The metaphoric use of the spatial concept of distance to express human relations, feelings, and thoughts is analyzed in the framework of cognitive semantics as an activation of five overlapping image schemas: (1) near/far away, (2) scale, (3) motion from a source to a goal, (4) center vs. periphery, and (5) link. These kinetically based patterns, essential for the comprehension of physical reality, in turn activate schemas of desirable vs. undesirable closeness in human relations in terms of a vague concept of normative distance in the psychosocial domain, perceptible only when it is transgressed. In the same manner, the notion of cognitive distance toward the self, work, or marriage is based on an implicit norm. (LLBA, J. Hitchcock, Accession Number 200210058, (c) CSA [1999]. All rights reserved.)