we all have ways of representing our personal experience of time, and reflect that in language... the passage of time, time stretching ahead, looking ahead, into the future.
I'm interested in our personal experience and representation of mortality. In NLP, we have the concept of a timeline, a metaphor for that personal representation of the experience of time. If you examine that representation of the personal experience of the passage of time, where, or how, does it end? For me, time is a path or stream (quite wide) heading away from me, but fading out some years hence.
It is an interesting experience to mark this out on teh floor, and to indicate various landmarks, milestones, to give a sense of proportion, then to physically take myself into the areas beyond the faded out. It can also be interesting to identify a point and manner of dying in this area, to extend the timeline to meet it, then to take myself in imagination to this point and experience the dying in different forms.
I'm interested in our personal experience and representation of mortality. In NLP, we have the concept of a timeline, a metaphor for that personal representation of the experience of time. If you examine that representation of the personal experience of the passage of time, where, or how, does it end? For me, time is a path or stream (quite wide) heading away from me, but fading out some years hence.
It is an interesting experience to mark this out on teh floor, and to indicate various landmarks, milestones, to give a sense of proportion, then to physically take myself into the areas beyond the faded out. It can also be interesting to identify a point and manner of dying in this area, to extend the timeline to meet it, then to take myself in imagination to this point and experience the dying in different forms.
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Re: Dying
Sat, April 28, 2007 - 4:03 PMMine doesn't.
Two problems. First, I believe that the traditional NLP time line is installed, not elicited. I know many people who don't have the NLP style time lines. At least, not in a single event, linear fashion, and not until I explain to them what we're trying to elicit. I don't. I couldn't do any of the personal exercises during the time line weekend of my training. Me, I have a forest of time lines. I have one for jobs, another for vehicles I've owned. another for lovers. another for places I've lived, etc. They don't overlap or intersect. They're all context dependent and their shape or structure varies depending on usage.
Second, I'm strongly resistant to going very far in either direction in time. I'm certainly not interested in looking at my own death.
All that said, I'm curious to hear what you discover and whether it more closely resembles the "traditional" NLP time line approach or whether it more closely resembles the sorts of time lines I think I've modelled. -
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Re: Dying
Sun, April 29, 2007 - 4:28 AMNeither is a problem to me
I'm not trying to get a debate on the validity of timelines or otherwise... I find them useful as a metaphor... I tend to agree that as described in the NLP literature they are grossly generalised and if worked with as described tend to be installed... I don't have a problem with that (in therapy work I have been known to explicitly install them)
I also agree about the contextual nature, just as I would suggest that all internal representations are context specific. I offer my description as mine only, ... I'm not working on the assumption that your map is in any way similar
I'm more interested in this context in exploring the experience and representation of mortality
Generally my time representation works differently to the one I described in the first post, which supports you point. But in the context of exploring the representations associated with my mortality, the broad road fading is a good working model for me... I'm sure the reps are different for everyone else.
"I'm certainly not interested in looking at my own death. "
Then the intent of my post is not directed to you... I tend to offer my thoughts up freely and people can be taken where they will by them... if it takes you elsewhere entirely, that's cool too. The meaning of the communication and all that :-)
I *do* think your comments on timeline may be worth developing further in NLP & Hypnosis... it is my increasing observation that much that is taught in NLP courses is grossly generalised and simplified,and if it doesn't work is then thrown back as somehow being the students fault, but thats my gripe :( -
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Re: Dying
Sun, April 29, 2007 - 12:08 PMI concur that time lines are useful as metaphor. I think all of the rep systems work that way and we can see evidence of this in the abiguity of language in many of the submodalities. I'm not sure I believe in eye accessing cues either, beyond matching direction, mirroring, and time spent away, or matching distant gazes. But the general idea of attending to what someone is doing with their eyes, calibrating, matching, leading, timing, that's all useful technique, even if the eye direction map is totally bogus.
And I completely concur on primary rep systems being contextual. I noticed that even before I took training. Strangely, people do tend to get stuck in the same rep systems frequently, though. That is, if person A gets stuck in visual this week, there's a fair probability that if they get stuck in a rep system next week it'll be visual too.
Meta programs seem to be contextual as well, which is kind of ironic since the very concept of being "meta" programs seems to claim that they are pan-context. -
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Re: Dying
Mon, April 30, 2007 - 1:09 AMI was never able to see myeslf outside "time" until I was able to identify the absolcute core of my being, the part of me that has been present throughout each phase of life, unchanged, observing, but being unaffected by anything occurring external to myself.
Once that happened, I understood that the passage of time is an illusion.
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