This is the conclusion of the series of articles entitled “NLP Values and the Evolution of Consciousness.” Here are the eleven parts of this series if you are not familiar with it or if you want to review certain information presented therein. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10. Part 11.
If you’re not the reading type you can get the whole training on values from our NLP Master Practitioner trainings. You can find the DVD’s here.
In Part 11, you’ll recall, I began wrapping up this series on NLP, Values and The Evolution of Consciousness. I am aware of the fact that not everybody teaching NLP is teaching this material, but we do, so I considered it fair to include NLP in the title.
The last point in the previous article that I made was that all even and odd values levels types of thinking share one important thread, an important connection between them.
And I concluded that transition from one mode of thinking into the next involves growth pains and very uncomfortable moments; all the strategies involved in looking “outside” for help have to change into looking “inside” for self-help or vice-versa. Values levels transition is possible but not guaranteed.
As a consequence we can then say that it is much easier to adopt the next level of the same (odd or even) type values than jump over to the 180 degrees opposite polarity as in VL 4 to VL 5 or VL5 to VL 6. Unfortunately that is a false progress. There is no escape from any values level in order.
Compare these two scenarios:
- “Until now I took directions from the state (VL 4), but from now on I will get together with my group and then “we” will decide therefore now I take directions from my group.” Note that the control over the individual’s life remains outside the self.
- “Until now I have been the “Rambo” type (VL 3), but now I will adopt some “law avoiding and paw bending strategies” to my arsenal and I can talk the talk of the responsible entrepreneurial businessman.” The control remains inside the individual.
This “borrowing” of values from the upper similar type of thinking is extremely common but it does not represent a transition. The neurology of the body remains the same.
This is why it is very hard if not impossible to “talk reason” with people whose place of control is located outside the self. I am sure you have had the experience of talking to a good VL 4 thinking person and trying to explain to them logically why they were wrong. (I am not picking on VL 4 folks, but I am trying to give you the most common examples you can relate to). But no sooner you “tried” to talk reason with them you realized you wasted your time and energy. This type of thinking even when confronted with evidence will say “It’s a trick”, “It’s a conspiracy theory”, “It’s the devil” or anything else including getting really offended or simply not being able to hear you.
It is almost as you could see your words hitting the person’s ears and bouncing back out. Another common experience is when you notice that your words and argument (no matter how logical or reasonable it is) passes by his/her ears and is not making any impact in that person’s consciousness. This happens especially if you are of a more complex type of thinking compared to the person you’re communicating with.
I witnessed myself one such conversation between a VL 5-6 thinking scientists and another man who – based on his response – was actualizing VL 4 thinking. Both men are extremely intelligent and well read. The scientist was talking about Zecharia Sitchin’s books based on the translation of very old Sumerian texts. For those of you who don’t know who Zecharia Sitchin was it will suffice to say that he had an “out of the box” idea that the “gods” of the old were actually extremely technologically advanced extraterrestrial human-like beings who interfered with the humanoids on earth and through genetic manipulation created what we call today homo sapiens.
Whether Mr. Sitchin is right or wrong is not the point. The point is the answer from this VL 4 thinking man – an absolute text book VL 4 answer! I was thoroughly amused to notice how ‘text book’ it was! He said “I won’t allow my faith to be attacked in this way – I studied the book and I know what’s right. The book has been around for two thousand years, therefore it must be right. Everything else must be an illusion perpetrated to confound our faith.”
Notice that the belief in the book took priority VS the facts that the scientist was trying to communicate. Belief VS Fact. A highly used method for mind manipulation but that is a subject for a completely different article. Also notice that the locus of control was in this case in “the book” which is of course outside of the individual himself. This man was a very tactful, diplomatically correct and polite man (which are all traits of the positive VL 4). The thinking of VL 3 would have been very different – “Let’s get some well-made copies of old Sumerian tablets and sell them to collectors – they must be worth a lot” or even better: “Let’s go get (read steal, loot, plunder, etc.) all the old records for ourselves, so we have an advantage over everybody else. Alternatively VL 4 with leftover unresolved VL 3 could say something like: “Let’s gather and destroy all the Sumerian tablets so nobody can ever discover the falsehood.”
Here is another scenario for you to understand upper level values adopted inside lower values level thinking. Let’s say there is a small company whose owner makes a major breakthrough in propulsion technology utilizing VL 7 thinking. I am not going to discuss what kind of propulsion technology, just that it is a big breakthrough. What do you think will happen? The VL 5 bigger boys from bigger corporations will buy the little guy out with a great financial incentive. It is actually the dream of many smart computer tech young guys – to develop some app, have it become very popular, sell it to the “big boys” and retire on a beach. This “get rich quick” is yes, you figured out, the thinking of VL 3. Instant reward, instant gratification and ‘get rich quick’ thinking.
If the VL 5 big boys are not interested to buyout the small inventor or if the small inventor does not cave in, there is another possibility. The big boys can revert to VL 3, (above all competition coming from outside in the market place is a sin for VL 5 and a breakthrough in propulsion technology could represent the death of oil and other industries) and send some VL 3 representatives to make the small guy an offer he cannot refuse.
There is one more point I would like to make which I think is also extremely relevant as the thinking progresses through more and more complexity and abstraction. The more abstract the thinking the more dissociation inside the individual. Dissociation from nature, from “Mother Gaia” as our VL 6 friends will say, from one’s own body but also dissociation from human emotions and what is “normally” considered “to be human”.
I put “normally” in quotes because in general when we refer to the term “normal” we refer to average, and the average in our world is made by VL, 2, 3 and 4 percentage wise since the percentage of VL 2, 3, and 4 is vaster compared to VL 5, 6 and 7. VL 8 is emergent and vis-a-vis 7 billion people in this world, the number of VL 8 thinkers is literally embryonic.
An example of growth in dissociation is in the recent movie Lucy where the main character undergoes a massive transformation, you can even say a high speed metamorphosis becoming more and more dissociated transcending “common” and “normal” “moral values”. Please recognize what values level are the words “common”, “normal” and “moral values” themselves in this context.
At some point in the movie Lucy says:
“I don’t feel pain, fear, desire. It’s like all things that make us human are fading away. It’s like the less human I feel, all this knowledge about everything, quantum physics, applied mathematics, the infinite capacity of a cell’s nucleus. They’re all exploding inside my brain, all this knowledge.”
Beyond the SciFi nature of the movie, Lucy as well as many other movies launched in the last couple of years present us with the dissociated, abstract and extremely complex transhumanism which will widen the gap between the two classes of people on earth: one thin at the top and one very large at the bottom. The difference in thinking will widen the gap between them.
Those of you who read my articles in the past you know how determined I am to teach people how to think critically and for themselves – the alternative is dire. The dependency on an outside factor for control over one’s life leads to inability to turn inside for strength, and alienation ultimately from the humanity itself. But on the other hand, being warm hearted, loving and compassionate is not always enough. Complex thinking doubled up by the capacity to remain human and not morph into a computer is a monumental endeavor.
Is this the time for humanity to become sentient? I don’t know but if it is, then there is also a lot of work to be done by us all.
Until next time, be well
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