What they love or hate is not the essence of things or persons but only their configuration.
A young boy developed what could only be called a sandwich phobia. Any time he saw
a sandwich he would tremble and scream with fear. His mother was so upset about
this, she took him to a therapist who said, “The phobia is easily removed. Take
the lad home and let him see you make a sandwich from beginning to end. This will
dispel any silly notions he has about a sandwich and he’ll stop trembling and
screaming.”
That is just what the mother did. She took two slices of bread in her hands and
said, “Are you afraid of this?” The boy said, “No,” She showed him the butter. Was
he afraid of that? No, he wasn’t. She let him see her spread the butter over the
bread. Next came the lettuce. Was he afraid of that? No, he wasn’t. The lettuce
was placed on the bread. How about the tomato slices? Anything to be afraid of
there? No, there wasn’t. So those went on top of the lettuce. Any fear of the
bacon strips? No-fear; none at all. So those went on top of the tomato slices.
Now she held one piled up slice in each hand and showed the slices to the boy.
Still no fear. But the moment she brought the two slices together to form a
sandwich he shrieked, “Sandwich! Sandwich!” and began to tremble and be very
frightened.
🙂
What they love or hate is not the essence of things or persons but only their configuration.
A young boy developed what could only be called a sandwich phobia. Any time he saw
a sandwich he would tremble and scream with fear. His mother was so upset about
this, she took him to a therapist who said, “The phobia is easily removed. Take
the lad home and let him see you make a sandwich from beginning to end. This will
dispel any silly notions he has about a sandwich and he’ll stop trembling and
screaming.”
That is just what the mother did. She took two slices of bread in her hands and
said, “Are you afraid of this?” The boy said, “No,” She showed him the butter. Was
he afraid of that? No, he wasn’t. She let him see her spread the butter over the
bread. Next came the lettuce. Was he afraid of that? No, he wasn’t. The lettuce
was placed on the bread. How about the tomato slices? Anything to be afraid of
there? No, there wasn’t. So those went on top of the lettuce. Any fear of the
bacon strips? No-fear; none at all. So those went on top of the tomato slices.
Now she held one piled up slice in each hand and showed the slices to the boy.
Still no fear. But the moment she brought the two slices together to form a
sandwich he shrieked, “Sandwich! Sandwich!” and began to tremble and be very
frightened.
🙂