Part 1
Introduction:
NLP has come a long way. Over the last 30 years, who could estimate
how many have been touched - intentionally or otherwise - by this
incredible discovery of the structure of human behavior. And yet,
despite these amazing contributions, there are nonetheless those
for whom NLP has not been enough. There are many who have studied
and applied the knowledge of NLP, at all levels of certification,
only to discover that they continue to be taken hostage by something
greater; and that the tools and techniques of NLP have not offered
the portals and passages that allow them to engage the world differently
and - even more - to shape it.
As the years have rolled by and one century has passed into the
next, little attention has been paid to what we have taken for granted
for close to four decades. The vast majority of advances in NLP have
been refinements within the body of knowledge itself and not discoveries
in its connections and relationships to other advances in the field
of human potential. As a metaphor, this is akin to continuing to
explore and perfect motor vehicle transport as a mechanical device
without considering the advances in electronics. In any other field
of endeavor, this would be considered at best, folly and at worst,
a recipe for missed opportunities.
Now is as good a time as any to stop and consider not just the
content of what we know but the context within which we have learned
it, expressed it and passed it on to others. The 21st Century not
only invites but demands that we reconsider both the practice and
the potential that NLP offers. Since all meaning is context dependent,
this shift in perspective is essential to continuing growth and evolution
in the application of NLP; and for sustaining NLP as a viable and
practical resource in the transformation of our species. It has been
said that "Before we can change our lives, we must first change the
way that we perceive our lives." 1
This shift in perspective will be framed by two notions from NLP
: Logical Levels of Thinking, and Representational Systems… with
one very big difference. Instead of six rep systems and six logical
levels, we will work with seven.
Logical Levels of Thinking, or neurological levels, has formed
part of this body of knowledge for some time and has proven to be
a very useful tool. The tool is always, in some way, a creation of
the artist in recognition of a requirement for the expression of
that artistry. Logical Levels of Thinking is no different.
The first six Levels of Thinking, as developed by Bateson and Dilts,
have been extremely effective in ordering information. However, human
beings are organic. Our ability to choose differentiates us from
each other as well as from other 'life' forms. Unlike your car which
cannot choose to become a motor cycle, human beings can choose, at
any time, to be and do other than what is currently available. As
far back as 1997, we added and began working with the seventh Logical
Level of Choice (between Beliefs/Values/Attitudes and Identity),
taking that which has always been present and yet transparent to
the process and bringing it to conscious awareness. By bringing the
act of choosing 'out of the closet' so-to-speak, we acknowledge the
ability of human beings to shape their experience. We create a platform
for choosing that also makes it impossible to deny that we are indeed,
doing so; and acknowledges the power of its presence … and the
natural by-product of its expression, whether conscious or otherwise.
We are always choosing, whether we do so with focused intention (design)
or from habit (default or fall-back position). 2
With this discovery came the willingness to play with other things
which appeared fixed and were indeed, mutable. From six representational
systems (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory, auditory
digital) came a seventh : PsI, or PsychicIntuitive. In creating this
seventh, we acknowledge that a continuum exists, with auditory digital
(or the absence of sensory cues) at one end and PsychicIntuitive
(the presence of all sensory cues) at the other end. Like black and
white represent this phenomenon, so representational systems can
easily be enhanced to reflect this in the world of sensory input. 3
NLP - Yesterday
"All meaning is context dependent". We must have said those words
at least a thousand times over. Yet, how often have we actually stopped… and
considered the profound implications of their meaning in how we live
- and teach - NLP?
The Communication Model of NLP identifies a variety of filters
through which we process information and the power that these filters
carry to shape what we do and don't allow ourselves to consider.
The primary filter is that of Space/Time/Matter/Energy… the
filter through which we consider what we hold as true and 'real'
about the very shape and structure of our physical world and our
presence in it. Science - the god of the culture - tells us what
is 'true' about space/time/matter/energy and from that 'truth', we
proceed to interact in our world. We have learned not to argue with
science!
Being the voracious creatures that we are for MORE, our sense of
curiosity and adventure has taken us down unknown paths and into
brave, new worlds. We have discovered more in the last 20 years than
we had in the 100 before that. Our ability to learn and then build
on that learning has allowed us to move through the world in a way
that invites the miracles of technology that we experience today.
The cars we drive to work and play will, in the not-so-distant future,
be driving us! The planes we fly now have the ability to move in
and out of the earth's atmosphere… and beyond. Our technological
advances allow for magic and miracles in medicine, communication,
entertainment, transportation… the list goes on and on.
The things we once held to be true - and unquestionably so - have
time and again been proven not so much to be untrue but to be constrained
by our ability to perceive them in their wholeness. Take, for example,
Kirlian photography. Now exceeding 50 years since its discovery,
there was a time when this ability to detect electromagnetic fields
around the body through image, did not exist. Does that mean that
the field was not there? Absolutely not. What did not yet exist was
our ability to detect it. What we needed was a new framework within
which to detect this phenomenon and then consider our discovery.
