Unlearning LO24247

From: Morty Lefkoe (morty@decisionmaker.com)
Date: 03/24/00


Replying to LO24234 --

Dear Winfried:

Thanks again for your comments and questions.

Without being an expert in NLP, I think that the DM Process is very
different from it in a number of respects. Clients who have done NLP and
our work find it very different. Most of our clients work with us on the
telephone and we have had several European clients. So if you'd like to
experience the DM Process, I'd be happy to facilitate a session with you.

Re: your question about meaning. Yes, I have developed a theory of
meaning. And it holds that events, as such, have no inherent meaning. In
your words, meaning is an "illusion" that exists in our minds, not in the
world. So, in response to your comment, unlearning is a "mental"
phenomenon.

What does it REALLY mean that your parents yelled at you all the time? I
could mean you're not good enough. Or they had no parenting skills. Or
by THEIR standards you weren't good enough. Or as a child you weren't good
enough but that doesn't mean you never would be. Or .......

All that we know for sure is that they yelled. That behavior could have
several meanings. It has no inherent meaning. Most children conclude it
means there is something wrong with them. For them, that is a fact that
they "learned" as a child. After learning it, they hold it as a belief:
I'm not good enough or There's something wrong with me. That belief
determines their behavior, colors their feelings, shapes their
perceptions. Discovering "cognitively" that it isn't true usually does
not make it go away. It still "feels" true. That learning about
ourselves can be unlearned, so that we no longer think it or feel it. It
is totally gone. That's what I mean by unlearning.

The principle is the same in life and in organizations. Quality requires
.... Competition will always.... Technology will never .... These are
things we learn by attributing meaning to events -- that have no inherent
meaning. When we realize the meaning is in our minds and not in the
events, the belief disappears, the old learning has become unlearned.

Regards, Morty

> >The answer your last question first, yes, one would remember that one
> >used
> >to have a belief, which now is gone.
>
> I thought so. If I want to make some experiences with your process in
> Germany, I think I should look for NLP practitioner who are said to work
> with beliefs and various kinds of reframing, 'change of history' etc. or
> are there major differences?
>
> 'Unlearning' seems to a kind of disconnecting event and meaning mentally,
> right?
>
> From your experiences, did you develop a 'theory of meaning'? I don't
> think that you are saying that all meaning is interpretation and as such
> illusion.

-- 

"Morty Lefkoe" <morty@decisionmaker.com>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>


"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.