Aligning Your Goals with Your Vision – The Legend of the Potential Prince

Dernière mise à jour de l'article le 17 October 2024

Logical Levels is a tool used in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) that helps you better understand your way of functioning and the impact of your decisions on your life.

These levels are an interconnected set of processes arranged hierarchically. The principle behind these levels is that a change made at a given level will impact the lower levels, but not the higher ones. To solve a problem, one must take a step back and move up one level of the pyramid to analyse and understand the blockage. You may have heard the famous quote by Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

The Logical Levels consist of six levels: Environment, Behaviours, Capabilities, Values/Beliefs, Identity/Mission, and Vision.

The Legend of the Potential Prince

To illustrate this tool, I’d like to share the Legend of the Potential Prince, a story I read in the book Coaching with NLP by Christiane Grau Martinet. You can find this book on Amazon (affiliate link): Coaching with NLP.

This story beautifully illustrates the concept of logical levels and the importance of being aligned at all levels of this scale. Enjoy your reading!

The legend tells the story of a King who lived in very ancient times, so ancient that only a few still remember it. He ruled over a faraway kingdom, so distant that no one knows its location anymore. The King governed his realm with talent; his people loved him and appreciated the wisdom he displayed in his daily actions.

As he looked out the window at the sunlight playing over the landscape on that late afternoon, the King listened to the music and laughter coming from the banquet hall where his people were celebrating the 18th birthday of his son, the young Potential Prince.

The time had come for him to step back and hand over the kingdom’s leadership to his son. He had him summoned.

“My son,” he said, “you have acquired a great variety of talents that will be necessary for you to act as a King and lead our people towards their destiny. However, you must face one final test, the challenge that will demonstrate, if you succeed, that you are worthy of succeeding me as the head of the kingdom.”

At these words, the Prince felt a wave of enthusiasm and energy rise within him. The moment had arrived; he felt ready. He replied to his father, “Father, I am ready to face this test. What must I do to be worthy of succeeding you as King?”

“My son, you must demonstrate that you can control the kingdom so that it operates for the greatest good of your subjects.”

“Father,” said the Prince, his face lighting up with a broad smile, “this problem is easy to solve; I will control the environment of the kingdom. Nothing will happen anywhere at any time of day or night without my control. Thus, I will control the kingdom and be worthy of being its King.”

“My son,” said the King with an amused smile, “you are quite presumptuous! Even if it were possible for you to control everything that happens here at all times, you would soon find yourself ruling an inanimate kingdom, for no small event could occur without your approval.” These words did not shake the Prince’s determination. In a loud, confident voice, he responded immediately:

“Then I shall control the behaviours of my subjects. They will do only what is good; I will ensure the control of the kingdom and be worthy of being King.”

“My dear son, do you not fear that you will turn them into mindless automatons, where even the smallest gesture depends on you, losing all naturalness and spontaneity that characterise life?”

“You speak true, father. I will instead establish a training institute. I will educate my subjects on what they should know and do, and what they should avoid. This way, I will control my kingdom and be worthy of being King.”

“My son,” said the King, increasingly amused, “that is better; you wish to stifle the creativity of your subjects and thereby make them dependent on you for the development of their abilities.”

The warm voice of the King betrayed a hint of mockery, which began to dent the Prince’s pride. He calmed down, as if stung. He seemed to be searching for an image that would provide him with the key, while also listening to the voice that would inspire him. Suddenly, his face lit up, and he said, “This time, father, I believe I have found it. I will make happiness mandatory; this will develop strategies and behaviours in my subjects that yield positive outcomes for the environment. In this way, I will control my kingdom and be worthy of being King.”

“Well done, my son; you seem to have a talent for forgetting the essentials. Even if you manage to freeze the emotions of your subjects, how will they know how to navigate life without a compass guiding them towards what is good for them and away from what is not? And how will you know the kingdom’s climate without the richness of emotions that can no longer express themselves to inform you?”

The young Prince felt perplexed but did not yet admit defeat. How could he control his kingdom if he did not control the environment, the behaviours of his subjects, their abilities, or their emotions? Apart from himself, he saw nothing else to control: he said in an uncertain voice, “I see little else but myself. Is that the answer, father? By controlling myself, I will control my kingdom and be worthy of being King.”

His father smiled; in his eyes, tenderness had replaced mockery. He said gently, “My dear son, that is enough for today. The celebration in honour of your 18th birthday has worn you out. What subject would want a man as King who is under control, even if it is his own? How would you be available to others if you spent your time monitoring yourself? I invite you to go to bed; the night brings counsel! Tomorrow morning, you will undoubtedly understand what it is sufficient to control to control everything without having to control everything.”

Without delay, feeling humiliated for not having found the key to this seemingly simple riddle, the Prince went to his room and fell asleep.

During the night, he had a dream. In this dream, he began to fly and rose so high above the castle that the details faded away, revealing a broad image emerging before his amazed eyes. His perception of time changed as the image expanded, and he soon saw not only the entirety of the kingdom but also an entire story—past, present, and future. He understood the unity and deep coherence of this meaningful story over time. He saw the harmony in the growing diversity of forms and how it contributed to the richness of life, with each one contributing to the well-being of others in a symbiosis of which he had previously been unaware. It was as if a wall had just fallen, leaving his life awash with a sense of wholeness. He understood in that luminous perception the meaning of the test his father had put before him. In that moment of eternity, he became the Bearer of Meaning, and that was his role as King.

Thus, from identity to the perception of the environment, all his subjects would freely align with this desirable and meaningful vision, like a flock of chattering swallows in the starry sky flying toward their migratory destiny. It was through meaning that he controlled his kingdom and would be worthy of succeeding his father. He would bring to his people, day after day, his rich vision of the meaning of life, of this ever-renewed creation, entirely oriented toward a more generous and beautiful future in which his subjects would want to participate and belong.

The sun filled with light the room where a new King had just awakened.

— Eric Mortier