Terminology

There is a certain terminology that goes hand in hand with the teaching of transformational processing. You might have to learn some new words or you might use some words a little differently than you are used to.

A systematic, consistent terminology can make it easier to communicate about the subject at hand. You can easily refer to phenomena that might otherwise be hard to explain. But unfortunately jargon might also be a big hindrance in really understanding a subject. For that reason, jargon is kept at a relative minimum in this particular course. Wherever possible the common English terms are used instead of specialized words that only initiates will understand.

Specialized jargon is often a key ingredient in making a group. By devising a special language that outsiders don't understand, the group will get a heightened sense of belonging together. Because other people won't quite understand what they are talking about. That is great if you want to create a cult or a secret society. It is not very useful if you are trying to do something for society at large. You won't get your point across very well if you speak a foreign language.

Processing has often been taught using somewhat cryptic terminologies. Some of it is preserved or explained in this system of processing, some of it is not. The focus here is on giving you some powerful tools that you can use to help people with, not on making you or your clients into initiated insiders. Wherever there is a choice, common English words are used in this course. Or, several alternative terms are cross-related.

If you want to communicate well with people you meet, speak their language. If you are going to explain something they don't have a word for you can teach them a new word, but otherwise you better use their words. Don't invalidate the things people already know, but use their existing references to get your own point across. Be conversant in the language of common self-improvement movements, so that you can translate concepts from one system to another.

This course won't either put much emphasis on very precisely worded definitions. But it will put great emphasis on getting you to understand the underlying principles. Understanding and skill is not made out of words. If something is explained very logically in important sounding terms that fit exactly together, then you are presented with a bit of a trap. You might think that because you understand the sentence you understand the concept. But that is far from the truth.

Words are frozen meanings that hopefully refer to something that exists somewhere. They are symbols for phenomena that are found elsewhere. They are very practical in communication, in that you can exchange these symbols rather than the real thing. You can think of something, translate it into word symbols, send it to somebody else, and she then translates the symbols into what it would mean within her frame of reference. It will never be exactly the same as what you meant, but hopefully it is close enough.

The word is never the thing.

Whenever you start forgetting that words are supposed to refer to something then you are headed for trouble. If you start using words as things, then you are entering the never-never land of intellectualizing about nothing.

Even the most intelligently constructed statement says nothing whatsoever in itself. All it can hope to do is to stimulate you to link up with existing realities in a useful way so that you can maybe approximate the intended meaning well.

Well-written language can be very instrumental in conveying ideas. Our society wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for language. But never lose track of the fact that the word is not the thing. Nice definitions are not an end in themselves, but only a stimulant to make you understand.

The understanding we are after is the conceptual understanding. Meaning that after studying the words involved there is always an extra step. There is a jump you need to make: from language to actual conceptual understanding. You must make the material your own and link it up with your own personal experience.

The biggest barrier to studying a subject is thinking that you already know it. The world is full of people who give explanations on things they don't have any real contact with. They can give the words, but they are just manipulating them in their minds, they aren't perceiving for themselves.

The purpose of this training program is to get you to think, act, and breathe the principles of transformation. What is important is not the status of what courses you have done, or the amount of materials you have studied, or how precisely you know the definitions of processing. What is important is what you can actually do with it.

If you really understand something conceptually, then you can use it. And you can always explain it as necessary in whatever words communicate best. You would be able to take your basic understanding and formulate it into the appropriate words when you explain it to somebody else. You wouldn't just be remembering some words and passing them on to the other person. So, if you find yourself being dependent on specific words, there is probably something you don't understand about the subject.



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