[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #31 HOW RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE VIEW BIG GOVERNMENT

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #31

June 7, 2021

 

HOW RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE VIEW

BIG GOVERNMENT

 


In NLP we focus on the psychology of personal responsibility when we work
with individuals and groups.  What personal responsibility means is, first
and foremost, that you are response-able for yourself.  You and only you
have the ability to respond to what happens mentally as you think,
emotionally as you feel and value, linguistically as you put your thoughts
and feelings into words, and behaviorally as you take actions to manifest
your thinking-and-feeling.  This is fundamental.  It's fundamental because
the ability to respond is the essence of "responsibility."

 

Consequently, by learning, accepting, and developing your fundamental powers
of thinking, feeling, speaking, and acting, you become increasingly a more
responsible person.  And as you do, these powers enable you to take the
initiative, be proactive, and define yourself as a person who can forge his
own destiny.  If this seems simple and obvious, then what about all of the
millions of people do not do this.  They could, but they don't.

 

They don't take initiative, they are not proactive, they don't think like a
person in charge of their own lives.  They think, feel, talk, and act as if
they were victims.  Instead of owning their own powers, they attribute power
to other people, to circumstances, to the environment, to government, to
parents, to school, to ethnic origin, to a whole range of things outside of
themselves.  That's how they infantilize themselves, disempower themselves,
and make themselves victims. And to seal this, they don't even know that at
some level, they are choosing to play the victim using their powers to give
away their power.

 

Now in describing personal responsibility, this does not eliminate or
disqualify other forms of responsibility, namely, the social
responsibilities.  We are also responsible to our families, friends, peers,
colleagues, etc.  Yet there's a big difference.  The first is responsibility
for.  Each of us is responsible for ourselves.  No one can do your thinking,
feeling, speaking, or acting.  Those are your powers.  They give you the
ability to respond from out of yourself- your understandings, beliefs,
values, etc.  You can give this power away; you can play the victim.  Yet
even when you do, you are the one with the ability to grant someone else the
right to tell you what to think, feel, say, and do.

 

The other kind of responsibility is responsibility to.  This is a very
different kind of response-ability, it establishes relationship.  The
persons to whom you are responsible to are the people you are in
relationship with.  You have the ability to respond to them in terms of what
you say to them, how you talk to them, what you do in regard to them, etc. 

 

Responsibility for establishes accountability.  In this you give account for
yourself.  You are responsible for what you think, feel, say, and do.
Responsibility to establishes relationship with those with whom you give and
receive.  There's an exchange. 

 

Together both forms of responsibility enable a person to become a highly
effective and productive person in society.  This proactive person has a
can-do attitude and takes pleasure in learning, developing, and becoming
increasingly competent.  This is an empowered person who wants to make her
own way in the world and not be the child or puppet of someone else.

 

So when we ask about a highly responsible person about government, that
person will not look to government as a Nanny state, or as a new substitute
Mother and Father.  That person will not view government as the solution to
one's personal problems.  The proactive person does not look to Government
for a job, a family, a career, etc.   These are things that are up to each
person. 

 

The political philosophy of keeping government as small as possible rather
than wanting big government starts from the foundation that we are
intelligent enough, competent enough, and responsible enough to look after
our own affairs.  We do not need to "be taken care of."  We do not need
Pappa Government to make sure we feel comfortable.

 

Because NLP encourages self-determination, self-governance, self-monitoring,
and self-development, we not only assume that we can take charge of our own
lives- we want to!  We want to take ownership of our powers and we want to
develop them so we can be the best version of ourselves.  We delight in
experiencing the self-actualizing process of growing up and becoming more
mature.  So we do not want big government intruding into our lives and
taking away choice.  That would only serve to keep us in a dependent
position.

 

Here the psychology of NLP leads to a particular political philosophy that
fits for the NLP premises.  To think otherwise is to either not understand
the foundations of the cognitive psychology of NLP or to ignore them.  From
this perspective, government should be a servant of the people and never the
master.  Responsible people, wanting government to be as small as possible,
will then feel free to be as responsible as possible.

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

 

Books can be purchased at www.neurosemantics.com 

Many other PDF books can be purchased at "The Shop" on
www.neurosemantics.com

 

131688 NeuroSemantics ThinkingMetaphoricalyCover FRONT

 

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