NLP and Beyond, Wolfgang Bernard, Stephen Wolinsky

Nowadays a growing number of people feel the need for something that may take them beyond ordinary day-to-day life. The key pattern that prevents us from being the unified consciousness is a belief system that is beyond all other belief systems: the Original Belief.

This Original Belief gave birth to our Separating Identity, our Ego. We all are obliged to create a Separating Identity during childhood because only through it we become capable of understanding words and only through it we can learn how to become intelligent and social beings. However, when grown-up, the Separating Identity becomes the principal obstacle for personal liberation, the radical overcoming of all psychic limitations. The moment we evolve beyond ourselves we rediscover within us the universal dimension wherein we were born: the Pre-Sensory Perception.

The author is an NLP-Trainer. In his book he shows us how we can use the technology of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in order to explore and challenge the subtle mechanisms of the Original Belief. Doing so, we can awaken to our Essential Value, the most precious jewel that we possess within ourselves.

Endorsement (for the cover) from Dr. Stephen Wolinsky

Beyond NLP: The Original Belief Process takes us beyond the need to repair, fix, improve or change the programming in the mind. In this book, Wolfgang Bernard makes a major breakthrough which takes us Beyond NLP as a technology for personal change.

Dr. Stephen Wolinsky, author of Trances People Live, Quantum Consciousness, The Dark side of the Inner Child, The Tao of Chaos, Hearts on Fire and The Way of the Human.

Foreword by Dr. Stephen Wolinsky

I was giving a workshop in Switzerland when I was handed a fax from Wolfgang Bernard. I read the page and did not think much about it. Alfred, my translator, had published Wolfgang's book in German and knew him personally. He said to me, “You two would probably have a great time together.”

After the workshop in Switzerland, I headed for Greece. In Greece I was going over my paperwork. There again was the fax from Wolfgang. My next step was to give a workshop in Nice. I looked again at the fax and noticed that Wolfgang was living in the South of France. I decided to call and get together with him. When I called Wolfgang, he just started to laugh. Wolfgang offered to make the arragements for us to connect. What seemed like a coincidental encounter, winded up being a boon for us both. We were instantly connected as brothers, joined in and by our relationship to, with, and as the NOTHING.

I spent several days with Wolfgang and his friends, Danièle, Serge, Michel, Minica and Thomas. Wolfgang handed me about four translated pages from his book, and I began writing in some comments.

What inspired me to read his book and write comments (which is not my style) was his precision in describing “the Original Belief”.

Quantum Psychology had called this understanding in Trances People Live the Organizing Principle and in The Way of the Human the false core. What made me happy was meeting someone who could both write and understand this principle so well, i.e. That it is the Original Belief or false core which acts as the organizing principle and serves as the cornerstone to understanding and liberating you from your personal psychology.

Wolfgang Bernard has become a friend and a brother. His book provides a simple understanding that has profound repercussions for the field of psychology and spirituality in its involvement toward the discovery of who you are. I wish him great success.

Stephen H. Wolinsky, Ph.D.

September 1996

Preface

When I first started NLP ten years ago with Alain Cayrol, Josiane de St. Paul, Gianni Fortunato and Jean-Marc Lhabouz, I didn't know at that time that these learning processes would become integrated in my search for freedom beyond happiness.

This could not have happened without my friend Yvan Amar whom I met for the first time in 1986. His teaching has created in me a new way of dealing with NLP: I became conscious of the micro-mechanisms that support the separating conflict which prevents us from perceiving Gregory Bateson's "pattern which connects"; and I started to challenge these mechanisms within myself with the help of well-chosen mental techniques.

I would like to give special thanks to Stephen Jourdain. What he transmitted to me from the treasure of his perfect knowledge of the dynamics of human consciousness, enabled me to formulate my intuitive insights and to integrate them into my personal and professional life.

Anyone who has ever worked with NLP-methods knows how powerful they are in the fields of communication, therapy, personal development or mental control. If the trainer is competent, substancial achievements can take place on many levels.

Through NLP we can rearrange our lives, become more successful or obtain personal results that may turn out greater than expected. To be psychologically healthy, to live life harmoniously while standing with both feet firmly on the ground is not only an honorable and fulfilling objective, but also a necessary condition for every person who desires to go even further: seeking the challenge of living in the pre-sensory dimension. This dimension is not on the same logical level as happiness or professional or personal success.

