by
Ian Berry, NLP Trainer
Introduction
It is all too easy for some of us to find that we accept the ideas and techniques of NLP without realising that we are falling into the trap of nominalsing, making ‘concrete’, what is sometimes better thought of as a dynamic process.
So, please consider what is written below as a reminding of something I think is an essential part of the fullest understanding of one of NLP’s most basic processes
First, a little verse:
I know no better model
Than the Grind-ler Meta Model
And, if you pressed, I’d say I never will.
I’ve sometimes meta-meddled,
Yes, sometimes, meta-muddled,
And yet, somehow, I love the process still.
De-nominalising the Meta-Model
It’s not the Meta-Model, it’s meta- modelling.
We don’t make Deletions, we delete
We don’t make Generalisations, we generalise.
We don’t make Distortions, we distort
We don’t use Simple Deletions, we simply delete.
We don’t use Comparative Deletions, we delete elements of what and how we compare (it’s better, not worse, that way).
We don’t use Unspecified Verbs, we ‘verb’ unspecifically with any verb we use.
We don’t use Unspecified Referential Indices, we do not specify what exactly we refer to.
We don’t use Nominalisations, we nominalise/’nounify’ /’thingify’ our ‘verbing’.
We don’t use Modal Operators, we modify how we act or operate, necessarily and/or (im)possibly.
We don’t use Universal Quantifiers, we universalise what we quantify.
We don’t use Cause Effects, we cause… then arbitrarily effect.
We don’t use Complex Equivalences, we complicate events that we equalise.
We don’t use Lost Performatives, we ’lose whoever it is performs ‘it’ in the first place.
We don’t use Mind Reads, we ‘read/misread’ what another is or has been ‘minding’.
We don’t use Presuppositions, we pre-suppose something(s) to be that isn’t/aren’t necessarily so.
