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            Inside can have multiple meanings including being contained within something. It can also mean being privy to certain information like having the inside dope or getting an inside scoop or being on the inside track. One could simply be inside looking out or have affiliation with a special group – “we have a man on the inside” as we might hear in a detective story or a spy novel. The inside person would have knowledge of two worlds simultaneously, and, of course, there is the element of danger, the possibility of being exposed. Add to that the idea of a window, and we can now look into something or see out of something – the location is ambiguous unless clarified. Understanding changes according to which meaning is inferred. Personal association can further complicate meaning when there is a positive spin as in knowing something special or a negative take as in feeling claustrophobic from a past experience of being trapped in an enclosed space.

            Language also tends to broaden experience and understanding when we look at definitions, these sometimes being flexible and subject to change as is the case when new applications are given to base knowledge. For example, inside information can suggest a position of power or confidence. Someone with inside knowledge could be more determined or could be seen as having special advantage. These days we often think in terms of sports metaphors like inside in baseball means a pitch is close to the batter or in basketball inside is close to or under the basket. Either could be advantageous positions.

            Art is ideally suited for metaphor since it is a symbolic activity, and we as audience expect and look for multiple meanings. Whether metaphor is the result of language or language is the result of minds that evolved to deal with subtlety and nuance as a survival edge is difficult to say (could there have been metaphors before there was language?). That we do think metaphorically and symbolically is important to all of our means of communication. Creative expression through art has certainly heightened our perceptual abilities just as math and science have exercised and strengthened our reasoning powers.