Every human being possesses this noblest of all potentials: the ability to free himself from what I call the Separating Syndrome. Using NLP-Technology from the perspective of Pre-Sensory Perception enables us to explore the micro-mechanisms of that syndrome which causes us to perceive the other as the other and which prevents us from perceiving life and all that exists as a living and animated process wherein everything is linked with everything else.

The first chapter is on NLP from the perspective of Pre-Sensory Perception.

The second chapter explores the hidden structures of language and formulates hypotheses concerning its origins.

The third chapter deals with the Original Belief, the most hidden and most unconscious part of human psychology: the underlying belief system, the basis of what we call 'identity', the culture medium for the Separating Syndrome.

The forth chapter is on Essential Value, the value of all values that is hidden in all human beings; the Grail, the best of the best that slumbers in everyone, waiting for its awakening.

Introduction: The Song of the Sirens

Question: What made you write this book?

Answer: The idea of writing a book about the way I practice and teach NLP came into my mind in 1992 as a logical conclusion of my personal evolution which started in 1970. At that time I studied at the University of Frankfurt, Germany and participated actively in the declining student's revolt. Like most young people at that time, I was disappointed that the society did not move towards a new humanism. Not only did the capitalist institutions continue to function the old way, but, astoundingly, the very leaders of the movement displayed the very same patterns of egoism, insincerity, aggressiveness and so on. They wanted to question and analyze their positions, but the gap between ideal and reality grew wider and wider. It was a great shock to realize one day that this contradiction and the accompanying suffering existed in myself as well. This shock was followed by the first conscious existential question in my life: "Who am I, what is the meaning of my life? As long as I have not found the answer to these questions, I cannot live for any other goal."

These questions were the beginning of my search for the Ultimate. From that time onwards, this search constituted the center of my private and professional life. In this book, I am attempting formulate some aspects of this search and its results.

Question: Could you define what you call "search", and the way you lived it?

Answer: I was 22 years old when I began asking myself what existence is all about. The question was a very urgent one, it waited for an answer and was not to be postponed. So I started looking for books and people that talked about the subject. It was in the oriental culture that I found hints, but I also encountered remarkable men and women in the western hemisphere.

Coming back to your question: For me the search was an absolute necessity. The moment it took shape within me, it became crystal clear: "That is what you are obliged to go for more than for anything else!" Everything else like professional career, earning money or even creating a family, nothing of that was really important to me as long as there was no answer to my existential quest. It became an obligation of utmost importance: I had to go this way till the end, no matter how much I had to pay for it.

Question: How do you explain the fact that so few people go out on that search?

Answer: I do not have any explanation for that. But I could object to it being a fact. If you look at it from a different point of view you may realize that everybody is part of that search. At the hour of death everyone is confronted with his origins. Why not rediscover them before?

Question: Your search resulted in the discovery your source, the source of existence. What can prove that what you say is true?

Answer: There is no proof that mind or senses would be able to hold of. It's a proofless evidence for the one who recognizes himself in his original state. This recognition is rooted on another logical level than complex equivalences (Complex equivalences are linguistic structures: x proves y; for example: You look happy, so everything is fine for you.) which are described in the Meta-Model of NLP and which are a permanent part of our thinking processes. There are no such proofs on the logical level of the original perception that I call Pre-Sensory Perception; here we are in the realm of phenomena that cannot be proven.

Question: So for you human accomplishment does not fall within the province of what is usually called psychology, philosophy or religion?

Answer: Yes, that is right. Spiritual teachings (with the exception of Zen) also propose a certain psychological vision; in one way or another they treat the inner and the outer aspects of human life. In doing so they answer the basic human need to understand the complexity of life, of existence. In philosophy, psychology and religion you will find numberless models that explain the meaning of life and that propose "manuals for happiness". Nowadays it is probably necessary to reflect upon these items if one wishes to evolve. This need to comprehend life as such begins already in early childhood with questions like: "Who created the world? What is infinity?" These are typical questions which parents have to answer. The problem is that no model fits for answering these questions; we can say that every verbal answer sounds necessarily wrong. As a result, most children will put these kind of questions aside. Later, as adults, some of them may rediscover them again and seek the answer. Fortunately, there is one, but it is neither a mental or verbal one nor is it to be found in the realm of philosophy, psychology or religion. The following model may explain my meaning: let's suppose that the world we perceive due to our senses is only a tiny part, let's say 1%, of what really exists. The remaining 99% are completely outside our perceptual capacities. The 1% is sufficient for our daily life: it encompasses the comprehension of words, of psychological and philosophical ideas, of the so-called natural laws, the rules of society and all that needs to be known. The remaining 99% are non-denominated, so I don't know anything about them. What can I do in order to know something about them, to perceive the 99% that are outside my perceptual capacities? And I don't allow a verbal reply.

