Map is not the territory

Map is not the territory

Presupposition 2: Map is not the territory.

          Map is not the territory is a simple statement, but contains great meanings. Territory is the geographical area of a state and map is its diagrammatic representation. However territory is entirely different from the map. It is the actual physical being of what the map represents. In NLP we are dealing with the internal map which is the internal representation of a life experience or world of reality perceived through five senses. You can’t change the world of reality but you can change the way you perceive it.

          You have already learned in the previous sessions the process of perception, filtration (deletion, distortion, generalization) and modeling (forming internal map). A person lives upon his internal map. Map act as a compass for the person to navigate his life. What is the significance of the statement ‘map is not the territory’ in NLP and what is its meaning?

          Map is not the territory indicates that the ‘internal map’ is not the ‘real experience’ in the external world however it is the ‘present reality’ in the internal world for the person. Meaning of the present reality may not match with the meaning of the real experience. In fact an event itself has no meaning, we give meaning to it!

          One of my friends stays in the city goes for morning walk daily with his wife. One day he sees a young boy and girl come in the opposite direction. They smiles at my friend and family and continue walking. His wife said ‘what a perfect match, both are handsome too’. He agreed and said ‘May be they are working at one of the IT companies’. They meet again in the next day and smiled each other. This time friend’s wife wishes them saying a ‘hello’ but amazingly the couples don’t replies and walked away. As a middle class woman she gets upset. “See, this is the problem of new generation, no manners, what do they lose in saying a hello” she expresses her dislike. “My dear, I think they smiled.” he says to cool her down. “So what, since I wished them they must have to respond, I’m wondering what culture their children learns from them”. The dialogue continues. Every day they meet. One day they meet their neighbour, a retired army chief on the way and he just wishes the young couples by swaying his hand. They responded in a similar manner. Then he turned towards my friend and his wife, wishes them and asks “how are you, do you know who they are”. “No”, friend replied. “They are the children of Captain Roy Thomas. Both are deaf and dumb but very smart, doing their research in the university”. They got ashamed of their negative thought.

          The above story is just an example of how people perceive life experiences. As I have mentioned earlier that event itself has no meaning, we give meaning to it! If you do not tell a child that ‘A’ should be pronounced as ‘A’ and ‘A’ is the first letter of Apple the child may pronounce in a different way and give his own meaning. When a person laughs, you are free to give meaning to it as ‘laugh at’, ‘laugh away’, ‘laugh off’ etc. When husband is angry wife may give different meanings to it! When wife get into a mood off state husband may think differently ad give his own meaning to it. Different person gives different meanings to the same experience.

          How do different persons give different meanings? We have already learned that filters and thinking process influence the perception. The internal representation is ‘perception plus the meaning given to it’. The person act on the meaning he gives to the experience and not on the actual experience.   That’s why we consider it as a presupposition. The meaning a person gives to an experience influences his life positively or negatively. It may affect his personal and professional life. It may lead him to success or failure. It may disintegrate his family life.

          The advantage of NLP is that it can help a person to change the meaning he has given. NLP makes him to see the experiences in a different angle. You can’t change the world of reality but you can change the way you perceive it. In the above example my friend and family changed their attitude towards that young couple. But the real experience (meeting them in the morning) does not have any change! Positive thinking is nothing but to view an experience in a different angle in such a way that it should support one’s life. Since map is not the territory we can change the map! ‘Changing one’s internal map’ is the basis of NLP life change interventions’. So keep in mind the presupposition Map is not the territory.