Whispering in the Wind
The New Code NLP
Book
by Carmen St. Clair Bostic and John Grinder
Reviewed by: Stephen J.M. Bray
Whispering in the Wind starts by
outlining the epistemology of NLP. The familiar universal modeling processes,
(generalization, distortion and deletion), are shown to all be deletions brought
about either through neurology, or as a result of the effects of conditioning
upon linguistic filters.
Mind and body are
revealed as one and the same as the authors propose scientific activity to be:
“an acceptance of the responsibility of public presentation; the reporting of
conclusions and experimental procedures, allowing other researchers the ability
to test these, through systematic observation, and reporting in ‘publicly
available standard formats”. All this is set in juxtaposition to religion
and the ‘final internment of the nominalization – truth’.
NLP ‘Modeling and
Application or Design’ are discussed. The difference may be understood as
similar to that of medical research and clinical practice, or physics and
engineering design.
Three
categorisations of NLP are proposed ‘NLP modelling’; ‘NLP
application’; and ‘NLP training ’. NLP modeling
is defined as the study of excellence.
The authors
propose a way of conducting NLP modeling research, which rejects the
probablistic categories and quantitative statistics beloved by psychological
researchers. Whilst statisticians will hate these ideas, they make perfect sense
as a means of ‘bootstrapping’ knowledge to greater levels of usefulness. The key
is in finding counterexamples and examining how each differs specifically at a
process level from the general findings. For example in the case of those taught
the NLP spelling strategy, the application of the strategy of those who remain
poor spellers needs review; whilst those in a control group who spell well, must
be examined to determine if they are natural spellers using the NLP strategy,
even without being taught.
Grinder also gives
his account of the beginnings of NLP. This starts by describing the
characteristics of Bandler and Grinder as: “arrogant, curious, unimpressed by
authority or tradition, a well-defined sense of personal responsibility, an
aversion to boredom, self-confident, playful, able to act ‘As If’, and
appreciative of the difference between content and form.”
A humorous account
of how Grinder was elected to telephone the hypnotist/psychiatrist Milton
Erickson and hypnotically induce Erickson to see him and Bandler ahead of
Erickson’s schedule is revealing. Bandler was apparently confined to the
bathroom during Grinder’s phone call, and had to chew on the bathroom towel in
order to avoid ‘cracking up’ and spoiling Grinder’s performance.
The authors
differentiate NLP to other types of change work in four ways. Firstly, NLP
explicitly operates on the individual’s mental maps, rather than any ‘real’
experiences. Secondly, and following from this, memory is seen as
‘reconstruction’, and so ‘archaeology of the individual’s mind’ is not taken to
be part of NLP. Thirdly, consciousness is accorded a limited role in any change
process. It can only be justified if one of the goals of change is to enable a
client to be able to talk about their problems and challenges. In other words if
the goal of the intervention is change other than the ability to articulate
problems then the work may best be left to the wisdom of the unconscious.
Fourthly, neither the agent of change nor the client is required to believe any
set of assumptions to utilize NLP patterning.
Having laid out
these differentiators the authors then proceed to argue that the familiar
‘Presumptions of NLP’ are either unnecessary, or in need of revision.
Grinder describes
how in order to make a presentation during which he was suffering from walking
pneumonia he made a ‘deal’ with his unconscious that was to become the basis of
Six-step Reframing. The authors call this the breakthrough pattern since it is
the unconscious that is called upon to decide what, (if any), patterns need will
be changed and also in what ways. The client is not required to be aware of
these.
As Grinder writes:
“the unconscious is capable of enormously complex and creative acts when the
proper framing and context have been established and the lead is released to the
unconscious.”
The authors
contrast the responsibilities apportioned to the client’s unconscious in the
Classic Code NLP, by reference to anchoring; and New Code NLP by reference to
Six Step Reframing. This analysis is detailed and once assimilated enables
readers to achieve greater personal rapport with unconscious processes, and thus
be better placed to enjoy life and operate creatively.
The New Code is a
simplified pattern, which helps those with little or no training in NLP to
generate change. Central to the New Code is the assumption that performance in
the world is a function of physiological state. Changing one’s breathing pattern
constitutes simplest means of altering state. Since mind and body are
conceptualized, as one phenomenon changing ones physiology is the equivalent of
changing ones mind.
The New Code
differs from the Classic Code because the unconscious is explicitly assigned the
responsibility for the selection of the desired state, the resource, or new
behaviors. It is explicitly involved in all critical steps. The new behavior(s)
must satisfy the original positive intention(s) of the behavior(s) to be
changed. The manipulation (of the client’s mental map) occurs at the level of
state as opposed at the level of behavior.
Central to the New
Code is an open mindedness aptly termed the ‘Know Nothing State’. In this state
conscious filters are suspended either whilst assimilating a new pattern as in
NLP modeling or when engaged in a high performance state as in NLP
application.
