Re:NLP and Erickson

Dear all,

fyi - I asked John Grinder. Here is his reply:

Thomas

You asked the following questions:

1. "How much time did you in fact spend with Erickson?"

Directly, in his presense, I would guess there over a period of a couple of years, I make some 7 to 10 trips to Phoenix to spend time modeling the master hypnotist. On average, these trips lasted (again, on average) 3 - 5 days, probably an average of 5 - 9 hours a day (including "social" tiem. "Social" is in quotes as Erickson never really quit working - even in officially social gatherings (in the other house) he was running patterns. You can do the arithmetic.

2. "How much of Ericksonīs ability/patterning do you believe NLP captured?

Your question is a quantitative one and unlike the quantitative question above (#1), this simply does not lend itself to quantification - along the lines described in Whispering.

3. "And how do you feel about the Erickson nutshell quote?"

I am amused - it is a curious thing that unverified quotes that have a derogatory twist to them are given more credence and an attention than verified ones directly from Erickson himself about our work. You know, the quote Erickson wrote about Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson. M.D. "Grinder and Bandler have given a far better explanation of what I do than I can" - I am paraphrasing here as I do not have copies of the books in front of me. You can have a look for yourself. Take your choice.

3. "What is it that in Ericksonīs eyes was not captured?"

Nothing that I was interested in.

4. How would you respond to the concern that your/NLPīs "primary interest is on the financial and not the personal aspect of a relationship"

Bandler and I were acutely aware that the patterning we were coded had been developed by Erickson over decades. We asked Dr. Erickson prior to the publication of the first volume of the Erickson series whether he would like a royalty. He declined.

General comment: there are two rather obvious responses to excellence I have noted in the world for years and years:

1. jealousy - and an ensuing search to degrade the model of excellence in some way as if to reduce him or her to the level of incompetency of the critic

2. a burning desire to emulate (as a form of respect and an opportunity to upgrade one's own skills - the source of all modeling as far as I can tell.

All the best,

John

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