Why Symbolic NLP

NLP has been defined as the study of subjective experience. It studies how we expeience the world, and how we can change that experience to live happier more fullfiled lives.

In order to achieve this NLP states that individuals make "internal representations" or "IRs", being pictures, sounds, internal dialogue and feelings inside our bodies. This is in contrast to the outside sensory experiences we have, ie things that we actually see, hear and feel.

While NLP provides a rich and detailed model of experience, it does not necessarily connect with other models of experience. In NLP terms the fact that the varied models do not interconnect (or at least not easily) is somewhat irrelevant as NLP is also considered to be the study of "what works", rather than what is true.

Let's us examine two models which differ from the NLP model:

One model used by hypnotists (such as David Gordon, and based on the work of Milton Erickson), and also by adherents of Symbolic Modeling, suggest that our internal experience is better described via metaphor. So Milton Erickson would assist clients in change by developing a metaphor, often based upon some activity that would be familiar to the client. By understanding how the "world" within the metaphor could change, the client could understand and accept that he too could change.

The metaphorical model is incorporated into NLP via NLP's "Milton Model". However this is something of a "bolt-on" piece of NLP and NLPers generally make little attempt to fully integrate it into other parts of NLP.

Another model of experience common among adherents of self-help argues that the world we see around us on a day to day basis curtains a deeper reality, inhabited by universal laws (such as the Law of Attraction) as well as ghosts, spirits, out of body experiences and so on.

Symbolic NLP seeks to build a model that fully incorporates traditional NLP, metaphor models, and "universal laws" or "hidden universe" models.