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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which is available to all those who subscribe to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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Hemorrhoids vs. Presuppositions -- a Hidden Standard
by Phil Spickler
6 Sep 00

Dear Friends and fellow-listers,
         I must start this posting with an apology, since I always eagerly
await what new possibilities may appear on the IVy list in the hopes that one
of them, or more, will hold the cure or at least a very good alleviation for
hemorrhoids.  Someone wrote to this list that the 10 presuppositions that
were from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) are the best tech just about
ever seen on the list, and I immediately, I'm ashamed and embarrassed to say,
started wondering how to adapt one or more of these presuppositions into a
hemorrhoid cure.

        So far I haven't gotten very far with it, and I'm hoping that anyone
seeing these ten presuppositions as "tech" will offer me some illumination in
this delicate matter.

       We have Master Lester to thank for posting the big 10 on the list,
since I for one have had NLP on my list of things to look over but never got
around to it.  This week I'm putting special emphasis on attribution, and
therefore I'd like to mention some of the other places I've seen those 10
presuppositions, but not all necessarily in one place.  So here goes: the one
about "the map is not the territory" came straight from Count Alfred
Korzybski, the founder of General Semantics, and that's pretty darn good
advice.  He also said, and this will be a tough one for some folks to digest,
"The word is not the thing."

        The other nine can be found in Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism,
Dianetics and Scientology, Socrates, and my grandfather.  Again, I give
credit to the NLP folk who put them together in one place, 'cause they
certainly have a nice ring to them.

        If there were a contest for Best Presuppositions, I suppose I would
propose the following:

You don't have to look for the truth, you ARE the truth.

       I like that one so much I'd like to repeat it over and over again, but
if I do, I could justifiably be accused of mass hypnosis, even in a good
cause, and you know, hypnosis has gotten a bad name for itself, even though
we count heavily on it for keeping everything mocked up and avoiding the
Void.  But I'll say it again, even though Socrates beat me to the punch:
Cease looking for the truth!  You ARE the truth.

       Well, I don't expect everybody and their Aunt Hattie to agree with that
presupposition, but I think as considerations go it takes rank over all other
presuppositions, as well as their aftermath, namely suppositions.

        Yes, yes, it's true, that presupposition is a terrible game-spoiler,
'cause it takes a vicious whack at the idea that the truth is an
ever-receding carrot, and that no matter how hard you run for it, it's always
one or more steps ahead of you.  However, if you're lucky, you'll never catch
it -- being the Truth is no game.  But you don't have to be the truth all the
time, even if it IS the truth -- you can still pretend to be everything under
the sun except the truth, and that will give you enough action to last until
the end of time.  And as far as I know, time has no end (possibly no
beginning either, physics be damned).

         All right, now that you've heard this presupposition about being the
truth, what are some of the benefits that go with this awful understanding?
Well, unless you love to be very, very, very serious, it's a great antidote
for seriousness, and you can now afford to be extremely humorous, which again
is against the rules of many of the games that have been and currently are
being played around these-here parts.  But on the other hand, you won't
continue to suffer from the embarrassment and discomfort of taking the false
notion of self that you currently possess so bloody darn seriously.

        And you will not only be able to see that others are the truth also,
and therefore you won't have to take them too seriously either, but at the
same time, you can laugh and scream with laughter a lot. ( Just as an aside
at this point, I still can't see what this is doing for hemorrhoids, mine or
anybody else's -- but ever onward!)

         Here's a piece of tech that comes out of presupposition 0: next time
you get a chance, look in the mirror and allow yourself to scream with pain
and scream with laughter at what you see, with or without any drums beating.
After you've done this for awhile, take a fresh look at what you see in the
mirror and see if you can tell what you're looking at.  You might end up
making some fresh thoughts or considerations about what you see.  In any
event, start laughing again and screaming occasionally and screaming with
laughter and screaming with pain at what you see.

        Keep this up until you feel you've come closer to the idea that what
you're looking at is merely a symbol of self, sort of like "the map ain't the
territory."

       All right, so much for that -- if anyone gets anything out of that, or
is foolish enough to do it, please write and let me know the result.  I have
a large supply of partially-used straitjackets, and I'll be happy to mail you
one on demand.

        I suppose, too, if you're going to get the idea that you are the
Truth, just to keep everybody happy out there, also get the idea that you are
the Lie as a presupposition.  As Rowland pointed out, having recently studied
with one of the creators of NLP, it isn't necessary to consider the
presuppositions as absolutes, even though you can if you want to.  My
preference would be to use them now and then for entertainment purposes, but
don't turn them into a new moral code or as an explanation for why you or
others are still feeling screwed up.  And as Rowland further suggested, you
could certainly come up with some of your own presuppositions that will also,
as most ideas do, have something to say about generating different and
perhaps even more interesting realities.

         When the Shaman speaks, I listen.  Sometimes I scream, sometimes I
laugh, and sometimes I do both.  But mostly I thank God that he's
communicating, and that goes for others on the list who I now feel so
friendly toward, I might even say loving, that I figure I can get away with
saying things that I'd never try to get away with if I weren't in the company
of such amazing folks.

        Well, as Dante said, and in closing, or as the Romans said to their
gladiators as they were entering the Colosseum, "Abandon all hope, ye who
enter here," and I might add, "'Cause when you're without hope, as well as
hopeless, you're there."  That's right -- you're the Truth.

       Have fun -- write soon -- and please, for goodness' sakes, let's have
some hemorrhoid tech!

       As ever,
        Phil
P.S.  The phenomenon of people getting healed in group settings is something
I find very interesting.  Sometimes it's very amusing to watch on USA
television various Christian healers who sock people around, and they start
walking or laughing or speaking in tongues, but it's pretty amazing.  And
I've seen people in group auditing sessions pop up with the most amazing
results.  Rowland mentioned a woman getting over her stage fright in 4
minutes (who's counting?), and others watching the performance benefiting,
possibly, from it.  I'd like to understand more of what that's about, and I
sure hope some people write in on it.  I suspect it's got something to do
with hypnotism, not necessarily in a bad sense.
        I myself enjoyed giving group things where I'd have people create all
kinds of things they didn't have, like getting somebody who doesn't have
stage fright able to create stage fright, or someone who doesn't have hay
fever create hay fever, etc. etc. etc., on the premise that when folks
realize they can create anything, good or bad, they also know at the same
time how to un-create it.  Sounds very, very OT, doesn't it?
        Best,
        P.