DISTINGUISHING

EQUALITY AND COMPETENCE

 

Equality is one of the being-values that Abraham Maslow identified.  If
that's true, then the sense of human equality is one of those values which
are wired into us and an essential part of what makes us fully human/ fully
alive.  But what does equality mean?

 

What is obviously does not mean is that we are all equal in intelligence,
talents, abilities, or genetics.  Genetically, we are all different in many
unequal ways.  This lack of equality goes to our DNA which goes back to our
neurological gifts or challenges.  We are also not equal in terms of our
family heritage, our social status, our financial status, the advantages or
disadvantages of our town or country.  In all of these areas, there are lots
of inequalities.

 

In the 18th century a new budding idea was given birth.  In the first
democracies in the late 18th century, the idea was conceived that "all men
are created equal by their creator and endowed with certain inalienable
rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  At that
time, that was really radical!  For the many millennia of human history,
people had accepted as a given that people are not equal in value and
therefore made no attempt to establish equality in the eyes of the law.
Instead, they had built up caste systems, hierarchies of power, and myths
about royal blood lines.

 

The idea that all people are created equal then lead to an equally radical
concepts, namely, that we can, and should, create political, economic, and
social systems to actualize that idea.  In 1776 that gave birth to the US
Constitution and launched an "experiment" in democracy which sought to
answer the question, "Can free men and women govern themselves?"  Or do we
need those who are innately "superior" (those of the higher classes, the
ruling classes) to govern us?

 

This idea of equality is not an equality created by people being educated,
trained, or manipulated to be the same, to have the same talents, beliefs,
understandings, skills, etc.  That's impossible.  And if it were possible,
it would be a nightmare.  It is rather a belief in all people are to be
equally valued in the eyes of the law.  All are to be treated by the same
rules and applications of the rules.  No one should get preferential
treatment.  Those who make the laws should equally have to obey the same
laws as everyone else.

 

At the same time we are equal before the law, we are also very different.
We differ in our talents, skills, interests, capacities, understandings,
meanings, beliefs, preferences, habits, and on and on.  And this diversity
lies within the concept of equal as persons.  Consequently, what does not
matter any longer is ethnic background, family of origin, birthplace, creed,
skin color, lifestyle, etc.  No person is "better" than another.  No one is
"superior" than another.  We are all human beings-all members of the one and
only "race" on planet earth, the human race.

 

In making distinctions about people, we distinguish competencies of skills,
not their humanity.  In terms of their humanity, we are all one; we are all
equal.  In terms of skills, competencies, what we can do, what we are good
at-we are all very different.  Some are smarter, some are faster, some are
stronger, some have more money, some are more interested in money, some are
more loving, etc.  And because we are all equal in humanity-the differences
do not create a basis for superiority of persons.

 

Now we can look upon someone superiority in a skill, knowledge, competency,
etc. as a human possibility that the rest of us can learn from and model.
Now we can respect and honor every such superiority, knowing that it is a
gift to humanity which can enrich us all.  This explains why it is perfectly
fine to give accurate feedback to children about what they excel in.  If one
is superior in math or music or literature or whatever, that is God's gift
to that person.  It is not that person's "superiority."   To have a contest
and give "prizes to all" so that "all can win" confuses this distinction
between equality and confidence.

 

Let's honor our equality as persons and our equality in value as human
beings while simultaneously embrace our differences.  Let's respect each
person and challenge each one to be the best version of him or herself.

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

 META-EXPERIENCES

IN THE META PLACE

                                                         

Above and beyond your everyday experiences are meta-experiences.  These are
the experiences of your mind.  And when I say "mind," I mean all of the
known and unknown aspects of consciousness itself.  Here are just some of
the higher or meta-experiences in your mind:

           Your memories.  What you "hold in mind" and take with you and
use as your internal reference system-your library of what you've learned
about what things mean, what things there are, what to focus on.

