Once upon a time, my dear readers, there was a little fish named Nemo.
Now, Nemo's name may seem strange at first, but it holds significant meaning. You see, "Nemo" is a Latin word that means "no one" or "nobody."
It's a name that reminds us of the beauty of anonymity and the freedom that comes with not being tied down to a strong identity.
Stories Old & New
Nemo's story is a grand adventure across the deep blue seas, much like the tales of yore.
In the ancient Greek epic called The Odyssey, there was a clever man named Odysseus who used the name "Nemo" to trick a fearsome Cyclops named Polyphemus. By calling out for "no one," Odysseus ensured that the Cyclops had no hope of finding him. It was a clever move indeed.
Let us, if I may, fast forward from the ancient Greeks a few hundred years later to another tale of Nemo. This time, the “No One” journey involves Siddhartha Gautama, whom we now know as the Buddha.
The Buddha sat beneath a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, and vowed not to rise until he discovered the ultimate truth.
And what was that truth, you ask?
It was the realization that there is no fixed self, no permanent identity. It was the understanding of anātman, which means "no self" in Sanskrit, which, as we know, is “Nemo” in Latin.
Nemo for the 21st Century
Now, let's look at our dear own Nemo story—the one we’ve been sharing with our children these last two decades.
It’s a story of a little clownfish in an animated film aptly named, Finding Nemo.
In this story, Nemo's father, Merlin, embarks on a quest to find his son. But if we look closely, we might discover that ‘the Nemo’, Merlin is truly seeking is the same “No Self” truth that The Buddha revealed.
To find Nemo, Merlin must ditch his egoic sense of self…the one franticly attached to the idea of being a widowed parent burdened by the many roles, responsibilities, and fears of adulthood.
One of Merlin’s coolest teachers on this epic journey is Crush the laid-back Turtle. Crush teaches the worried parent inside all of us how the whole universe is intimately entwined with the unfolding lives of our offspring.
Crush the Turtle: When the little dudes are just eggs we leave them on a beach to hatch and coo-coo-ca choo, they find their way back to the big ol' blue.
Merlin: All by themselves?
Crush: Yeah!
Another beloved character...Dory, is a blue fish with a heart of gold and short-term memory loss. Dory brings a touch of humour to the tale but if we look closer we find more than comedic relief…
Dory is yet another wise teacher. Driving Merlin nuts with her short-term memory loss and childlike distractibility, she’s here to remind Merlin that memory is at the root of identity. Indeed, personal identity is only possible through memory.
a person’s identity only reaches as far as their memory extends into the past.—Locke’s Memory Theory
Despite her apparent ditziness, Dory is demonstrably a very wise soul. She understands multiple languages and it is Dory who can communicate with a whale at a crucial point in the adventure.
In myths and teaching stories Whales often symbolise the unconscious and indicate a transformation point in the hero’s journey. The belly of the whale is synonymous with the womb, and being swallowed by a whale is a story of being in the dark (ignorance) and being reborn into the light (revealed wisdom). Most notable perhaps is the story of Jonah and the Whale from the bible.
For three long days and nights, Jonah found himself confined within the belly of the whale, an experience that brought him to the brink of despair. But amid this darkness, Jonah courageously embraced his duty and delivered the prophecy. He emerged from the whale's belly, reborn and transformed.
“We're in a whale! Don't you get it?! A whale! Because you had to ask for help! And now we're stuck here!”
―Marlin to Dory, after they're swallowed by the whale
Eventually, Merlin understands and trusts that the whale is not actually trying to kill him but is here to help him.
Through it all, he learns important lessons about resilience, trust, and letting go and in the end, he is reunited with his Nemo state—the state of being free from the burdens of identity—and arrives at a deeper sense of peace than what he started with.
It’s not that his role as a parent and guardian goes up in smoke when he’s reunited with his son…it’s more that he’s grown tremendously and can now fulfil this role without clamping down around it.
Hold on but loosen your hold a little
What stories do you have that are deeply personal and important to who you are, but which might be better served by finding a way to loosen your hold?
I thought Nemo's dad's name was Marlin, not Merlin?
Nice analysis; Jules Verne's Captain Nemo used that name precisely because it meant "no one."
Easier to say than "Incognito"😂
This is a really cool analysis of Finding Nemo.