My great friend and internationally-recognized psychologist and NLP expert, Art Giser, wrote about yesterday’s session and the quote from Dune. I asked him if I could share it with Study Hall participants and he said, “Absolutely!”
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Some thoughts on the quote from an NLP perspective:
I have always liked that quote, and in terms of getting people to think about the power of fear, it’s fantastic. The difficulty is that it gets them to think about the power of fear.
In terms of hypnotic language patterns, it is better to not use language patterns like “I must not” “fear is the mind killer,” etc., because it is asking the unconscious to access fear, and then try to handle it. And it supports the idea that fear is more powerful than the conscious mind. It’s like saying, “Don’t think about falling because you’ll hurt yourself” and then the person has to think about falling and about falling hurting them, and then try to turn it into not falling.
According to NLP principles: in the moment of fear, the quote would be much more effective for most people if they just thought: “I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” (From Dune by Frank Herbert)
That part of the quote has great hypnotic language patterns (including the accessing of the “I” that is not the fear; it is only experiencing the fear). People tend to make what they feel part of their identity (“I am a fearful person”).
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Great feedback! Thank you, Art!!! Fantastic insights and suggestions!! Art has amazing workshops on healing and other topics for those who are interested. I’ve attended and Art has coached me; and he is extraordinary!! Highly recommended!!