When is something called "NLP"?
To begin with, we will answer this question: "When can something (technique, format, model or set of distinctions) be called NLP?"
NLP processes and procedures cover an impressive range of topics and issues. For example, our Encyclopedia of Systemic NLP and the New NLP Code (Dilts, Delozier, 2000) lists the following topics: treatment of phobias, trauma and emotional disorders; techniques for learning foreign languages, teaching spelling, speed reading, algebra, writing, etc .; leadership and management skills; methods of strategic planning, team building and organizational development; formats related to physical healing, creativity, conflict resolution, motivation and many other areas. NLP contains many more techniques than other psychological and behavioral approaches - psychoanalysis, gestalt therapy, transactional analysis, psychosynthesis, and even cognitive psychology.
Obviously, NLP is not limited to any one particular area or topic. Given the wide range of techniques and models in NLP, it would be very interesting to try to define what makes something part of NLP. This is a fundamental question of "epistemology." The term "epistemology" comes from the ancient Greek words epi ("above", "above"), histanai ("multitude" or "place") and logos ("word" or "knowledge"); that is, "that on which knowledge is based (or located)." Thus, epistemology is the fundamental system of definitions and assumptions on which our knowledge is based and from which derives. Here is Gregory Bateson's definition:
Epistemology is the history of the origin of knowledge; in other words, how do we know what we know.
Starting with questions about what we can know and how we know what we think we know, epistemology moves on to the next question: "How do we know anything at all?"
Bateson continues:
Philosophers define and separate two types of problems. The first type is problems related to what things are, what a person is and what this world is like. These are the problems of ontology. The second type is the problem of how we recognize something, more precisely, how we find out what this world is and what kind of creatures we are capable of knowing something (or not knowing anything) about it. These are the problems of epistemology.
NLP is both a way of being ("ontology") and a way of knowing ("epistemology"). NLP as an ontology is based on a set of fundamental presuppositions related to communication, freedom of choice, changes and intentions of our behavior. At the heart of NLP as an epistemology is modeling - a continuous process of expanding and enriching our maps of the world through awareness, curiosity, and the ability to synthesize multiple points of view and multiple descriptions.
Both the ontology and epistemology of NLP begin with the presupposition that "the map is not the territory." NLP teaches that no card is more real or correct than any other, but that our ability to act effectively and evolve beyond the boundaries of our current state depends on having a card that gives us the greatest possible freedom of choice. Thus, NLP essentially prefers flexibility and openness to rigidity and immobility.
As we said, NLP is not interested in the content of the subjective experience that it explores. The epistemology of NLP is based on the manner in which this subjective experience is explored and presented.
For example, in recent years, some NLP practitioners and even trainers have argued that there is no place for topics like spirituality, love, past lives, or reincarnation in NLP. On the other hand, these themes clearly reflect powerful subjective experiences that many of us have. As a subjective experience, these topics can of course be the subject of NLP research.
Just as any form of language can be an object of linguistics study (language learning), any form of subjective experience can become an object of research within the framework of NLP.
Of course, NLP will not be interested in the specific content of this subjective experience and whether it corresponds to "objective reality". NLP will ask other questions: how do people experience these subjective phenomena, how do they distinguish them from other subjective phenomena? What are the consequences of this subjective experience? Does this experience create resourceful or problematic reactions and states? Does the structure of this experience of effective performance facilitate or hinder? Does our relationship with these experiences increase or decrease our sense of personal satisfaction? Does the way we experience it expand our choices or create a sense of helplessness and dependence?
In other words, the NLP practitioner, or coach, working with a person who begins to talk about memories associated with a "past life", will not argue about the "reality" of this experience. Rather, the NLP practitioner will take an interest in the structure and consequences of this subjective experience and in how it fits in with other aspects of that person's subjective model of the world.
From the beginning, Bandler and Grinder have argued that NLP is not just another model of human behavior, but rather a "meta-model." That is, NLP is a model of how people create their own models of the world.
Thus, in order to determine whether a phenomenon is part of NLP, it is necessary to pay attention not to the content, but to the approach to how it is investigated, and to the form in which the structures based on it are organized.
As a result, regardless of which area a particular subjective experience belongs to, NLP breaks down the structure or process underlying this experience into specific distinctions and steps that include sensory representations (images, sounds, tactile sensations, etc.), language patterns and physiological responses. All key distinctions and formats of NLP are based on a combination of these three aspects of the structure of human experience.
Accordingly, for something to be recognized as part of "neuro-linguistic programming", this "something" must be perceived and described as something fundamentally neuro-linguistic.
The neuro-component of NLP refers to the nervous system. Much of NLP is about understanding and using the principles and patterns of the nervous system. According to NLP, thinking, memory, imagination, decision making, desires, will, judgments and all other cognitive, emotional or behavioral processes are the result of programs "recorded" in the human nervous system. Thus, human "experience" is a product of information that we receive, synthesize and create through our nervous system. In practice, any experience is associated with the sensory perception of the world - vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste.
Therefore, whatever the subjective experience we are researching is related to - motivation, memory, space, religion, art, politics, education, and so on - NLP is interested in how this aspect of human experience is organized in the nervous system.
From an NLP perspective, language is clearly a product of the human nervous system. However, the tongue causes and stimulates the activity of the nervous system. Definitely, language is one of the main means of activating or stimulating the nervous system available to a person - both his own and other people. Subjective experience is both shaped and expressed through language. Therefore, for a phenomenon to be recognized as part of NLP, it must be based on patterns of language that naturally and spontaneously manifest themselves in patterns of human communication, both verbal and non-verbal.
The programming aspect of NLP is based on the idea that the influence of our experience on processes such as learning, memorization, motivation, creativity, or any other activity is a function of programs: neuro-linguistic programs that function more or less effectively and allow us achieve certain goals or results. In practice, this means that we humans interact with the world around us through internal programming in our nervous system. We respond to problems and approach new ideas according to the types of internal programs we have created - and not all programs are the same. Some programs are more effective than others to achieve certain results.
In this sense, one of the most important aspects of NLP is the emphasis on the practical application of the modeling process. NLP concepts and training programs emphasize an interactive, experiential learning context in which principles and procedures can be easily understood and understood. Moreover, since NLP processes are derived from effective human models, the value and structures underlying them are often intuitive to people, even those with little personal experience.
In general, since its inception, NLP has been researching the structure of subjective experience; "Structure", neuro-linguistic in nature. Thus, we can say that part of NLP is any phenomenon that:
• Emphasizes process and structure as opposed to content.
• Searches for the foundations of processes and distinctions in the anatomy and functions of the human nervous system.
• Allows you to easily identify and change these distinctions and processes through natural and spontaneous patterns of verbal and non-verbal communication.
• Organizes research findings into practical exercises, techniques, tools, and practices that you can use to influence human experience or behavior.
Source: Robert Dilts - NLP -2: Next Generation
