NLP, DHE & Magick
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93 everyone,
I was listening to a seminar given by Richard Bandler (co-creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Design Human Engineering). Having some minor experience with NLP I think it's a great tool for the practicing magickian and I want to open up some dialogue on this. If anyone has any NLP experience what are your thoughts on it. Does it help you? Does it hinder your magickal practice?
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Reef -
I've encountered NLP a few times in the past.
Seems to me that it is a repackaging of basic Magick for the Corporate class. Stripped of all the ceremony and esoterica and structured development.
However, as NLP often encourages selfish goals - I was once in a group and people were being told to imagine their favourite cars, or themselves in promoted jobs etc - it could be argued that often it is presented as a form of Black Magic. -
Have you personally experimented with any NLP techniques?
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The first time was at a Living Marxist recruitment rally.
Having read about it beforehand I recognised the speakers using the technique on the crowd.
I would like to say I was there for very misguided (sexual) reasons, and saved a few souls that day.Also at one of my first jobs where they decided they were turning us into a sales force and brought in stomach-churning "word images" techniques to hook the suckers. My resistance to it thankfully cost me that job.
Then on a week long management training course, with two days being devoted to "visualisation" and role-play using positive terms in negative situations. I decided the management path was not for me.
There was a brief period of personal experimentation, but it was a lot of shooting in the dark, me not having any competent framework to work around, and the goals being nothing more ambitious than material goods.
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"There was a brief period of personal experimentation, but it was a lot of shooting in the dark, me not having any competent framework to work around, and the goals being nothing more ambitious than material goods."
Understood. I guess having someone there to coach you would be more helpful as opposed to learning from a book or a random audio.
As far as NLP and Magick are concerned from my point of view, NLP can be likened to Magick in a sense. "Barebones Magick" is the term that comes to my mind. But the difference between the two is that NLP, in my experience, has more to do with the strategies of thinking whereas magick deals more with content of my thoughts if that makes any sense. For example: when doing a ritual like the Qabalistic cross, I'd visualize a white sphere above my head. Using what I learned from practicing NLP I'd "play" with the image of the sphere, making it brighter, rounder, more intense. I'd add some sort of sensation to accompany the visualization, maybe a sound like a humming sound. I think the technical NLP term would be "submodality modification".
As far as NLP and black magic are concerned, I don't disagree with the arguement that its a form of black magick but I don't entirely agree either. I guess the determining factor would be the intention behind using it among other things.
What else have you or anyone else for that matter used NLP for?