As a result, the focal point of translation is often a search for similarity maps. These are needed to find our bearings among the multiple acts of interpretation performed on texts, referents and senses across some barrier to intelligibility. We can define the space around us thanks to similarity. Thus, a house may be in the image of the human body. When the model of analogy is employed, functional similarity holds between parts of the body and elements of the house.
Pillars are legs because both are supports, but they can just as well rise above the 'belly'.
Also, some parts that are vital for the body may be missing altogether from their functional counterparts. When two entities are brought together, a likeness between them is construed. This means that similarity is less a starting point than a point of arrival or a goal. Two objects may be similar to one another simply because the subject perceives and experiences them in like fashion. According to Albert Henry, metaphors are always acts of violence against reality.