The word “Inquiry,” can be defined as “The act of asking for information;” “seeking for or requesting Truth, information, or knowledge;” And, as “A systematic investigation;” or as “An examination into facts or principles.”
It also means, “A process aiming to augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem,” and it is the most crucial tool in science, the fundamental reason why science even exists, and the only force that truly drives pure science. Those of you who do or have done research know that if you do not start with an inquiry, then you do not have a research study. You also know that the quality of your inquiry determines the quality of your research project, and how much consideration is given to your proposal both by your peers, your grant funders, and the scientific journal your study will end up in.
The father of modern Anthropology, Claude Levi-Strauss, once said, “The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is the one who asks the right questions.” And Albert Einstein, himself, advised, “The important thing is to never stop questioning.”
NLP, being the science of living, and the science of modeling is centered around the process of inquiry, and the emphasis on that is very strong. The reason for this is as follows:
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We have been socialized and programmed through a series of limiting belief systems
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We are unaware of most of these limiting beliefs systems that have been driving our whole life, yet they are responsible for our results and they determine our identity
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The only way to change our results is to change our belief systems, of which we first need to become aware, and the fastest and most effective way to do so is through the process of inquiry.
In our last session on NLP, entitled, Our Process of Interpretation and Reality, we went over a number of more than a dozen inquiries. We explained that the mere fact of engaging in this process was powerful enough to raise our level of awareness. We also said that it was very important for us to:
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Pay attention to our process of responding to the inquiry;
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Not merely accept the answer without asking a follow-up question, like “what does that mean;” “why is this,” or “how is that,” and
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To remain open-minded with the understanding that our actual response to a specific inquiry is likely to evolve over time.
Our brain is unable to ignore a question. Our brain automatically gets stimulated by a question. And our brain automatically responds when it gets stimulated. The type of question asked may determine the type and level of stimulation carried out by our brain, and several questions may lead to several unconscious responses. In our Self-Expression Series, we continuously go through a process of inquiry, and these questions are often challenging. In our last NLP class, the dozens of questions that we considered in our process of inquiry were equally challenging and naturally evoke some responses at the level of the unconscious mind.
Consider the following questions:
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Who are you?
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Why are you here, on this planet Earth, that is over 4.5 billion years old?
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What is your purpose here?
Do you find this to be Philosophy? Spirituality? Religion? Metaphysics? Science? Well, the answer is: Yes and No. Why? Because these questions are not about philosophy, not about religion, not about science, metaphysics, or spirituality. These bodies of knowledge are simply systems to try to understand and explain what is, the Truth, and what is Reality, while these questions are part of an inquiry process to arrive at what is, the Truth, and what is Reality. In other words, Because each of these five thought systems is trying to understand and explain, it would be dangerous to conclude that one of them has the Truth, while the other does not. It is also dangerous to assume that one is better than the other or to condone one and condemn the other.
Where does that leave us, particularly as it relates to NLP? Where that leaves us is to what really matters. What really matters is not our answer to any of the questions. What really matters is what type of belief system is driving our answer to any of these questions, and whether such a belief system is working for us or not. These two sets of data collected from our process of inquiry will make the process worth it. For it will allow us a shortcut to becoming aware of our belief systems, making it easier to truly address them, particularly through the process of Substitution, as we are currently seeing in our CBT Certificate Course. Now, for you to help anyone, particularly your patients or clients with this powerful process, you, first, ought to go through it. Yes, clinician, heal thyself.
Will you join us in this process of inquiry so we can help our clients uncover their limiting belief systems, address them, and cease their unconscious self-inflicted suffering? If so, we look forward to seeing you at our next NLP class, on Saturday, September 26th, 4-6pmEST, when we will be talking about the Human Experiential Model.
We look forward to seeing you then.
Until then,
Karen and Mardoche