Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Getting to the Heart of the Matter: The Meta Model
The Meta Model
In This Chapter
▶ Reaching beyond the words people say
▶ Recognising how words can limit you
▶ Finding out about the Meta Model
H
ave you ever invited someone, even yourself, to: ‘Say what you mean
and mean what you say?’ If only speech was that easy.You use words all the time as important tools to convey your thoughts and
ideas – to explain and share your experiences with others. In Chapter 7, we
explain that in any face-to-face communication, people take just part of the
meaning from the words that come out of your mouth. Your body language –
all those movements and gestures – and the tone of your voice transmit
the rest.One of the NLP presuppositions to which you’re introduced in Chapter 2 is
that ‘the map is not the territory’. This statement explains that the model
that you have in your head of the world around you isn’t the actual world,
but just a representation you make of it. The filters of your experience and
your language influence this representation of the world.Words offer just a model, a symbol of your experience; they can never fully
describe the whole picture. Think of an iceberg – the tip above the surface
is like the words you say. NLP says that this tip is the surface structure of
language. Beneath the surface lies the rest of the iceberg – the home of your
whole experience – which NLP calls the deep structure: the way you represent
the world internally, in your mind.