Question: I do not understand...

Answer: Take away the "I". What remains is: "do not understand", which is equivalent to: "don't see, don't hear, don't feel, don't taste, don't smell." And continuing on the same line, we could say: no thoughts, no models, no convictions...no "I"... And here we encounter the main obstacle preventing us from perceiving the 99% which are the answer to all existential questioning: it is our identity, our "I". This "I" only perceives the one percent that can be put into words and that can be categorized. A comparatively small world, in which "I" sometimes wants to die with grief and sometimes wants to jump with joy. This "I" is purely functional, it makes learning processes possible and all that we need to deal with common day-to-day life. Its degree of maturity determines our success as a social being. Nevertheless it occupies only one tiny per cent of the whole of our existence. And to avoid any misunderstandings: it is not at all to be eliminated. That would be impossible. Neither should we try to challenge its competencies and capacities. What we want is to become established in the 99% of the unknown and the unknowable without questioning the capacities of the 1%-"I". This "I" should keep its functional tasks since it is a valuable tool for the social obligations in every-day life. It will be activated each time we are looking for a piece of information, when we want to learn something new, when we plan our future, when we talk with somebody, when we look for criteria how to take a decision etc. But it is neither the center nor the boss. It's the executive organ. The Pre-Sensory Perception grows out of the 99% that contain all which is not understandable, not sizable, not explainable and not definable. The privilege of the 1%-"I" is its executive function, and by accomplishing this it completes the whole.

Question: What are the benefits of living the big part of the tart?

Answer: None. Questions of benefit are treated on the logical level of the small part which completes the tart.

Question: If there are no benefits, where can any motivation come from to wish to live it?

Answer: There are no benefits for the "I", the inner nature of which consists quite legitimately in considering the rule of effort and useful output. To answer your question, I will use a metaphor, but you should take it with great caution.

The motivation to live the 99% cannot come from the "I". But we can presume another kind of motivation that is situated somewhere in the 99%. It reveals itself with much greater discretion than the "I"-motivation. Sometimes we can perceive her, she sounds like the song of sirens, very soft, very seducing, nearly inaudible: "Come... come home..." Nothing else. Already enough so that the "I" feels deeply threatened, without any reason. If one day the "I" happens to hear the sound of the sirens, even if it lasts only the time of an eye twinkling, in that very moment it understands to what extent its existence is relative and peripheral, and that the day will come when it will be no longer the central point. Sure it has to have reached a certain point of maturity to be penetrated by the sound of the sirens.

Question: How do you recognize a mature "I"?

Answer: As I just said: when the sound of the sirens becomes audible. This happens quite often when the adolescent or young adult starts addressing essential issues like the meaning of life or the reason for existence. We have all been born without "I" and without a separating identity, and we all had to construct one. One of the qualities of a mature "I" is to take responsibility for one's own existence. That means to understand that we are not where we are as a result of "helping" or "hindering" circumstances. At this point we have to discriminate the song of the sirens from "wrong calls": Only then can I hear the sirens if I can stand upright in my loneliness. The "wrong calls", often issued by gurus seeking worshippers are heard by people who think that spiritual life means replacing one's own "I" by the "I" of another person, supposing that it is 'obviously' stronger and wiser than one's own. Some people believe in some kind of divine energy that one day will redeem them. Not to take your responsibilities towards society may get you into prison; not to take your responsibility for yourself may make you believe that liberation comes from the outside. Another quality of a mature "I" is the absence of guilt feelings. Those who decide to become overwhelmed by this nagging and painful feeling decide at the same time to drop responsibility for what they did or for what they allowed being done to them. A mature "I" is able to stand for all it does, even if this means moral suffering. It is capable to feel guiltless remorse.

Question: So it's better to believe in oneself than to believe in someone else?

