For those of you who have not followed along, this article is part of a mini-series dedicated to NLP Values, which is part of our NLP values section in our NLP Coaching Master Practitioner Training).
I have to say again that what I did here does not do justice to the description of the different ways of thinking which we call values levels. I simply cannot possibly compound days of teaching and information into a few short articles. But I will do my best to give you an overview of what values levels are and how they can be utilized for the development of one’s consciousness.
In our analysis we arrived at the description of values level (VL) 7 and next we will talk a little about VL 7 life’s concerns.
Life concerns: to install and maintain open systems of thinking (values levels 2-6 are in general closed systems, the most dogmatic and closed being VL 4). Think of this metaphor: if you have a bottle and you put inside a pair of fruit flies, they will begin to multiply until eventually the population of fruit flies theoretically will fill the bottle. (I am saying theoretically for a reason I will explain in a moment). What do you do?
A closed thinking person will think to reduce the population of fruit flies since there is no more room. An open thinking person will find a bigger bottle, or jars, or barrels, or suitcases, or, if necessary will get rid of the container altogether and come up with an idea to construct a dome under water to give the fruit flies a new habitat, or sterilize the fruit flies temporarily… You get the idea. What is the most functional solution that solves the problem simply and elegantly?
Just as an aside, for those of you who remember Malthus and his school of ideas appropriately named Malthusianism, you will know that the good Reverend in his 1798 writings described how unchecked population growth is exponential while the growth of the food supply was expected to be arithmetical. That is completely wrong – the growth curve of a population (be it fruit flies or any other species on earth) does not follow an exponential growth curve, but it plateaus if conditions remain the same.
Conditions in our world have not remained the same. Think only of the massive changes in the last 100 years in terms of sanitation, clean water and clean food supply (ahem!) or the tremendous technological transformation that occurred only in the last 20 years. So the fruit flies population will never grow exponentially; it will plateau and then possibly decline and even eventually die off. VL 7 is acutely aware of that and is perfectly adjusted to work comfortably in the new environment to solve the problem in a win-win-win manner.
Other concerns for VL 7 thinking are: personal freedom without any detriment to others but not personal freedom as in VL 5 where self-interest is dominant; functionality and competence, and contextual interchangeable leadership. Knowledge, realism doubled by compassion, importance and usefulness for all life, individual development while functioning inside groups (I am my own person accountable to myself and able to interact perfectly inside groups and society at large) are also essentials to this type of thinking. Self-sacrifice for the benefit of the group/community is not part of VL 7 thinking who is making his/her own choices regardless of the “common knowledge”.
A reorganization of society in order to solve all the inherent problems is not out of the question for VL 7. In fact it is a major concern. For example if the trouble is with the VL 3 running chaotically, then the energy of VL 3 must be channeled positively – give them someone to “fight” against and in the process get other things done. If the dogmatic and rigid VL 4 turns coercive, then this must be transformed and reorganized so that it reflects the positive aspects of this values level and so on. VL 7 is aware that many of the problems we encounter in the world are determined by the interaction of people at different complexities of thinking (IE different values levels) and realizes that these problems can be sorted out through complex and intelligent solutions not available in any other of the six previous values levels.
VL 7 thinking is into taking energetic and powerful actions (“take action” anybody?) rather than waiting in a placid state of “being” for somebody else to come up with the solution; s/he knows that most of these problems are generated by the differences in values levels between people, communities, and countries.
Flexibility is another mark of VL 7 thinking; therefore it can interact with any of the other values levels on their level of thinking without any difficulties. This is not the “tell-me-who-you-want-me-to-be-so-I-can-sell-you-something” VL 5 chameleonic pretense – this thinking comes from a deep respect (while not necessarily agreeing with) for all other modes of thinking in the previous values levels and sees them as an evolutionary development rather than ethnic differences, religious, cultural, national or even political diversities as they’re perceived at the previous six levels.
VL 7 is into fixing things – therefore s/he acts quickly to fix problems while the other values levels agonize and become agitated, scheme and manipulate, ask the higher authority, analyze profits and form study groups or play hypothetical theory games in a “team effort” setting and meditating for finding solutions while sharing how they feel about the situation. One of the problems VL 7 encounters is the same old setback: not all the other values levels types of thinking want the problems fixed. There are millions of people employed in industries based on these problems and solving the root cause (to use a Time Line Therapy® term) would put them out of work. I am sure you can think yourself of a number of industries who will virtually overnight become obsolete if we “find” free energy, or the cure for cancer, or we develop interstellar travel with antigravity propulsion.
