Washing Away Guilt
In Chapter 1, McRaney summarizes a research study in which people were asked to recall a terrible memory/sin from their past. Some of the study pupils were asked to wash their hands, while others were not. When then asked to participate in another research study for no pay, the individuals who had washed their hands were more likely to decline to help than those individuals who had not washed their hands. This physical hand-washing serves as a metaphorical washing away of guilt and cleansing of sins. McRaney suggests that this metaphorical cleansing is widespread throughout humanity and society. He suggests that our subconscious greatly influences our moral values and sense of self. In this way, our subconscious is a metaphor for a moral cleansing of our guilt and sins.
Highway Hypnosis
Highway hypnosis—the act of driving a familiar road or path so many times that one can safely traverse great distances with no memory of having done so—serves as a metaphor for the human lifetime, says McRaney. McRaney argues that we spend much of our daily lives on autopilot, following a familiar schedule. As a result, our life becomes a long, singular path of highway hypnosis; we follow the proper steps to graduate from high school, attend college, attend a trade school, find a partner, start a family, have a career, etc. that we begin to forget the journey that got us there. McRaney suggests that humans have a natural tendency to survive on autopilot. It is only when we encounter novel or interesting, out-of-the-norm experiences that we are shaken from our stupor.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
McRaney devotes an entire chapter to self-fulfilling prophesies and the metaphorical meaning they hold for our own lives. According to McRaney, the self-fulfilling prophecy concept is far more than a myth—it is fact. This concept serves as a metaphor for our own futures. In this metaphor, if we humans are become convinced about a certain path for our future, we are subconsciously influenced to make decisions that will guide us to this path. In this way, self-fulfilling prophecies are a metaphor for mankind’s tendency to make subconscious decisions that influence our goals and support us in our future endeavors.
Humans as Characters
McRaney makes a point of reminding us that we often tend to view our fellow humans as one-dimensional, static characters in a book, movie, or play. Murderers, for example, tend to be whittled down to and defined by this singular event—the murder—when the reality is that murderers, just like the rest of us, are complex and emotional creatures. McRaney argues, however, that we tend to depict our fellow humans as characters in a play or movie; we define them by a limited and predictable set of attributes. In this way, characters are a metaphorical representation for the humans around us.
Humanity as a Filter
McRaney makes a point to suggest that his readers—like all humans—intentionally filter the people, information, and experiences we have access to. This filter is a metaphor for our own discomfort at learning new and/or contradictory information. He explains that we humans thrive in bubbles in which we are exposed to and surrounded by individuals who share our own views. In this way, we purposefully filter the information we have access to. As such, our own inability to cope with new or contradictory information can be metaphorically represented as placing a filter around ourselves, which blocks out these contradictory realities from entering.