Answer: It's even better to live without any belief system, except the ones you invent in daily life situations in order to manage difficulties or to avoid hurting another person. The more I believe in something, the more I enhance the idea that the 1% is all that exists and the less I am capable of hearing the song of the sirens.

What I just said should not be taught to a child before he reaches the age of puberty. The priority for a child is to construct his identity until it is mature, which also means to build up his own opinions and judgments; convictions are inalienable nourishment for his "I".

Question: What was the role of NLP in your quest?

Answer: First I would like to clarify my definition of NLP. NLP helps you to know yourself better; the different parts of human functioning can be worked out clearly. In quite a natural way you become more successful in social life. If used correctly, NLP can accelerate the maturing process of the "I". Let me give you some examples for that statement:

1) NLP works with useful presuppositions, for instance: The world that we perceive is not the objective world. Or, to use Korzybski's words (in 'Science and Sanity'): "The map is not the territory". With the help of our nervous system we 'read' life events and the people we meet. NLP teaches us how to refine that reading so that we make the least reading mistakes possible. One of the qualities of good reading is to become aware of the fact that everybody lives with his own unique model of the world; that everyone thinks and acts according to his own criteria, belief systems and strategies which make him succeed or fail in his projects in life.

As human beings we always act according to our inner map, which by definition is not the territory we operate on. These maps are composed of genetic and learned material. Let's remember that each person acts upon his surroundings with the help of another map. So, if I want to understand someone, I study his map instead of approaching him with the false idea that his map is similar to, or even the same as, my own. A matured "I" takes this into account.

2) In NLP there is an exercise that can reveal our personal meaning in life (see chapter IV). Whoever succeeds in going to the end of this exercise experiences a deep understanding and enrichment. He has experienced the "digging out" of the Essential Value that lies dormant in everyone, and that we usually are not aware of. Bringing it to the surface is an excellent means of helping the "I" to reach greater maturity.

3) Let's take a last example: the belief systems and convictions which are to identity what the trunk is to the tree. The way we proceed in NLP, it becomes obvious that none of our opinions, convictions or judgments originate in the within, which means that all belief systems came to us from the outside and can be modified.

When this became clear to me, a core question arose: "Who am I, if none of my profoundest beliefs can define me?" Evidence: I am not my convictions, I am not the words that I use while communicating, I am not the words that my brain produces when I talk to myself. Seeing this transcended in a natural way my intellectual understanding of it.

Question: You became aware that you are not what you believed to be.

Answer: Yes, but that was not as easy as it may sound. My nervous system played some nasty tricks. The "I" does not surrender easily. But after becoming aware of the fact that "I" cannot define myself by words or convictions, I had the chance to encounter a mechanism within myself that permanently keeps up the identification with the "I". I have later baptized this mechanism "Original Belief". To encounter the Original Belief in oneself also means encountering the suffering of separation: "Me-being-separated-from-the-other-and-existence"; to overcome it also means to overcome all psychic and moral suffering. When you challenge the Original Belief in yourself, the dependence on the "I" is gradually consumed, the "I" gets more and more urged into a corner until it releases the grip of its predominance.

Question: And what are you doing today?

Answer: What I like in NLP is what I like in life: going into the depth of things in a playful manner, unwrapping, analyzing and synthesizing, inventing hypothesizes , discovering new islands and being part of the search of getting to the roots of things that play with their own origins; and in all this I allow myself complete freedom to become even more curious and being cradled at the same time by the song of the sirens.

Coming to an end: The Song of the Sirens (part 2, finale)

Question: I have read your book and I have understood what you wanted to transmit. A last question: Why? Why this identity, this veiling mask, this Ego with all its suffering? Why this going astray from one's very nature?

Answer: Yes.

The Yes of the words, the Yes of the metaphors, of the aphorisms;

The Yes of the one who tells them and the one who listens to them.

The Yes of the bold-hearted Essentiel Value,

that ennobles creation and ennobles the one who perceives.

The Yes of clear-headed drunkenness, of the sublime;

The Yes of suffering, the Yes of forgetfulness.

The Yes of that strenuous path that at its end gives birth to the soul of the

Essential Value, which

- finally - recognizes itself in everything and in everyone.

The Yes of the mask that is identity,

Heart veiling disguise,

Freed from the excrescences of self-interest

Rises itself

- not only to listen to -

To celebrate:

The Song of the Sirens.