My mental eye, rendered more acute by repeated visions of this kind, could now distinguish larger structures, of manifold confirmation; long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all twining and twisting in snakelike motion. But look! What is that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke. . .

– Friederich August von Kekule´

When two neuronal groups, A and B, fire at the same time, activation spreads outward along the network links connecting them, which we experience as a chain of thought.

– The Neural Theory of Metaphor

It’s all downhill from here. What feelings does that evoke? Does it exhilarate and relieve or does it trigger bracing for impact? The feelings which the word, ‘downhill’ evokes depends on the metaphor activated by the brain.

It’s going to be an uphill task. Is this better?

A metaphor is essentially transference of characteristics from one domain to another unrelated domain (Modell, 2003). It makes use of metonymy which is to substitute one word (which has characteristics which apply to the other) for another – battle for challenge.

When the sentence, ‘It’s all downhill from here’ is used in the context of a project, there are two sets of mutually exclusive characteristics which could be transferred from the context of going downhill to the context of progress in terms of the task at hand. Each would lead to very different conclusions.

The word ‘downhill’ has two parts, ‘down’ and ‘hill’. Generally speaking, the word ‘up’ is associated with progress. The word ‘down’ usually refers to a lack of progress or a waning of efforts. So, downhill in the context of a project might cause feelings of gloom.

The word ‘hill’ comes with its own set of characteristics. From experience, it will be common knowledge that going downhill is far easier. Gravity works in favour of the endeavour. Leveraging gravity, the task becomes very much less effortful.

Accordingly, feelings evoked by It’s all downhill from here would depend on which characteristics of ‘downhill’ are transferred to the project context.

Neurolinguists have been fascinated with the concept of the metaphor. According to psychiatrist Arnold Modell, for a very long time, linguists adopted the philosopher Aristotle’s view that the metaphor was merely figurative language. Aristotle proposed that metaphors were about “quick discernment of resemblances” (Modell, 2003). For example, in the phrase, “Man is a wolf” (Lakoff, 2008), the writer discerns resemblance between certain characteristics of wolves and men and expresses his discernment figuratively.

However, neuroscientists have found through brain imaging studies, that the brain’s structure itself functions as a metaphor through neural maps and neural bindings (Neural Theory of Metaphor). A neural map is a connection from one region of the brain to another. A neural binding is a grouping of neurons from different parts of the brain. Shape and colour are perceived by neurons in different regions and yet it is possible to imagine a green box because of the neural binding between these neurons.

A metaphor is essentially a transfer of characteristics from one domain to another. The brain stores or perceives concepts through a system of transfers between different regions.

Neural bindings can be permanent – white clouds (colour plus shape), conditional – where certain characteristics are fixed and others are context dependent – hot or cold tea, or entirely in response to a situation – characterisations of real-life episodes as a nightmare or as a dream.

Neural maps can be activated involuntarily. Modell describes the essence of trauma. A person goes through an experience which results in some form of loss. He retains this memory. Another situation arises in his life with similar characteristics. Due to how the brain is structured, there is a transfer of characteristics of the past to the present and the instant situation is labelled as the exact same episode of the past. In this way, he involuntarily relives the traumatic episode. Psychotherapy leverages on brain structure to recategorize traumatic experiences to free patients from their bind.

McMullen (2008) describes how the metaphor like brain structure is used in psychotherapy to loosen knotted feelings. A patient was ashamed of a negative feeling – hate. Each time hate was felt, the patient repressed and replaced the feeling by uttering the opposite – love. In this way, the socially disapproved emotion of hate was repressed. Psychiatrists say repressed feelings are in general harmful. To release those repressed feelings, the psychiatrist in the example teased out the feelings and recharacterized them. What you feel is hate. What you hate is not the person but the feeling of loss. It is natural to hate loss. Is this really a loss? In this way, the knot of feelings because of flawed transfer mechanisms comes undone.

In McMullen’s example, feelings associated with loss were transferred and bound to an object which became the target of hateful feelings. The target person became a metaphor for loss. After therapy, the associations were gently disentangled and rearranged – recontextualised. The patient was asked to reconsider if there really were, present in the patient’s situation, characteristics which justified a ‘loss’ label. The selection of a metaphor other than loss bound with the legitimisation of the negative emotion set the patient free from the shackles of guilt.

The involuntary metaphoric process works for good as well. From Robert Louis Stevenson of Treasure Island to chemist Friederich August von Kekule´, a countless number of luminaries have attributed breakthroughs to the unconscious transfer process between concepts in one domain to another. Modell describes how Kekule´ literally dreamed of a metaphor to unearth the “closed-carbon-ring structure of organic compounds”. The unconscious transfer process between domains happens even when awake as it did in the case of Mathematician Henri Poincaré. Poincaré discovered that “the transformations” he “had used to find the Fuchsian functions were identical with those of non-Euclidian geometry” when he was having an unrelated conversation with an acquaintance.

This involuntary metaphoric process works in the background out of the sphere of consciousness. The brain engages in transfers from one domain to another to create new neural binds, producing a flash of insight. Mathematician Alain Connes identified the following steps to reproduce metaphors in the mind (Modell, 2003):

1. Conscious intention of what one wishes to achieve – wanting to solve a problem for example
2. Allowing the unconscious transfer process to take place in the mind by not interfering consciously (trying actively to figure it out)
3. Flash of insight with great joy
4. To now consciously test the insight with logic

The brain is structured for metaphor creation. Transfers often happen unconsciously and involuntarily. This can bind in the case of trauma or give release in the case of insight.

The brain is also a best fit system. It will automatically select salient characteristics in one situation and link it to similar characteristics in another situation to arrive at a label. For instance, students who consider themselves not popular for some reason in primary school might prematurely characterise as resistance what in fact is negotiation, while in the different domain of a new secondary school. In such instances, it will be worthwhile to pause and consider the associations between similar episodes in the past. While the best fit nature surfaces similarities, this process could be consciously short-circuited by considering differences instead. A student in such a situation could reject the metaphor of rejection or resistance and instead compel formulation of a new metaphor better fit for purpose.

Associations through synapses (pathways) can be strengthened or weakened. A pathway of associations strengthens with repeated use and atrophies with disuse. Students who have accepted negative characterisations of their abilities or other attributes because of repeated reflection from their external environment to themselves, of such characterisations may find their problem intractable – Why do I keep running into similar situations? The metaphor they have for the world at large could be that of a Darwinian jungle where only the fittest survive.

In the wild, there grows a species of trees called the Aquilaria malaccensis. Sometimes its heartwood gets infected. To fight infection, it produces an aromatic resin called agar. Agarwood is worth more than gold for its heavenly aroma. The tree is now so sought after, it is endangered.

Without intractable problems, the brain’s natural structure may not be activated for ground-breaking solutions. Instead of trying to untangle such knotty issues, it may be useful to first recognise the issue and then form an intention to see it untangled.

After that, making history could be a walk in the park.

The Brain Dojo