Abstract thinking / analogical reasoning / metaphorical thinking / mathematical thinking / symbolic thinking - This makes you intelligent and witty! Comedians probably develop this early in life, heading in the direction of street smartness rather than technical. Scientists, researchers and inventors do the same but on a very technical level, drawing analogies between mathematical models and real-world systems. Artists do the same which is why they see deep meaning in abstract arts. Movie directors do this so as to depict something with great impact.
Everything in our understanding of the world is probably analogical, for example, an atom may not be really an atom. An atom according to our understanding may be representative of something different but behaves in the same way.
Good movies to exercise this: Mr. Nobody, The Fountain.
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