The following are the logical levels of NLP:
1. Spirit
We can illustrate the levels in the following way.
The following (with specifics to be filled in) is a fairly complete description of an event:
In a given situation, I, in a certain state, alone or with others, under certain circumstances, do something in a certain manner for a certain reason or to achieve a certain purpose.
Sentence Logical Level Example
In a given situation Environment Yesterday in town
I Spiritual I
in a certain state Identity keen to get a book
alone or with others Environment alone
under certain circumstances Environment in the pouring rain
do something Behaviour went to the bookshop
in a certain manner Capabilities on foot
for a certain reason or to achieve a certain purpose
Beliefs and values to buy a book, to learn physics
Beliefs and values because I value learning
The level of spirit (almost wrote spirit level!) is what we are, and what living, the universe and all that are about. It can be religious, or secular. Naturally, it isn‘t something you can prove with science. It includes ethics.
For instance, we assume, here, that you and everyone is a self that cannot be limited by description.
So saying, ‗I am a failure‘ or .I am a success‘ are irrational, because a person, according to Albert Ellis, is too complicated to sum up with one or two adjectives. So, at the level of spirit, we simply are.
Of course, we need identities. So we use words like ‗I am...‘, or ‗you are...‘ to speak of the identity level. Of course, to bake a cake we need to be a cook, so when baking a cake, one might say, ―I am the cook‖, but this is just an identity we assume for the purpose of baking the cake. I may consider myself a reader of certain books, which is an identity.
To create identities, we also need values and beliefs. So ‗I am a reader of certain books‘ is a belief, or a fact. The words we use at this level usually include ‗why‘, or other words, related to reason and purpose. Perhaps I want to go to the town to buy a book, because I am a reader of such books and I value knowledge.
To go to town, I need some capabilities, which could simply be the ability to walk there, or to drive there. Or persuade someone to take me there. Capabilities are the how.
So far, though I have done nothing, and it is time for some behaviour to appear. The behaviour or behaviours in the example would be going to town and buying books. Behaviour also includes mental activity and thinking.
All this take place within an environment. We talk about the environment by using the words:
Where
When
With whom
Under what circumstances
In this case we are more concerned with what is going on around us (and where we are).
Example
The following is a casual example to illustrate logical levels. Of course, when we are very upset and thinking at lower levels, then we could not do this. So the issue should be something concerning, but not too concerning.
Suppose we think, ‗I am nervous about this meeting‘ (identity). Asking:
Are you the nervousness?
We decide we aren‘t. So we think:
I have a feeling of nervousness about this meeting.
Of course, here we have lots of options, such as dealing with submodalities, or the phobia cure, if we have unwanted images. Six step reframing might be appropriate. We can always use Handling Concerns Honestly, or The Honesty Blowout. But we want to continue with logical levels. So we have:
I have a feeling of nervousness about this meeting.
This is a belief. It is better to have a belief rather than consider (without examination) that ‗I am
‗nervous‘, which is ridiculous, because we aren‘t our feelings. A belief is something we can have or hold, or let go or change.
The next on the levels is capabilities. We clearly have the capability to feel nervous. By using (unconsciously) various submodalities, we can create a feeling of nervousness. We could study how we do this (modelling) to make the process conscious, and do something else. We can also ask what capabilities and skills we have or need to deal with the problem. We could think:
I need to learn how to deal with nervousness This is a much more resourceful way of thinking.
The next level is behaviour. We can explore just what we do when we are nervous, for instance:
Sit or stand in a certain way Tense certain muscles Think certain thoughts Breath in a certain way Etc.
We can consider what happens if we try to change some of these behaviours. It seems changing body position and breathing is easier. Does it change the way we feel. Relaxing or learning to relax might be next on the easy scale. It might be possible to simply think of something else. Although changing the physical states (body position, etc) is probably easier to do, it is something we might forget about, and not realise our head is down and our back is curved (or whatever). Also there are other things under the heading of capability that we could do. A number of patterns have already been mentioned.
The next and last level is environment. Clearly, we feel nervous about the meeting (if we still do) but we are feeling nervous when we aren‘t in the meeting. What is going on when we are feeling nervous. Perhaps we do this when we have nothing to do.
We can also ask, ‗What else is going on in our lives?‘ This is a useful question because we might not be nervous about the meeting so much as about something else. For instance, this holiday of a lifetime we are going on might be causing us some unconscious concern.
Using the ideas of logical levels can sometimes reveal important things about ourselves and give us insights in new abilities or new requirement.