This is one of the many NLP presuppositions and one of the original 8 of Richard Bandler.
What does NLP mean with the presupposition?
The map is not the territory is also known as the menu is not the food. It’s a different way of saying it, but it comes down to the same. The map or menu is only a representation and not the same thing. If there’s a hamburger on the menu the representation of the actual hamburger (bread, meat, lettuces and so on) is the word hamburger made up of droplets of ink on paper.
This is a metaphore for the way we experience the world. The way we see and the memories we have are only a representation of what really happened. It is what we remembered and how we understood it that makes up this representation.
The same goes for words. If we take a word like “Success”, everybody knows what I mean. We all have “Success” on our menu, but what we really mean by it might (and probably will) differ from person to person.
Why is it necessary for NLP to believe this?
This presupposition is one of the underlying beliefs for the Metamodel. The metamodel deals with communication that’s not directly rooted in our sensory systems, communcation that’s generic or vague. I’ll come back to the Metamodel in a later article.
If words and memories are maps and not territories, we can also work on changing the maps. Since the map is a representation of the territory, we can “revisit” the territory and redraw the map. This is one of the techniques used in NLP as well, and we can change the structure of our experience by doing so.
Can I find proof or personal experiences that support the presupposition?
On a daily basis! Ever since I started with NLP and even before that, I have been very sensitive to words. I ask so many times what somebody means exactly with those words and match it with my own meaning. They’re often not the same and sometimes not even similar.
And my current Early Bird Challenge is a way of restructuring my map as well. One of my beliefs was that I was an evening person, a night owl. It was one of the maps of myself, but the territory is different and by changing my habit of waking late to rising early I have also made a new map of myself.
And on another field entirely, the best definition I have ever heard of what a theory is: “A simplified representation of reality”. Which, in a way, is another way of saying what that the map is not the territory as well.
Can I find proof or personal experiences that undermine the presupposition?
I thought hard about this one, but I can’t seem to find any.
In conclusion, how do I feel about this presupposition?
I can agree with this presupposition and actually belief it to be true.
Time for you to talk
What do you think of this presupposition? Does it make sense to you? Do you have experiences or examples that might undermine this presupposition?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I enjoyed reading this post – I find this kind of discussion, our perception vs reality, fascinating. One point though is if an acronym is used, like NLP, it would be a good idea to define it in the article. I generally catch posts through my RSS feed and there is no other point of reference when I’m scanning the content.
That’s a good idea, a definition article of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and challenging as well. I know what it is on one hand, but I’ve also got the feeling I’m barely scratching the surface as well. But I’ll take it to heart, thanks!