The other six values levels are measuring their self (-worth, -confidence, -respect, etc.) in regards to others. One important mark of VL 7 thinking is that it measures self against self. What do I mean by that? It interprets the world through its own inner filters making individual choices among the infinity of choices available.
Do you think that VL 7 is the “be all” supreme superior human being, the end of the line in terms of human development? Think carefully! We’ll answer this question together with the description on VL 8 in the next article, which is Part 7 of our series.
Until then, be well
15 Comments
Jean Valjean
Absolutely great series, Adriana… keep them coming!!!
Jean
Bogdan Bobocea
Yes, Jean – there’s more. A great series, stay tuned and read them all!
Brett
Understanding values levels has assisted me to refine my abilities as an individual!! Magic stuff!
Brett
I love the series – excellent timing for the changes in my life and what seems to be going on around the globe 🙂
Brett
A must read for EVERYONE from beginning to end!!!!
Evelyn Cardinal
Well I thought VL 6 was good, then VL 7 sounded even better and yet the one thing we can count on is that energy will move so eventually it Will become nesessary for another VL and another on infinitly because at any point in time, at any point in now it will always be different similarly to the flow of a river it is never the molecules even though the water water molecules are the same type of molecules. They look the same and will always be different and in different arrangement without ever appearing to change.:-)
Brett
Hi Evelyn,
I find all the values levels good and bad. There’s some good points and some bad points.
So, what I found that was really good was transitioning through values levels!
I’m not sure if values will go on infinitely, especially if “infinity” becomes a values level in and of itself. Here’s what I do know, people cannot skip completing values levels and that means at some point people will get the understanding and self acceptance of forgiveness and totally go with the flow of peace, faith and trust that is the commitment to let go and be a leader.
Beyond that we’re really postulating being the power and realizing that there’s nothing outside the infinite in all the oneness.
Values levels! the greatest Coaching tool I use, that’s for sure 🙂
Adriana
Evelyn and Brett,
This answer is for both your comments (which I love BTW). The “good” and “bad” of each values level refers to the parts complete or incomplete of each values level. We can also call them the parts which are in consciousness and where you walk the walk not only talk the talk (in other words they are completed, resolved, etc.) versus the ones which are unconscious, therefore unresolved, even if a person talks the talk. They are not “experientially” – IE walk the walk completed. The words “understanding and self-acceptance of forgiveness and totally go with the flow of peace, faith and trust” denote themselves certain values levels. Which ones? They could be 2, 4, or 6 – we don’t know. In order to find out (as it were in the case of a coaching situation) we would have to investigate more and talk with the client. Observation and language skills will tell us if we know what to look/listen for. And because you talk about “beyond that”… hmmm… maybe transcendence is something to think about? And what does transcendence really mean? Think of it!
Brett
Hmmmmm Yes! I love that! What transcendence really means? I will give that some hard filtering thought – now I wonder what I may transcend from and to…
Hmmmm Transcending from lower self to higher self, to the A1 version of self? Transcending = transforming? Hmmmm now I’m thinking in new directions and that’s got to be good??
lol, I like this – my mind is lighting up in thought!!!
Adriana
The thing to remember is that there is no “better” values level. The “best” VL is the one that matches the environment. Here is an example. If you take a person who grew up in New York City and put them in any third world country, s/he will have trouble adjusting to the way people think in that area. S/he will not understand how they operate, what motivates them and will find out that s/he needs to adjust rapidly to survive. The words “life concerns” all have to do with different ways of thinking about survival. Survival in NYC entails different thinking and strategies than in the jungle of Peru or Guatemala. Now, in terms of complexity of thinking, of course there is a difference between values levels, but that does not necessarily make it better or worse.
NLP Values and the Evolution of Consciousness Part 8 - NLP Coaching | NLP Coaching
[…] with the first seven articles in this series see them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part […]
NLP Values and the Evolution of Consciousness Part 11 - NLP Coaching | NLP Coaching
[…] with the series you can find all the ten parts here – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 and Part […]
NLP Values and the Evolution of Consciousness Part 9 - NLP Coaching | NLP Coaching
[…] previous articles in this series you can find them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part […]
NLP Values and the Evolution of Consciousness Part 10 - The Tad James Co. NLP, Time Line Therapy®, Hypnosis and NLP Coaching
[…] this article, you can find all the other parts here – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9. Without the understanding presented in these parts it will be difficult […]
What Happens When Values Level 2 Meets Values Level 5? - The Tad James Co. NLP, Time Line Therapy®, Hypnosis and NLP Coaching
[…] you are not familiar with that series here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part […]