Why Neurological Levels Aren’t So Logical After All…

Robert Dilts introduced the model of Neurological Levels as a bridge between Gregory Bateson‘s work and NLP.

Beginning NLP students often get seduced by that model the instant they land on it. It’s like mental cocaine to them. Unexperienced therapists begin hailing it as the gospel of NLP when in fact it is anything but.

Now, I want to make something clear. I’m not saying here that Dilts’s Neurological Levels model has no value. I’m sure that many will find great value in the therapeutic questions tied to the model.

Here’s where you need to beware

The hierarchy created by Dilts, which supposedly links spirituality to identity to beliefs to capability to behavior to environment, is flawed.

In other words, it’s fantasy.

Logical levels work in a different way. They involve holistic relationships between the elements of the hierarchy. A great example of this would be: atom to molecules to cells to tissues to organs to systems. In this hierarchy, you can notice how each element includes yet transcends the previous. Each element is a part of the subsequent element. This is a textbook example of logical levels.

Yet, in the case of the Neurological Levels, is the environment a part of behavior? Is behavior a part of capabilities? Are capabilities part of beliefs? Does it work the other way around.

No, it doesn’t.

Actually, it might work in the same fashion as the classic syllogism:

Humans are alive.
Trees are alive.
Therefore, humans are trees.

I’m sure that in some mystic trance the environment might be a part of behavior. But not while our brains are in beta waves.

Apparently, some trainers find the Neurological Levels useful and continue to teach it, but we have to call a spade a spade.

If you’re new to NLP, don’t let yourself get seduced by it. The Neurological Levels model is not part of NLP.