We humans are creatures of metaphor. Our signal character, the sole remaining bastion between us and less godly creatures, is language. Language is metaphor, a music we infuse with meaning, infused with thousands of different meanings in as many different human languages. Pidgins, where languages overlap; we  find a way, look in each other’s eyes, and know.

Other creatures communicate.

In arrogance we once thought we were the only tool users, the only creatures with sense of self and purpose. Wrong. Life is purpose, primates and even perhaps some marine mammals have demonstrated identity and several higher animals use tools. But our language, let alone art,  written language,  and mathematical metaphor, sets us apart by orders of magnitude.

I have listened to the humpbacks while diving, their vast brains (like our own apparently unused portions) remain unknown reservoirs, but…

Metaphor is our gift.