           Your knowledge.  What you "know" or think you know.  The ideas
that you have become aware of in your home, culture, school, life
experiences.  As one aspect of a meta-experience, your knowledge informs you
about lots of things.

           Your beliefs.  All of the things that you "hold real and true."
They may not be real or  true, but you believe them anyway and have all
sorts of experiences both in your mind and in your outside life because of
them.  Why?  Because every belief sets up a self-organizing and
self-fulfilling process.

           Your imaginations.  Your powers of imagining, fantasizing,
pretending, thinking of possibilities, playing around with "what if...?" is
your ability to create all sorts of internal meta-experiences-some very
creative and productive, some that create pathology.

           Your decisions.  You make choices, everyday you make lots of
choices, little ones and big ones and cumulatively, your choices generate
the over-all meta-experience of your life orientation-the direction of your
life.  In your decisions, you forecast how to live, where to go, and a
thousand other inner experiences.

           Your intentions.  Within intentionality are your choices, your
decisions, and also your values-what you care about, what's important to
you.  And this is the source of inside-out motivation, the energy and
vitality to live with vigor and passion-more really important
meta-experiences.

 

Well, you get the idea, do you not?  Inside your mind-your wonderful
consciousness by which your self-reflexivity operates-there are a hundred or
a thousand meta-experiences.  And they are all at your command when you
learn how to use the meta-functions.  In Neuro-Semantics we have been using
the old NLP idea of "going meta" for two and half decades and since 2002 we
have used The Matrix Model to sort out the human system.  And it has worked
pretty well.  We modeled numerous experiences using the Matrix Model
including stuttering.  But now we have something even better.  Something
that takes the Matrix Model further, deeper, and higher- The Meta Place.

 

While the Matrix Model gave us three key dimensions of the Meta Place, that
is just the beginning.  It gave us meaning, intention, and self (identity in
five aspects).  But there is so much more.  And what it provides is a
dynamic structuring of consciousness so that you can follow consciousness in
a conversation and thereby come to understand another person at a much, much
deeper level.  What is meta to our everyday experiences at the primary
level?  If at the primary level of experience we have immediate thoughts and
feelings (a state) as we respond (or react) to some trigger in the outside
world-what is higher than that?  What meta-experience do you first have and
then have, etc.?

 

           You first represent the outside experience.  You create, as it
were, a movie in your mind and use the representational systems-visual,
auditory, kinesthetic, etc.

           You then edit your inner cinema.  With all of the cinematic
features that are available to you, you customize your movie sometimes
making it wonderful, sometimes horrible.

           You then draw conclusions.   You never just represent-you
construct beliefs about things and once you do that, every higher meta-level
is some form or aspect of a belief.  You believe something is important-a
value.  You believe you should do something-a decision.

           You construct your identity.  You invent a self-image that
includes your worth, your skills, your social self, your temporal self, your
roles, etc.

           You learn and remember.  You encode and store learnings into
your memory banks which become your Background Knowledge, which when fully
habituated become your automatic programs.

           You anticipate and predict.  Your mind as a prediction machine
is always trying to figure out "what's next?"  "what's coming?"  It's a
survival mechanism.  This is the foundation for thinking strategically,
thinking consequently, and for hoping.

           You meta-state or set frames all the way up.  By this
self-reflexive function you then layer thoughts upon thoughts to create
complex understanding and belief systems.  You create value hierarchies,
belief hierarchies, decision hierarchies, etc.

           You set multiple intentions.  Now you are creating your life
orientation, your future direction, and the management of your attentions.

 

Your meta-mind is rich!  It is also chaotic and for most people
unstructured.  And because people do not have a sense of structure of their
mind, they don't know how to use it effectively.  To do that, they need to
develop an ability to use the meta-functions.

 

              Want more?  Check out Meta-Therapy and look for the newest
book, The Meta Place.

 L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

ISNS Executive Director

P.O. Box 8

Clifton Colorado 81520 USA

(970) 523-7877