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An analysis of the Fleming Metaphor... Phone Abby Eagle on 07 5562 5718 or send an email to book a free 20 minute telephone or Skype consultation about how to use NLP to transform your business and your life. NLP Hypnotherapy Gold Coast, Robina.

 

Why do people write hoax emails?

Synopsis: An analysis of the Fleming metaphor. Why is fiction more appealing than fact?

The following story was posted on the AAPHAN website with an invitation to interpret the meaning. My response follows after the quote:

Begin quote:
Many years ago there was a poor Scottish farmer named Fleming. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

‘I want to repay you,’ said the nobleman. ‘You saved my son’s life.’

‘No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,’ the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer.

At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.

‘Is that your son?’ the nobleman asked.

‘Yes,’ the farmer replied proudly.

‘I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of. And that he did.

Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life? Penicillin!
End quote.

Note: Sometimes this version concludes with the line: “The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.” In other versions the content is quite different but it follows the same form.

Story posted on AAPHAN website. Author and copyright unknown.

 

Introduction

This story, like many that circulate the internet, is fiction but what is it about these type of stories that make them so popular? What is it that people want to believe? Perhaps the story appeals to archetypes that represent hard wired structures within the brain? Perhaps the story activates societal and religious conditioning?

These type of stories have a pattern. They are about the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s, about kings and beggars, about wealth, poverty and values, with the emphasise on the values of the beggar over that of the values of the king. They seem to be about maintaining the status quo in society.

The stories represent archetypes of personality in extreme situations. For example, a Zen master living in solitude on top of a mountain; a hermit living deep within a forest; an ugly duckling comparing itself with a beautiful swan. The stories are always about the extremes in life, never the mundane. They are about life and death; about the heroic selfless actions of the poor helping the rich. Of those who have little, giving to those who have much. About the proud beggar. About the wealthy showing acts of benevolence. About being generous to an extreme, being selfless, not thinking of oneself but putting the needs of others first, of helping others. And about the one who gives selflessly, being rewarded by chance at some later date – if not in this life then the presupposition is that perhaps in the after life or the next life.

Have you ever wondered what type of people write these stories, and why? Why do they present fiction as non fiction? Is it because society sold the child a lie and as an adult, they can not face the fact that they have lived their whole based upon a fantasy? What is the value system of the author? What is their intention for writing the story? Who are they serving?

What other types of people might claim a fiction to be a truth? Would a scientist distort the data of scientific research to draw a conclusion that brings fame and fortune? Surely not but then why is this practise so prevalent in the field of science? Why are some scientists so aggressive in trying to prove a fiction, especially in the field of health and nutrition? What are they lacking emotionally? What do they need to hear from others that makes the distortion of truth worth the risk?

After the fiction writer and the scientist, who else does that leave us? The historian, the politician, the marketer, the lover. The list seems to be endless. Those people who for one reason or another bend and distort the truth for their own agenda. Perhaps it is an almost universal trait amongst humans?

 

An Analysis of the Fleming Metaphor

How could one interpret the metaphors embedded in the story about Fleming? For a start the meaning of the story changes depending on the frame that you put around it. For example, is it fact or fiction? The meaning also changes depending upon who you identify with and what you think each element represents.

The nobleman
Those who aspire to status in society or think they have achieved it may identify with the nobleman. The story suggests that one should donate to charity and help those who are less fortunate than yourself, and get a warm fuzzy feeling in return. The nobleman may have a self concept based upon power, money and status but the poor farmer has a self esteem based upon his human-ness.

The nobleman’s son
Those people who have had a comfortable middle class upbringing may come to realise that even the working classes may have something to offer. And it may be a reminder to stop complaining about not having enough because there are people in the world who are much worse off than yourself. In addition all the money in the world will not protect you from a miserable death... and when the time comes who will be your saviour?

The farmers son
Wealth is not the only key to success. Even the poor can rise to stardom if given the chance. It may also indicate that one should remain open to opportunities – but how? Actively or passively? Does it suggest that if one remains in the ‘doorway’ of life long enough someone might discover you and give you a lucky break? Does it suggest that the poor require the grace of the rich in order to move up in life.

The farmer
Poor but proud and kind hearted; selfless, asks nothing for himself. Does the story suggest that the farmer has not suffered emotionally and physically from having lived a life of poverty? Who benefits from the farmer’s value system? Who applied the conditioning? The priest, the merchant or the politician?

The nobleman offers to reward the farmer with money. The farmer says, “I don’t want money.” Is this a value that is used to keep the lower classes poor? Seen as a virtue but in reality a chain that binds them into poverty generation after generation?

The bog
The bog is an element used to create a situation in which the nobleman could lose the most precious thing to him – his son. The bog perhaps evokes imagery (with those who have an active imagination) of being dragged down into the pits of hell, screaming and helpless. No one would want to lose their son (or themself) that ignominious way, least not a nobleman.

The scene at the farmers house presents a stark contrast in values and lifestyle between the rich and the poor. The moral of the story seems to be that one good deed deserves another, and that what goes around comes around, and that do a good deed and one day you will be rewarded. In fact, in recent times business’s have discovered the power of using charity as a way to increase their sales, but where is the moral integrity in using a disadvantaged group as a marketing tool to increase sales?

 

A Metaphorical Interpretation

There are many meanings that one could derive from the story of Fleming, though the following one is probably not that obvious: In this interpretation the farmer represents God. Therefore the farmers son represents the Son of God. The nobleman and his son represent humanity. God gives his only begotten son to humanity to be schooled. Out of the hovel the boy flowers into a genius who creates a method for healing that has the potential to help all of humanity. Out of the mud the lotus flower blossoms.

Genius and creativity require the fertile ground of challenges from which to grow and develop. It is hard to imagine the nobleman’s son amounting to anything more than another nobleman. The farmers boy on the other hand having suffered poverty, hunger and deprivation is ripe for achievement.

Some might praise the nobleman for the kind deed of educating the farmer’s boy but this would really be out of politeness. In fact the nobleman’s life may have been so shallow that he was looking for an opportunity to help someone. His son falling into the bog may have been the best thing that could have happened to him. He should be thanking the farmer.

 

Moral Of The Fleming Story

If you have an idea, a project, a business that you can only take so far because of limited resources, then even though you treasure what you have created, there may come a time for you to let it go and invite others to provide input and resources so that the project may be developed and reach its ultimate potential.

If you are interested in NLP Online Coaching then feel free to contact me - Abby Eagle - via the webform at the top right of this page. You are also invited to leave a comment below and join us on the NLP Hypnotherapy Facebook Group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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