Turtles All the Way Down: Prerequisites to Personal Genius

414 Pages·1995·1.97 MB·English

by  John Grinder

TURTLES ALL
THE WAY
DOWN
Prerequisites To
Personal Genius
John Grinder
Judith DeLozier

Grinder & Associates
ACKNOV
We wish to acknowledge to
the other
C.E. Asherbranner
Suzanne Bailey
Nancy Beplat Jean
Blair Larry Burnett
Published by Georgene Burton
Grinder & Associates Britt Burton Cosette
P.O. Box 67295 Scotts Valley, CA
Carter Consuelo
95067
Casula Susan
Master Distributor Connors Peggy
Metamorphous Advanced Product Services P.O. Dean Carmel
Box 10616 Portland, OR 97210-0616 Decroos Skip Ellis
Carole Ellison
Rosalie Fedoruk
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be utilized in any form or by any Judy Francis Francis
means, electronic or mechanical, including Friedman Sherrie
photocopying, recording, or by any Funk John Funk
information storage and retrieval system, Amber Goldstein
without permission in writing from the
George Greenberg
authors.
Sharon Grimm
Copyright © 1987 by John Grinder and Thomas Grinder
Judith DeLozier Editorial and Art Direction Allan Harris
by Lori Stephens Printed in the United Christian Hart
States of America
Poppy Hawkins Jack

Grinder, John. Hawley
Turtles all the way down : prerequisites to personal genius /
John
Grinder, Judith DeLozier. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-55552-022-7 : $22.95
1. Neurolinguistic programming. I. DeLozier, Judith. II. Title.
BF637.N46G75 1994 158'.9—dc20 94-32322
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to acknowledge to following people: the participants-the
other end of the loop:
C.E. Asherbranner
Suzanne Bailey Phil Herman Kirk
Nancy Beplat Jean Hughes Murray
Blair Larry Burnett Johannsen Janece Kline
Georgene Burton Bob Kurtz
Britt Burton Cosette Phyllis Murray Linhart
Carter Consuelo Catherine Long Kari Lyn
Casula Susan Jerry Mader Stephanie
Connors Peggy Mader Thomas Malloy
Dean Carmel Susan Marcus Diane
Decroos Skip Ellis Marshall Robert
Carole Ellison McDonald Philip Milroy
Rosalie Fedoruk Pauline Monson Jane
Judy Francis Monteleone Patricia
Francis Friedman Moore Marshall
Sherrie Funk John Nechtow David Pounds
Funk Amber Del Powell Alan Power
Goldstein George Vera Reichenfeld-Tay
Greenberg Sharon Jose Rodnguez Marne
Grimm Thomas Ryan Antonio Santos
Grinder Allan Steven Silverman
Harris Christian
Hart Poppy
Hawkins Jack
Hawley
iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
John Simmonds Maureen Toth
Steve Smolinsky Jane Mumtaz Vishal
St. Sauveur John Karen Weihs
Stone James Taylor Richard Zarro
Joel Teague Sylvia Marilyn Zatkin
Topel Deborah Zeigler

Matundu Mamingi to our African and American drummer and dancer
friends
TaTitos Sompa
TaMbemba
TaMalonga Fred
Simpson
Thanks to Gary-Michael Bean for his suggestions and work.
Thanks to our staff
Laura Grinder Stephanie Mader Mark
Carroll Jerry Mader
Thanks to our friends who played such an important role in
commenting.
Bob Dilts
Don Steiny Susan
Marcus
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Beginning ix
Preface xi
Prerequisites For Personal Genius

Day One 3

Day Two 94

Day Three 180

Day Four 255

Day Five 338

Afterword 385

Footnotes 387

Bibliography 391
Reasonable men adapt themselves
to the world, unreasonable men at-
tempt to adapt the world to them-
selves. That's why all progress de-
pends on unreasonable men.
George Bernard Shaw
To our former teacher Gregory Bateson
We hope he would be, at least, amused.
John Grinder Judith
DeLozier
viii WARNING
WARNING TO THE READER
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) represents a significant advance in the develop-
ment of human choice. It places at the discretion of the skilled and balanced
practitioner options for living with quality which were previously assigned variously
to fate, chance, genetics, accidents and divine influence. It is important to me to
explicate at least partially what I intend by the descriptive phrase, skilled and
balanced.
The skill issue points to the requirement in the mastery of any interesting human skill
set for a commitment to practice, the personal discipline on the part of the would-be
NLP practitioner to arrange his or her own context for exploring, learning and
ultimately mastering of the actual body of patterning called NLP. Success at this task
identifies a learner, and the result a technician.
The balanced issue refers to two requirements, first, the learner's ability to integrate the
skill set (mastered by the technician) into each and every area of their life, personal as
well as professional. Secondly, once this integration of the technical skill set has
occurred, the individual is faced with the awesome responsibility of exercising these
choices with some wisdom. At this point, the caterpillar bursts the confinement of the
cocoon, the technician transforms herself/himself into an artist.
All the above is a somewhat circuitous way of cautioning the would-be NLP
practitioner. The world at the moment seems rather overflowing with people
purporting to offer training in NLP. It is here in selecting a mentor that you, the reader,
may begin to exercise one of the most crucial abilities associated with artistry in the
practice of NLP—namely, that of assessing the congruency of the purported trainer. If
your intuitions caution you, if you detect a discrepancy between the verbal presentation
of such a person and their actual behavior and performance, keep moving and looking
for an appropriate model.
If you are seriously interested in having access to quality training or business
consulting applications which rest firmly on the foundation of NLP which I intended
when I co-created the discipline, I invite you to contact me at:
John Grinder
QUANTUM LEAP
P.O. Box 67359
Scotts Valley, CA 95067-7359
TEL) 408-457-0529
FAX) 408-457-2834
IX
A BEGINNING
William James is usually considered the father of American psychology.'
He was once invited to deliver a series of lectures at Harvard on a topic of his
choosing. These lectures were presented on the green and were special in that
they were open to the public. After some deliberation, he chose boldly ?nd the
title for his first presentation wasCan One Prove The Existence of God?, a
topic sure to raise eyebrows in the early part of this century in New England.
Thus, it was with some trepidation that he watched the audience file into
the lecture hall and, sure enough, at the very last moment, a little old lady
rushed down the center aisle and deposited herself from row center.
Professor James presented his topic with his usual wit and charm. He
noted as he worked his way through his lecture that the little old lady was
very attentive and seemed to be enjoying herself—he did mark the fact that
she seemed to laugh when no one else did. Nevertheless, all seemed quite in
order.
At the end of the presentation, which was very well received, the
inevitable queue formed. And, of course, at the end of the queue was the little
old lady. When her turn came, she looked up brightly at James and said:
"Dr. James, I very much enjoyed your lecture. But I do still have one
question."
"Please, madame, ask your question!" returned William James
courteously.
"Well, Dr. James," she replied with a glint in her eye, "If there's no God,
what keeps the earth from falling down?"
James quickly reviewed his options—he considered such explanatory
notions as centripetal force, gravitational systems .,. but wisely chose to
respond in a way as to learn something from this woman. Turning his
attention back to her, he said, "Madame, I would be happy to answer your
question, but tell me what it is that you
x A BEGINNING
believe keeps the earth from falling down?"
"Why, that's very simple. Dr. James, the earth is resting on the back of a
gigantic turtle!"
James mused to himself over her extraordinary response for a moment
and then with a hint of triumph in his voice asked the obvious question.
"The, pray tell me, Madame, what keeps this gigantic turtle from falling
down?"
"No! No! No! Dr. James," replied the little old lady, "You can't get me
there—it's turtles all the way down!"