[Neurons] 2010 Meta Reflections #62

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections 2010 - #62

December 20, 2010

History of NLP Series #15

 

 

                                                                        

 

WHAT ABOUT ROBERT SPITZER?

 

                                                

Another long lost person who was highly instrumental in the origins of NLP
was Robert Spitzer, M.D., Ph.D.   Without Robert Spitzer, there might not
have been any NLP at all.  He was the person who entrusted the audio-tapes
of Fritz Perls to young Richard Bandler and who later was the publisher of
the first books, The Structure of Magic I and II.  It was Spitzer who also
provided the opportunity for Richard, John, and Bateson to live at the same
place on his property as neighbors.  And that's just the beginning; there's
more, much more.

 

It was 1967 when Robert S. Spitzer met Richard.   Dr. Spitzer wrote about
that in his article "Virginia Satir and the Origins of NLP (Anchor Point,
Volume 6, No. 7).  What he didn't write about was how he met Richard, why,
what that was all about, and what came out of it.  I found that out from Dr.
Martin Roberts (Pilot, Business Consultant, NLP Trainer, founder of Crown
House Publications) in an interview.  Robert told Martin that he met Richard
as a patient when Richard was brought to him for a "speech impediment."
Robert never told Martin the specifics of that impediment, but Martin's
impression and sense was that it was for stuttering. 

 

Dr. Spitzer worked with Richard on the speech impediment by asking him, "Who
would you want to be if you could be someone else?"  That could have been
his opening question for accessing where his client would find resources for
his problem, or it could have been a question from a comment like, "I don't
like who I am; I wish I could be someone else."  Anyway, Richard said, "John
Wayne."

 

The assignment that Robert then gave young Bandler was to go away, watch
John Wayne movies and return in one month and "convince me that you are John
Wayne."  So that's exactly what Bandler did.  And in one month, having
watched the old western movies of John Wayne, Richard Wayne Bandler had
overcome his speech impediment.  Martin's comment to me was that he recalled
that Richard had more of a western American accent rather than an eastern
New Jersey (his place of birth and young childhood) or Californian (San
Francisco), and that there was a certain stagger to the way he walked and
conducted himself.  My own first recollections of Richard was that of him
carrying his knife and keys on his belt and staggering around in a very
macho way.

 

Next, Robert asked Richard what he liked to do and the answer was play
drums.  So again he asked a resource-searching question.  Who is the best
drummer that you know?  And while Martin couldn't remember the answer, the
next assignment was to watch that person on the drums, watch the movements,
the gestures, the pace, the rhythm, etc. and copy it.  Watch and copy the
fine minute movements within the drumming.  So Richard did precisely that
and he became so good that a few years later, when Robert Spitzer's son
wanted to learn to play the drums- guess who he hired to teach his son?
Richard Bandler.

 

So where did Bandler get his modeling skills- his skills to see and copy
another person's excellence?  Could it have been that it arose from his work
with Robert Spitzer as his therapist who later became his boss (when he
worked in the warehouse of Science and Behavior Books, and when he worked to
transcribe the Perls' tapes and then record the Satir seminar in Canada),
who later became his landlord (when he lived in the small house on his
property), and who later became his publisher?

 

Robert Spitzer later wrote that when Richard was listening to the Perls'
tapes and transcribing, that sometimes when he would walk in the room,
Richard would say hi using Perls' tone of voice and Robert would say hi
back, "Hi Fritz, I mean Richard."  So my impression as well as that of
Martin Roberts is that Dr. Spitzer was incredibly influential in what
eventually evolved -in Richard's copying / modeling skills, in putting
Richard into contact with three highly influence people (Perls, Satir,
Bateson and Bateson put him and John in touch with Milton Erickson), and in
creating the opportunity for creating and publishing the original works.

 

This also accords with what Malcolm Gladwell has written in his recent book,
Outliers.  There he described the importance of the right social conditions
for success- that success is not merely a personal and individual thing, but
that every highly successful person is such because of the
social-economic-political conditions that have contributed to that success.
That it takes a community to create a successful person or movement, that we
are the people we are due to the influence of those who came before us and
those around us who have created the conditions within which we have
actualized some potential.

 

 

 

 

 

CAN YOU HELP??   ---- THE HISTORY OF NLP AROUND THE WORLD

 

One of the missing parts of the History of NLP is when and who brought NLP
to various countries.  I have heard of some of that --- who took NLP to Hong
Kong and when; to England, to France, etc.  So if you know some of this, I'd
like to hear what you know and then put together what I hear.  By putting it
into writing, then those who know some more can contribute to that thereby
expanding what all of us know.

 

So --- if you are outside the USA and know at least some about your country,
when, where, and who brought NLP to your country . please write to me
privately (see below).  As I receive this, I'll make this some of the future
Meta Reflections on the History of NLP.

 

I have received information on France --- awaiting to hear from people about
other Countries.  Send to me private at  meta  @   acsol.net 

 




 

 

L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Neuro-Semantics Executive Director  ----   <http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
www.neurosemantics.com

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA                             ----
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org

1 970-523-7877                                               ----
<http://www.meta-coaching.org/> www.meta-coaching.org

 

     

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Reflection articles by Dr. Hall are sent out every Monday (Colorado time).
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Wednesdays.   Contact Dr. Hall at  meta at acsol.net  

 

 

 

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