“Kenton, I am interested, after reading a good number of your works and others of similar style (?); where/how did you start learning about Neuro Linguistic Programming and Psychology in general? I thought it would be worth asking where you got started, as I have always been interested in it, and read material that used it, but I want to learn more about it.”
I was fortunate to have three mesters of psychology in High School, then became a teacher’s assistant of it at that school. I grew up as a youth on a hypnosis show and got my first hypnosis book when I was in elementary school. It’s what I read on the playground. One of my teachers was head of the state’s mental health, as well as a hypnotist, married to a nurse. All of my teachers insisted I study psychology in every way possible or most would not have accepted me as their student.
A great deal of what I know came from sources that are far more arcane and ancient than NLP. NLP simply added scientific sounding labels to much of what was already known by some on the edge of unusual thought. I tell students to study by reading as many psychology books as possible, buy actual textbooks on psychology, and read the first four or five works by Bandler and Grinder when it comes to NLP…but there is a big BUT in the latter. You must not believe entirely in what you read.
Take Bandler and Grinder at their word that they believe, “there is no truth other than magic” and consider that the philosophy of “As If” is what they are really doing. Then you will find the real secrets to what is going on there in my view. I never take psychology and pseudo-psychology at face value. Look under the surface for underlying principles in which the writers and creators may be using illusion methods to create a reality themselves.
That is as blunt as I can be about it in heading you to your own best understanding after you live Wonder Words and some of my other works for years. You need to steep yourself in it all to be able to get the essence out of it. That has long been my experience. It’s why I doubt the new experts with only a few years of in-depth dwelling in these realms really know anything more than the surface of what they have been taught. It takes a long time to see and feel beyond.
To know what I know you need also study language, illusion, esoteric subjects of all kinds, even when you disagree with them, symbolism and suggestion, with a constant eye towards “truth to show illusion and illusion to show truth.” Until you doubt what “truth” and “illusion” are…and then…you have finally begun the journey down this path.
Maybe that’s why people would rather just listen to my audio teachings and read my works. It is far easier.
I beg of you not to blindly believe or follow others without critical thought. See if what they say is not only motivating or sounds good, but that you can understand the logic of it in nature and daily life. Check deep within yourself, and check decades of living to see how reliable is what you are being taught.
I have learned much that sounds good but is either a delusion or not at all reliable. There are so many things from NLP I did not put into Wonder Words for that reason. Likewise many other aspects far outside the realm of NLP I did put into Wonder Words because I saw and felt it work for many over decades of practical experience, including my own.
NLP has its place, understand. I am grateful for labels and some notions that I either learned from NLP or that NLP reinforced. NLP is however not all there is to suggestion, influence, illusion or creations of reality. It’s a good place to start, but you have to read between the lines, live it for years, ask loads of questions, test out everything, see through much nonsense, and then decide what underlying principles are truly at work.
This is why I often speak about principles and primary concepts or tools rather than a prescribed method only. When you learn the principles, new labels on them won’t surprise you or cause you to think something is new when it is in fact rather ancient. Even when that something old is labeled as “NLP”.
I learned by considering principles and living them for many, many years. I still do. That’s what I write about. That’s what I teach. That’s why I teach what I do, the way that I do.
By the way, those of you who buy or download for free the Wonder Words books–those are NOT Wonder Words! Wonder Words is an audio series. The Wonder Words Course has workbooks and review booklets, but these are of little value without having the audio programs that teach you what to do.
Learn more about the Wonder Words Course by clicking HERE.
Learn more about the Wonder Words Membership HERE.
Kenton Knepper
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