What has planetary systems, the Summer Solstice, Hermes, Plato and NLP got in common?
The great Hermes once said “what is above is below and what is below is above”.
In NLP we say that your inner world creates what you call ‘reality’ (your outer world). Plato called the world we see through our senses the ‘world of illusions’.
So we can only see what we have been programmed to see or conditioned to see. So what are we if we can’t even tell what’s real around us? Take the above quotes from powerful entities of our times and start to put one and one together.
The ancients would study planets, stars, plants and all of nature to give us clues about our existence and what is ‘real’ or not. After 20,000 years of study, you may say they found out a few things….. These studies are still in our culture today, albeit we have forgotten that they came from studies of the forces around us.
Why are there seven days in the week? Anyone remember? How about the planets the ancients would study. SUNday, Moonday, SATURNday. They all came from the planets! We used to have 12 shillings in a pound which correlated to the 12 constellations. Within our music system, we have 7 notes on the scale, the 8th being the Octave.
The ancients would look for natural systems and cycles and observe them, rather than trying to make things fit their ideas of life. After a while (a long, long while), these natural patterns would emerge and cross reference all the other data compiled.
So how does this relate to NLP, you may ask?
Well, we have exactly the same philosophy as these greats of our past. We recognise the world of illusion (we say ‘the map is not the territory’), and train our delegates to use enquiry when practicing rather than knowing all or having to know all. If you can gain rapport with a client and ask enough good questions, the patterns will become evident!
This is a microcosm of how the ancients would study. Give enough time to the study, patterns and the answers will provide themselves.
With the research and enquiry of the ancients into the most influential planets, they recognised what a significant ‘pull’ these planets have on us as beings and documented as such.
Some of this knowledge still exists and some has been popularised into cheap nothings. The knowledge is quite fascinating and fantastic as it’s all about our relationship with the universe (well we did get born from stardust after all so we have it in our blood), and how we conform to patterns of nature itself.
Where NLP has become so popular is the ability a person has to ride the patterns of nature and use them to further his/her life. We have gives the techniques of NLP many different names, yet I can trace most of them back to ancient practises for dealing with patterns and cycles. Patterns are powrful influences and can be changed, yet only after understanding the ones which influence us the most and harnessing these forces, for the good!
The Summer Solstice would be a time to acknowledge the openess of life, through the openness of a plant/flower. Of course all cycles are occuring all the time, yet there are times when one is really obvious, so we stop time to recognise that.
Without acknowledging the different cycles of life, we only have a curtailed version of reality. The more we can expand our knowledge and field of vision, the better we can perform in whatever we are doing. The Summer Soltice is a chance to stop time for a while and focus on all the patterns of nature, with a mind to becoming aligned with these forces we can harness our onward journey.
Terry Elston
