| Language Determines the World We Experience | | | | those phased as questions. When we hear a question, |
| Heidegger said "Language is the House of Being". | | | | we can't not try to answer it internally. |
| Certainly, language is a HUGE part of what it means to | | | | Why Language in NLP? |
| be human. It is what allows us to encode experience in | | | | Because language is a shared phenomenon, we use |
| a way that it can be played back to ourselves as | | | | language to "commun-icate" between people. |
| internal dialog, and also shared with others, in both | | | | Language helps us convey the rich but invisible and |
| speaking and writing. | | | | inaudible world of our subjective experiences to others, |
| Robert Kiyosaki says the way to attract wealth is to | | | | at risk that they may either understand our subjective |
| start by increasing one's vocabulary for wealth. | | | | world... or not... and so language is a risky proposition. |
| Without the words to describe wealth, it is impossible | | | | When we communicate, we commune with others. |
| to experience it. The same phenomenon can be | | | | When we miscommunicate or fail to communicate, we |
| observed in such cultures as Eskimo, where there are | | | | risk some degree of ostracism. |
| 14 nouns for snow... the Eskimos experience snow and | | | | NLP practitioners use language to explore subjective |
| apply meaning to those words that can be the | | | | experience, such as when using meta-model language |
| difference between life and death. In Sanskrit, there | | | | patterns, whose focus is on precision of understanding. |
| are more than 10 words for love. In English we use the | | | | NLP also uses language to change subjective |
| word love very loosely, applying it to people, | | | | experience, such as when using persuasive, hypnotic |
| possessions and experiences alike. In Spanish, the | | | | or milton-model language patterns. Note that whether |
| word for love is reserved for the most intimate | | | | chunking down, up or sideways in NLP work, it is the |
| relationships. | | | | subjective experience of the person that we are |
| Language As a Representational System | | | | communicating with. We cannot communicate with |
| In NLP, language is a representational system, and like | | | | empical facts, but we can communicate with people |
| the other representational systems in our internal maps, | | | | about emperical facts, and thereby not change the |
| it is not the territory. Language can describe a person, | | | | facts themselves, but the aboutness of those facts. |
| place, thing, event, process, feeling, sight or sound, but it | | | | NLP practitioners use language to change people by |
| is none of those things. Language is like the finger | | | | intentionally changing their subjective experiences in |
| pointing at the moon, but it is not the moon. | | | | ways that establish and support positive outcomes. |
| Language exists because we are equipped both to | | | | Language is the key toolset for the NLP practitioner to |
| encode our experiences in language (a sequence of | | | | do this. With language, skilled NLP the practitioner can |
| sounds), and decode those sounds as a new | | | | lead a journey into the past, change the qualities of |
| experience. The encoding of speech is controlled by a | | | | that subjective past, install resourceful thinking into that |
| small area in the left frontal lobe (for most right-handed | | | | past in a way that it ie re-experienced in a new way, |
| people) called Broca's Area, and the decoding of | | | | resulting in a re-imprinted or changed subjective person. |
| speech is controlled by a small area in the left | | | | With language, the skilled NLP practitioner can create a |
| temporal lobe (again, for most right-handed people) | | | | more focused or diffused outlook on present |
| called Wernicke's Area. We know this due to | | | | circumstances in order to help the subjective |
| observations of brain activity, and the loss of these | | | | experience sort for opportunities, forgiveness, |
| abilities when damage to these areas occurs. | | | | elimination of pain, beauty or any other quality of |
| So wired are we to learn language, that we pick it up | | | | present moment experience that would normally |
| effortlessly as young children. So sensitive are we to | | | | escape the notice of someone. With language, a skilled |
| language that we can separate out sounds from a | | | | NLP practitioner can lead a journey into the future, |
| vast variety of other sounds in our environment. So | | | | where clear and ecological outcomes are established |
| integrated are the speech centers in our neurology, | | | | and fixed to a certain future date and circumstance, |
| that that every word we hear sets in motion a chain | | | | such that the steps towards that outcome are inspired |
| reaction in other areas of our brain involving emotions, | | | | by its inevitable attainment. |
| pictures, memories, etc. Especially powerful words are | | | | |