In order to create
new high performance states the subject is invited to play various ‘New Code
Games’, which have no apparent connection to the behavior or pattern to be
changed. Ways in which such procedures may be used with children are
explained.
Multiple
Perceptual Positions play a major part of The New Code. The most privileged of
these is the so-called Triple Description. The equivalents of first, second and
third person in English grammar are called ‘positions’. Once again the
application of how these positions are useful is illustrated.
The final part of
the book concerns the future of NLP. It is composed of three chapters. The first
of these concerns itself with the tension between the economies of NLP
modeling and requirements of NLP training. It elucidates
the differences between linear and hierarchical ordering and critiques Robert
Dilts’ Neuro-Logical Levels before explaining the differences between Logical
Levels and Logical Types within New Code NLP. This usage differs from that
originally postulated by Whitehead and Russell in Principia Mathematica
(1913).
Within the New
Code the term Logical Level may be understood as: Where two or more elements in
a hierarchy, (such as an organization) the element which includes the others
will be considered as a higher logical level. For example an employer is at a
higher logical level than those employed. Logical Type is now redefined as
nominalizations whose characteristics are essential from the viewpoint of a
classifying agent. For example apples and pears may be considered the same
logical type from the perspective of a government bureaucrat, but of different
logical types from the viewpoint of a chef. A logical type then cannot be
differentiated from the context in which it has been classified.
This leads to the
criticism of Robert Dilts’ concept of Neuro-logical Levels, since this
hierarchical arrangement falls neither into the category of logical inclusion,
as in the example of a business organization above; nor does it accord with that
of part/whole relationships. For example can the environment be considered a
part of behavior? Bostic and Grinder argue that it is absurd to think so, yet in
its widest sense, and in the light of the increasing effects of pollution, I
wonder if their argument is sensible?
A chapter is
devoted to three key issues in NLP: Sorting functions; chunking and logical
levels, form and substance – process and content. Sorting functions returns to
the theme of 1st and 2nd Order Change, as defined within
NLP application. 1st Order Changes are said to be
unbounded whilst 2nd Order Changes are bounded. These are determined
in the following way. 2nd Order changes consist of: addictions,
(drugs, alcohol, tobacco, co-dependencies); physical symptoms; and behaviors
that have associated secondary gains or payoffs. Anything remaining is
considered as 1st Order Change. The authors acknowledge these
descriptors to be unfortunate as they are not in accord with the common usage of
1st and 2nd Order Change in other disciplines such as
mathematics, (or indeed family therapy).
But why, do the
authors persist in using the terms 1st and 2nd order
change in ways so different from how they are commonly understood in the fields
of mathematics, philosophy and family therapy? Surely with a ‘New Code’ this was
the opportunity to differentiate the phenomena that they refer to with new NLP
terms that will not add more confusion to the world through
duplication?
Bostic and Grinder
hold firmly the ideal: “Interventions in change work will be selected to
effect change at precisely the level of representation at which the
representation of the experience to be changed is coded: the most fundamental
distinctions being primary experience or secondary experience”, (the mental
maps resulting from cultural/linguistic coding).
So, in order for
someone to change it is only necessary that they understand how they have been
assisted if the original coding of their problem exists at the
cultural/linguistic level.
Their argument is compelling, however NLP practitioners must also be cautioned that such a model comes close, if not within, the accepted definition of ‘Strategic Therapy’. Such ‘Therapy’ is not currently ‘fashionable’ and many outside of NLP consider it to be questionable.
There is a useful
section on "Form and Substance: Process and Content". Substance is the
stuff out of which physical objects are composed. It informs what may be
possible. Form refers to the shape or organization that informs or makes
the substance involved what it is. In linguistics this distinction reduces
to nouns and verbs.
So nouns are the
substance of language, and verbs its processes. In the Meta Model when
encountering unspecified nouns we ask: “Which --- specifically”; and when
encountering unspecified verbs we ask: “How --- specifically”.
Recognizing and
applying this distinction constitutes the essential difference between NLP and
most other change technologies. NLP’s power rests on the practitioner’s ability
to make the process/content distinction and leave the content entirely to the
client whilst manipulating the process.
The final chapter
of the book contains the authors’ recommendations to the NLP community. The
intention, they claim, “is to provoke a professional high quality public
dialogue among the practitioners of NLP”. The aim is to improve the practice
in NLP. In order to achieve this ~ the authors propose a reorientation
toward the core activity of NLP – the modeling of excellence. Central to this
focus is the definition of NLP as the study of the differences that make a
difference between consistent high performance of genius in a field of human
endeavor and the average performer in the same field.
Having attended workshops conducted by John Grinder I hold his training in the highest regard. I probably spent more time with ‘Whispering in the Wind’ than any other book during 2003, and regularly continue to refer to it. There is a lot of wisdom and knowledge within its covers, and for any seriously committed NLP Practitioner it is essential reading.
Whispering in the Wind by Carmen Bostic St. Clare and John Grinder, Published by Bostic/Grinder, 2001, 381 pages, ISBN 0-9717223-0-7
