Opening minds to the power of metaphor

The psychologist Fritz Perls is famous for telling people to ‘lose your mind and come to your senses’. If you know anything about the power of Clean Language, and especially if you’ve read Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees, you’ll know something about the extraordinary ability of Clean Language to open minds and, in its unique way, help people come to their senses.

At the simplest level, because the Clean questions have been ‘cleaned’ of assumptions and influences, using them in any kind of conversation means you can approach what’s being said with an open mind. At a more complex level, asking Clean Language questions about the metaphors that underpin someone’s thinking is one of the fastest and most respectful ways of opening minds – your own, and those of other people. Inquiring cleanly about metaphors in effects creates a bridge between the conscious and unconscious minds. That bridge can also become a route to profound personal exploration; it can also help people come to a deeper sense of understanding.

For other examples of how Clean Language opens minds, see other articles on this website.