The Event Sequence

This illustrates the correspondence between the event sequence (left column), a simple, literal bodily act (middle column), and a figuratively described act (right column). Note the sequence of each.

STEPS IN EVENT SEQUENCE	Literal Bodily Act TAKE CUP TO DRINK	Figurative Act ”DRAW ATTENTION” TO OBJECT
Initial State	Previous activity stopped	Pause
Startup	Turn towards cup	Turn to the person, say something
End Startup	Stop	Wait for response
Start Main Process	Reach for cup	Name, describe, point to object
Interruptions?	Spill, lose grip... ?	Other person seems not to follow?
Continue?	Moving towards mouth?	Keep on talking, gesturing?
Resultant State	Cup arrives at lips	Person's attention is now on object.

What constitutes a “complete metaphor”? Often we hear fragments that suggest the existence of an operating metaphor of causation, but what might be the whole metaphor? The notion of the Event Structure is helpful here:

Lakoff and Johnson (1999) discuss causation from a theory based empirically on embodied cognition where force actually intervenes in events. For them, event structure is a homologue of thought-behavior and cause is only understood as human movement that, by definition, involves force of some greater or lesser magnitude.

We may not easily find all the steps of the metaphoric (figurative) sequence. But on closer examination probably all of the steps exist. Much as entailments are found by implication in simple metaphors, this sort of figurative use of language implies that each step in the sequence exists, at least in the unconscious. Some research suggests that they do exist in some form; this opens obvious areas for clarification and extension.

For example, Mom says, "I can't get out of the house.…” Causation is inherent in this statement – that something is causing her not to get out of the house -- and this indicates that the Startup or Main Process has been interrupted. To clarify, communicate and extend we would want to explore the step just preceding (i.e., for Startup was there an Initial State - stopping the previous sequence, or for Main Process was there a Startup)? By keeping the sequence in mind, questions can be formed to help clarify and communicate the client's actual experience. This also suggests natural extensions that increase options.