Metaphor: noun
2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

Poetry: noun
1. the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.

To ponder: our waves of senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing allow us simply to experience reality, as it were, through metaphor and poetry. Not as it is. “We” cannot become something else, someone else, nor even our past or future selves. The paradox of identity is that in order to experience who we really are (the universe, eternal, etc) we must learn that our senses are by nature figurative and intoxicating. It has nothing to do with the amount or frequency in which we indulge.

The tragedy exists even at rest; at rest is the opportunity to become sober, to be free of inertia and let balance be, rather than waiting, bracing for balance to balance you or trying to balance yourself.