THE NEURO-SEMANTICS WITHIN 3

RD & 4th GENERATION NLP I recently came across Dilts’ description of the generations of NLP. When he first published the book on NLP II: The Next Generation (2010) while there’s lots of really good stuff in it, I found it really lacking. How? It was lacking because it only described Robert’s field of NLP and the people and training he does, and it therefore left out nearly all of the rest of the field. Except for a single mention about the Meta-States Model, he left out all of the Neuro-Semantic movement and field within NLP and our presence in 70 countries with thousands upon thousands of coaches and trainers.

Now with Third Generation NLP we have the following description: Third generation NLP has been developing since the 1990s. Understanding and exploring Third Generation NLP involves looking back to the origin and legacy of NLP as well as looking to future developments. The applications of third generation NLP are generative, systemic and focused at even higher levels of learning, interaction and development—including those relating to identity, vision and mission. This is very much about an inter-connected view of working, living and the environment and the experience of a global thinking culture. It is at the top of the Spiral Dynamics model and is poised to help the world prepare for news ways of thinking. Third generation NLP emphasizes whole system change and can be applied to organisational and cultural development as well as to individuals and teams. The techniques of third generation NLP are “field based,” incorporating principles of self-organization, archetypes and what is known as “fourth position”—a whole system perspective. They include; acting with alignment and integrity, ‘sponsoring’ and supporting others, resolving complicated problems, developing multi-level perspectives and so enabling and creating dynamic and ecological change. The assumption of third generation NLP is that the wisdom needed for change is already in the system and can be discovered and released by creating the appropriate context. Robert Dilts quotes Isaac Newton as having said, “If I have been able to see farther than others, it is because I have been standing on the shoulders of giants.” (Italics added)

Since, again, Neuro-Semantics is not even mentioned, I will contribute that. In Neuro-Semantics, the entire development of the Meta-Coaching System is about generative change. Since 1994 we have also been focused on the higher levels of learning as manifested in the Meta-States Model and the APG (Accessing Personal Genius) trainings which several hundred trainers train in 70-plus countries. Systemic Coaching (2012) presented a full systemic approach and the Matrix Model (2016) is itself a systems model.

From the beginning, Neuro-Semantics has made alignment, collaboration, and integrity central to its vision. Books on Self-Actualization Psychology have focused on generative change from the inside–out. In Neuro-Semantics, using the Precision Funnel, we have specified the way to think about and solve problems using four central conversations: the well-formed outcome, problem, solution, and innovation (Creative Solutions, 2017).

More recently, my focus in Neuro-Semantics has been to hone in on the most crucial skill of all, thinking and the problem of not-thinking or pseudo-thinking. From our thinking comes our communicating, learning, deciding, metaphoring, trancing, predicting, etc. Neuro-Semantics has also been leading out in getting back to the subject of being itself— authenticity (Get Real, 2016), Inside–Out (2022), Inspiring the Heart (2022), Unleashed! (2007).

In all of these ways and a great many more, Neuro-Semantics has been engaged in 3 rd Generation NLP even though almost none of it has been recognized.

NLP 4thgeneration is an international co-creation movement exploring and modeling spiritual transformational experiences. It is the study of the subjective experience of Connecting to Higher Levels and Expanded States of Spiritual Consciousness, of both people and collectives. First modeling of spiritual leaders and healers in Bali on ability to connect to Source, determining basic and operational presuppositions, sharing views and discoveries on this level, practicing intention experiments, coordinating further developments and spreading the word.

From the Internet: First Generation NLP. In the beginning ‘ first generation’ NLP– we had the tools and models that Bandler and Grinder derived from their study of innovative and effective therapists. The techniques and skills that were created were mainly focused on problem solving at behaviour and capability levels with individuals. These included the meta model, anchoring, eye accessing cues, predicates, 6 step reframing, etc. These early applications of NLP were all applied one-on-one, with the focus almost entirely on the individual and so works at the levels of environment, behaviour and capability. NLP was considered something which one “did to other people.” This led to some NLP applications as seeming to be manipulative when used in non-therapeutic contexts. It was very concerned with the lower levels of Spiral Dynamics and the areas of protection, control, conformism and achievement or success factors. Most of the first generation tools and techniques were focused on problem solving at level of behaviour and capabilities.

Second generation NLP emerged in the mid to late 1980’s and emphasised the relationship between self and others. The areas of application widened to include business, health, education and sales. Also the tools expanded to include higher level issues which were related to values, beliefs and ‘meta programmes’ and integrated distinctions like time lines, sub-modalities and perceptual positions into new formats like Re- imprinting and the Swish Pattern. Second generation NLP is very concerned with the ‘why’ questions and was a period of exploration focusing on caring and sharing with others, relationship and self development.

Now while all of this is an interesting way to characterize the history of NLP, it is also very biased. It is one person’s, or at best one camp’s, point of view. And that would be fine except it is not owned as a perspective, a map, it is presented as the way it is (e.g.., the territory). Whoever wrote it should know better if they know NLP! When I wrote about the history of NLP, I did not categorize the “generations,” I tried to keep it much more open. And I constantly acknowledged, “this is from my perspective.” See NLP Secrets: The Untold Story (2019).