Think of all those poor souls who burned at the stake because their
internal 'camera' allowed them to detect these fields… these
auras of light and color … around living things. Think of other
times and other places when we have dismissed as untrue or non-existent
that which was only out of the range of detection. It was there.
We just could not 'represent' it in ways that matched the current
context or paradigm of thought.
NLP began to unfold in just such a context. The science of the
time was grounded in a Newtonian perspective… or context. Grinder
and Bandler, through a process of external calibration (observation)
and internal calibration (questions), were able to nudge into awareness
that which had always been there and yet had gone undetected. Using
the combination of observation and enquiry, they created a platform
for 'modeling' (or replicating) that which was already present and
not yet generalized.
This process was unique and different. For the first time, we were
able to consider human behavior beyond the level of content (I said,
you said, he/she did, etc.) and consider human interactions in a
different light. The claim was made that NLP did not engage human
behavior at the level of content but at the level of structure. We
held the ability to notice and make distinctions at this level to
be one which freed us from content and allowed us to affect change
directly by interplay with the structure itself.
The one thing we did not ask was: what is the context for this
notion of structure? All meaning is context dependent.
The Science of the early '70's - which determined who we believed
human beings to be and more importantly, who we believed them to
be capable of becoming - was deeply rooted in Newtonian principles.
This was the science of predictability in physical realms; the science
of norms and standards and range of operation based on physical realities.
This science has spawned the 'therapy' model of the world, which
has permeated and shaped all that we have known and touched. To ask
someone to consider that the therapy model, with its norms and standards
and limited range, was not 'truth' but a limited context based on
the limitations of our knowledge, would be like asking the fish "How's
the water?" The context for considering the question was the subject
itself, with no consideration for 'not water' available at that time.
The ability for a larger context did not exist.
Things have changed.
Science has moved in leaps and bounds to invite us to consider
magic and miracles as every day occurrences. The science of even
10 years ago, let alone 30 years ago, invited consideration of new
things and yet had not begun to shine bright lights on the dark little
spaces and places of who we thought ourselves to be. We've come a
long way, Baby… and we're moving fast into an amazing future!
To reiterate, the vast majority of advances in NLP have been refinements
within the body of knowledge itself (Environment/Behavior/Capability)
and not discoveries in its connections and relationships to other
advances in the field of human potential (Spirituality). Given that
within the framework of Logical Levels, every level is contained
in the levels above it; and that changes at higher levels of thinking
flow through and alter lower levels, imagine what becomes possible
if we reconsider NLP within that higher level of thinking.
How can we take the principles of the quantum sciences and apply
them not just to our technologies and gadgets and 'things', but to
our own evolution as organic, living systems? How do we take what
we now know about the science of who we are as human beings; the
science of energy and potential, and make our potential come alive
within the limitlessness that it offers? How do we take what we now
know from science - the knowledge that we are quantum biological
processors, capable of moving information/energy at incredible rates
and in huge amounts - and apply this to how we live our lives, every
single day, and to how we affect the lives of those we touch?
How do we take NLP - originally set in a Newtonian context, a 'therapy'
model context - and bring it to life in the new paradigm of expression
that we have already become… and have yet to notice? Is it not
time to consider that NLP may better serve us all if it were to keep
pace with science? Could it be that the potential of NLP will expand
exponentially when considered in a new context? Given that all meaning
is context dependent, what meaning will NLP take on when considered
within an autopoietic framework and a model of the world that says
that human beings are not mechanistic devices but quantum biological
instruments of expression?
The thing that is most enticing is not 'what can we become'. The
thing that is most incredible to consider is: what have we already become … and
have yet to notice?
If all meaning is context dependent, what is the context that we
have held for NLP to this time? NLP can only expand within the limitations
of our ability to consider it. As we expand the context within which
we position NLP, its potential will expand accordingly.
In its existing context or paradigm, NLP came into being within
the science of the day and our beliefs about the nature of being
human. NLP as a body of knowledge was 'built' and has been sustained
within the context of human beings and their behavior (i.e., a therapy
model). What if we were to consider NLP within the context of human
beings as quantum biological devices - organic computers - (i.e.,
an autopoietic model)? What potential now sits, unexplored, and invites
our attention?
1 Trick of the Light
2 Refer to "The Seventh Logical Level of Thinking:
choosing with purpose, power and intention" by Louise LeBrun; NLP
World, November 2001, Volume 8, No.3
3 Refer to "WEL-Systems® - The New Paradigm for
NLP: A Non-therapy context for change" by Louise LeBrun; Rapport,
Winter 2001
Part II
NLP - Today
Space, Movement and Flow
To be published in NLPWorld Magazine Spring 2004
Part III
NLP - Tomorrow
The Evolving Practitioner -Staying in the Tough Conversations
Signals Dancing - the next step in choreographing our lives
To be published in NLPWorld Magazine Summer 2004
Copyright © 2003 Louise LeBrun
This article may be reproduced, provided it is reproduced in full.
Part 1 Originally published in NLPWorld Magazine, January 2004
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