THINK NLP 3.0

A long time ago (1997), I added Meta-States to the classical NLP training and suddenly, Meta- NLP was invented. That became the basic NLP practitioner course for the next three decades. Given that Grinder and DeLozier upgraded the classic NLP model in 1983 with “new code” and Dilts updated it further in 1986 with “logical levels,” you could think of that as NLP 2.0. Considering that, Neuro-Semantics is NLP 3.0. And that answers the questions that many have, “Is Neuro-Semantics NLP?” Yes, of course it is.

Sometimes that raises the next question, “What is the difference between NLP and Neuro- Semantics?” While the difference goes to the heart of what the Meta-States Model models, namely, self-reflexive consciousness, that opens up a whole range of things— mostly the meta- levels as a model of the mind itself. It expands the Meta-Model introducing linguistic distinctions from Korzybski. It enables meta-strategy work as it identifies the hidden unconscious frames that govern complex states like leadership, self-esteem, resilience, etc. (See the article about the Neuro-Semantic differences on the website.)

Others ask, “If I know NLP, what will Neuro-Semantic add to it that makes it an advanced form of NLP?” A far more extensive focus on structure, especially meta-structure, a model of how the ‘mind’ actually works (e.g., thinking), the Meta Place as a model for activating the full mind, an extended understanding of the unconscious, and much more.

Both versions, Meta-NLP and Advanced NLP offer an upgrade of the NLP model uncontaminated by the myths and manipulations of the first model. It is an advanced NLP that has kept developing from the original premises and the keeps testing its effectiveness in everyday life. As NLP 2.0 re-introduced the implications of Bateson’s work, NLP 3.0 goes further in giving Bateson’s work far more preeminence with a focus on framing, meta-levels, epistemology, etc.

NLP did not begin as a fully developed model. In the 1970s it began as gestalt classes— two dozen college students practicing the processes that Fritz Perls used in his Gestalt Therapy work. They copied how he communicated experiential instructions which had the effect of enabling people to become real, to transform in their thinking, feeling, and acting, to take charge of their own lives, to break free of old constraints, etc. Perls, as one of the second-generation of leaders in the Human Potential Movement at Esalen, along with Virginia Satir, sought to empower people to live a self-actualizing life.

It was his emphasis on what was important in gestalt that revolutionized the gestalt classes and turned them into what Frank Pucelik called “the meta people.” “Meta” was the name of the NLP movement (1972–1975) before the phrase NLP was invented in 1976. From the Gestalt book that Richard Bandler edited from Perls, the following comprised much of Perl’s focus: Come into the here-and-now, be present.

Realize that all problems exist in the here-and-now. Get out of your chattering head and see-and-see, hear-and-hear. Learn to come into sensory-awareness; stop hallucinating. Stop the chattering and clutter in your mind. Stop asking why and learn to ask how. Stop introjecting large chunk of generalizations. Break introjects down into pieces. Refuse the Either/Or split and think of the whole field, the gestalt. Embrace response-ability. Be aware that everything you do is your expression; it comes from you. Ask more questions and become aware of the obvious. What you dream, fantasize about, repeat deliberately to own it. Learn meanings by relating foreground to background. Etc.

Now because the Meta People on Kresge campus at the University of California at Santa Cruz were practicing sensory awareness, being direct, practical, experiential, interactional, etc., they were the first NLP group before anyone had thought up the term NLP. And when NLP was given birth in 1975 by the books, The Structure of Magic, NLP was a linguistic model (e.g., the Meta-Model) that governed one’s neurological state. That began the adventure, the excitement, and the revolutionary approach.

“What is NLP?” The answer depends on when you learned it and from whom did you learn it. In the 1970s NLP was mostly a Therapeutic Model for Personal Development. By the 1980s the NLP model expanded beyond ‘practitioner’ and included sub-modalities, meta-programs, time- lines, etc. NLP was then focused on Modeling Expertise. But at the end of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s, NLP was in Self-Destruct Mode. It divided into five ‘camps’ and the lawsuits by the founders led to its collapse in the United States. By the 2000s and 2010s, NLP was thriving around the world (but not in the USA) and renewing itself in terms of Conferences, Research, and a longing for unity (i.e., The NLP Leadership Summit). Then the Pandemic hit (2020) and with the world-wide shut-down, a great majority of NLP also shut-down. What will come next? Will NLP survive? Will it experience a resurgence in the 2020s or 2030s?

Will it go the way of the Human Potential Movement? It’s hard to say from this vantage point. What I can say is that we in Neuro-Semantics have a clean, fresh, and thorough presentation of NLP— Advanced NLP— which will continue to be foundational in Neuro-Semantics.