Message-Id: <v03102802b212f53de18d@[194.109.13.153]>
In-Reply-To: <001b01bdd609$8a4e9f20$bf2a3fce@uymfdlvk>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 15:32:37 +0200
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Ton Maas <tonmaas@xs4all.nl>
Subject: RE: To Stephen Springette from Edryce
>Bob Grimes wrote cordially:
>
><<P.S. I fully agree with your appraisal of NLP... Add it to TT, TFT,
>EMDRT, et
>al>>
>
>I'm puzzled how anyone can claim that hypnosis works but not NLP. Perhaps
>you are misinformed about the nature of one or the other. Hurry and check it
>out! We already have two academics agreeing that NLP is worthless: one more
>and it will become the Truth!
Again, the real issue might be a rather different one; more of pragmatics
than of UT (Ultimate Truth). The problems with shortcuts like hypnosis and
NLP (especially its more pragmatist branches) is that they tend to wane and
"flatten" complexity. Furthermore, tactical use can easily lead to an arms
race of sorts, where "opponents" are outsmarting each other with new
communicational tricks.
The story Bob related from his lecturing days, provides a good example. Had
he been a little bit older and wiser back then, he would certainly have
added a word of warning to those eager beavers in his classroom. Shortcuts
may look very promising, but they were eloquently exposed by philosopher
R.G. Collingwoods in his rule of art & entertainment: the one thing
requires an initial effort, yet returns the investment in joy and richness,
whereas the other requires no effort at all, although it leaves you kind of
dead in the end. Boredom is the price we have to pay for taking that
shortcut.
In my own book on natural learning, I have paraphrased the old roman
catholic catechism: "Why are we on earth? We are on earth to achieve
mastery. Mastery at what? Doesn't really matter." (rough translation from
Dutch, where it alliterates much nicer :-)
Ton
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