere metaphor in On Learned Ignorance and the omnivoyant, infinite gaze of the painted icon in On the Vision of God.