[Neurons] 2016 Neurons #45 Three Dimensions of Reality

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2016 "Neurons" Meta Reflections - #45

August 26, 2016

 

 

THREE DIMENSIONS OF REALITY

Outside - Inside - Upside

 

 

"What is Neuro-Semantics?"  I get that question all of the time.  And over
the years, I've answered the question in many different ways.  Here is
another one.  Neuro-Semantics is a model about the various dimensions of
life- outside, inside, and upside.

 

All things human are inside-out.  Of course, it usually does not seem to be
that way.  Instead life more often than not, seems to be an outside-in
phenomenon.  That's why Behaviorism was the first model of psychology and
dominated the field until 1956.  This explains why the very idea of wealth
and wealth creation as inside-out (Inside-Out Wealth) is radical and
counter-intuitive.  So is the idea of health and fitness being an inside-out
phenomenon (Games Fit and Slim People Play). 




.              Someone criticizes you (outside), you feel upset (inside).

.              There's a traffic jam and you are late for an important
meeting (outside) and you are feeling stressed and even angry at the traffic
(inside).

.              You want a raise at work because of some recent unexpected
financial costs (outside), so you are studying to prepare yourself to make
the best request possible (inside), if your boss to raise your chances of
success (outside). 

 

It seems outside-in, but it is not.  The truth is that life is an inside-out
affair.

.              What someone says to you (outside) is only "criticism"
(inside) because you define it as such. Your definition and understanding
creates your emotional state of being upset (inside).

.              The meaning that you give (inside) to the fact that there is
a lot of traffic (outside) depends on your thoughts and beliefs and to your
thinking about "time" (inside) and your preparation prior to leaving your
house (outside).

.              That you want(inside) a raise due to your finances (outside)
motivates you (inside) to do what you can (outside) to become more
influential in your communications (outside).

 

The inside phenomena is the key.   The inside controls how you experience
the outside.  The outside is easier to see- it is more obvious and easily
seems more "real."  No wonder your attention goes to the outside!  You
attend to it, you notice it, you focus on it, and if it is not to your
liking, you attempt to change it.  Doing this takes you fully into the
outside dimension.  That's where you live your life.  Because of this, you
live your life in an outside-in way.  That's one way to live.  It is one way
to perceive (e.g., have certain meta-programs).  It is the way most people
live.  But it is not the only way, nor the best way.

 

Outside-In

As a way to live, the living outside-in style creates all sorts of problems.
Among the key symptoms of this dimension are the following:

.              You are highly likely to feel controlled by the outside
world.  You believe and behave as if it causes your experiences.  You may
even feel like you are a victim of the outside world.

.              You feel little power -sometimes no power- to effect the
outside world. You live in a deterministic world rather than a world where
there is free will.

.              You focus on getting the outside world of things and others
to change- you play various games to deal with the outside world: victim,
persecutor, rescuer. 

.              When it does not work, you blame those things and people on
the outside for your state and your state of mind and emotion.

 

A further consequence of living outside-in includes living a shallow life.
When your focus is on the outside, you tend to live on the surface of
things.  What counts for you are the external things-money, status,
influence, beauty, certificates, etc.  Obviously, this feeds living a
materialistic life and missing out on a deeper and more spiritual life.

 

Inside-Out Life

Another way to live life is in the dimension of being orienting from the
inside-out.  This is our focus in Neuro-Semantics, a focus that came from
NLP and before that the Self-Actualization (Humanistic) Psychology of Maslow
and Rogers and the Human Potential Movement.  Inside-out puts the emphasis
on the character of the person rather than the condition of the material
world.  It reclaims Socrates' theme, "Know thyself" as a key to being able
to manage things.  It starts with self-management.  If you can't lead or
manage yourself, you won't be able to manage things out there in the outside
world.  When you enter into this dimension, you enter into a new and
different world.

 

The inside-out life also taps into what is now called "emotional
intelligence."  Prior to that popularization, in NLP we called it state
management.  Today we think about emotional intelligence as involving five
facets:

.              Self-awareness: aware of what you are thinking, feeling,
saying to yourself, kinesthetics, body movements and gestures, etc.

.              Self-monitoring: able to monitor the ups and downs of
thoughts and emotions, to monitor what triggers various responds, when and
where and with whom one's insides oscillates.

.              Self-regulation: able to manage or regulate the
micro-behaviors of thinking, feeling, emoting, languaging, etc. 

.              Self-responsibility: willingness to accept ownership of the
inside dimension, and to choose one's thoughts, feelings, words, etc.

.              Self-relating: using one's insides to connect with others,
bond, understand, listen, care, set boundaries, empathize, etc.

 

The consequences of living in the dimension of inside-out and using this
approach is that you take control of your own self and tap into the
cognitive psychology principle.  "As you think- so you are." You are as you
mentally map the worlds that you live in, and yet "the map is not the
territory," it is just a map-a process that you use to navigate the outside
world.  If it is not working, you change or update the map and test again.
Does it now work?  If not, you continue to experimenting and testing until
you develop a mental model in your mind (inside) that allows you to succeed
outside.

 

Upside- Inside-Out Dimension

"But wait, there's more!"  There is yet another dimension that many people
who do use the inside-out approach do not use.  When you enter into the
upside dimension you enter into yet another entirely new world.   Here you
use your self-reflexive consciousness- that uniquely human kind of
consciousness by which you can transcend yourself.  You can step back as it
were from what you are thinking, feeling, speaking, responding, etc. and
reflect on your experience which thereby gives you the ability to change
your experience.

 

This is a meta-awareness of your self-awareness.  That is, it goes beyond
(far beyond) mere self-awareness.  The higher intelligent animals experience
self-awareness.  Beyond that is the awareness of your awareness- a
meta-awareness.  This meta-awareness of your self-awareness itself leads to
a tremendous mystery of consciousness, your sense of transcendence.  We
humans universally experience the ability to transcend ourselves and our
experiences.  At the further reaches of this is our sense of spirituality.

 

More practically, you can become aware of your thinking patterns-your
cognitive distortions, your cognitive biases, the patterns of how you reason
and when you move to this area, you are able to do critical thinking and
creative thinking- which is the source of our sciences and civilizations.
Here you discover your frames- the internal contexts that you use to make
sense of things.  Here you discover your inside source of things (your
frames within yours) and here you can step back to quality control these
inside structures.  Here you can create change that will be transformative
of your entire mind-body system. 

 

You live simultaneously in three dimensions of reality.  What is most
compelling and seemingly "real" is the outside dimension.  Yet the outside
is a product of the inside dimensions.  Your real life occurs in the inside
dimensions.  The first inside dimension are your thoughts and emotions, your
states.  Here, "as you think, so you are."   The highest and deepest inside
dimension is the upside dimension because it is there that you set the
frames that govern your overall life.  And that's why we do Neuro-Semantics.


Want more information?  

           See the book, Neuro-Semantics: Actualizing Meaning and
Performance (2011).

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

               Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

               Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net


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