[Neurons] 2010 Meta Reflections #17

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections – 2010 – #17

April 18, 2010

MORE ABOUT 

THE NEURO-SEMANTIC REVOLUTION

TO CHANGE THE WORLD

 

 

“Why all the focus on self-actualization?”  That was the question that a
caller asked me last week.

“I see that the focus of Neuro-Semantics is now almost entirely about
self-actualization.  And yes, I have read the articles on the ‘Secret
History of NLP’ going back to Maslow and the Human Potential movement, but I
still don’t understand why you are making it all about self-actualization.
Can you tell me why?”

 

I loved that question and yes, I was pleased to provide an answer.  The
reason is two-fold, first our aim is to enable and facilitate people
becoming the best people they can become.  It’s not only about empowering
people so that they can “run their own brains” and manage their own states
(the stated values and outcomes of basic NLP), it is more.  Much more.  It
is about people learning to how get the very best from themselves in this
adventure called life.  It is about people learning how to be true to
themselves— by becoming the best version of them.  And when that happens—
people become truly and joyfully happy, congruent, and authentic and that
makes them healthier and wealthier.  What a vision!

 

But there’s more.  As people become better, as we facilitate people
developing so they become better people, we make the world itself better.
This was the very heart of Abraham Maslow’s original passion that explains
why he devoted his entire life developing the foundations for
Self-Actualization Psychology.  About the cold war of the 1960s, 1970s,
etc., he wrote:

“That system will prevail which will ... turn out a better kind of person,
more brotherly, more peaceable, less greedy, more lovable, more
respect-worthy.” (1971: 92)

 

And writing about the frustration and anger that arises when people don’t
have their basic survival and safety needs met, the frustration and anger
that often turns into destructive aggression and violence, Maslow argued
that what we need for our world to change is the ability to create better
people from our families, schools, churches, and cultures.

“Destructiveness may occur as one of the concomitant reactions to basic
threat.  Any threat of thwarting of the basic needs, any threat to the
defensive or coping system, any threat to the general way of life is likely
to be reacted to by anxiety-hostility...” (1954: 126)

 

To put it as succinctly as I can: To have a better world, we have to have
better people.  And how do we get better people?  How can we cultivate,
world-wide, more mature, peaceful, democratic, respectful, loving, and
self-actualizing people?  What can we do to eliminate people from growing up
to be greedy, hateful, ruthlessly competitive, prejudiced, narrow-minded,
unreasoning, rigid, etc.?

 

The answer goes to all of the industries that are devoted to developing
individual persons to be the best they can be—to parents, schools,
therapists, trainers, consultants, coaches, etc.  Yet that is not enough.
The answer also goes to everybody who contributes and plays a role in
developing and managing our systems—political systems, educational systems,
religious and spiritual systems, economic systems, etc.  In fact, all of the
work done at the individual level can come to naught and negated by the
systems that we create, endure, tolerate, and fail to transform.

 

Sometimes the problem is the system.  In fact, the most persistent and
complex problems we fact as a race is more often than not at the system
level.  And the problem with the systems are the frames that the system
presents directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly.  And today some
of the sickest systems that subtly, implicitly, and covertly are “setting
the frames” for people.  These include the media of television, radio, and
newspapers that focus so dominantly on the sensational pathological (what’s
going wrong, what’s destructive, threatening, etc.), the Hollywood culture
of sex and violence, betrayal, disloyalty, the sensational, the economic
culture of greed, the corporate culture of short-term bottom lines,
materialist goals, secrecy, the political systems of corruption, power over
people, bureaucracy, etc.

 

In a word we can distinguish the systems that are conducive of
self-actualization and those that are antagonistic and contrary to people
becoming their highest and best.  Merely having a psychology of
self-actualization for the individual (which we have) is not enough.  We
have to develop self-actualizing psychology (sociology) for systems—
self-actualizing families, leaders and managers, companies, communities,
countries, politicians, media, movie writers and directors, etc.

 

To change the world we need to develop new ways of relating with each other
at both the personal level and at the community, group, corporate, and
national levels.  Just as we need synergy at the individual and personal
level to actualize our highest meanings with our best performances (The
Self-Actualizing Quadrants model), we also need to create synergistic
systems for our families, schools, communities, companies, and nations.

 

And to do that, we need trainers, consultants, and coaches who share this
vision so that we —as a community—do that with ourselves (as an examplar
model) and who can translate this in facilitating leaders at all of these
systemic levels.  

“Human society as a whole can improve. It can be improved, and it does
improve. ... Human society is improvable ... and the task is up to us, and
we can learn how to accomplish this effectively.” (1996: 97)

 

And that’s one of the key reasons for NSTT— to develop a community of
world-class trainers and consultants who will join hands with us to change
the world.  Are you up to be a world-changer with us? 

 

 

 

Only 8 ½ weeks to  NSTT --- Trainers’ Training in Colorado

            June 19—July 3, 2010  Grand Junction Colorado

            Write for Brochure and Application forms




 

 

 

L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

(ISNS) International Society of Neuro-Semantics

The International Meta-Coach System

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA

1 970-523-7877

      <http://www.neurosemantics.com/> www.neurosemantics.com 

       <http://www.neuro-semantics-trainings.com/>
www.neuro-semantics-trainings.com 

       <http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org

       <http://www.meta-coaching.org/> www.meta-coaching.org

       www.meta-coachfoundation.org 

       <http://www.ns-video.com/> www.ns-video.com 

 

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(Neurons) go to  <http://www.neurosemantics.com/> www.neurosemantics.com ---
you can  subscribe and unsubscribe there.   Meta Reflection articles by Dr.
Hall are sent out every Monday and meta-Coach Reflections sent out every
Wednesdday to the Meta-Coaches egroup.  Contact Dr. Hall at  meta@ acsol.net


 

 

 

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