Reverse Meta Model
A “Presupposition” is something that is pre-supposed or accepted to be true in advance of any discussion. So if you and I were arguing about whether the moon were made of green cheese or not (everyone knows it is swiss cheese) it may not even be NOTICED that we’ve both accepted as a fact the existence of a moon. If one of us were from Mars we might not be aware of moons as a thing. It is actually pretty amazing how much we presuppose. How much we believe without seriously calling it into question.

Of course, when we hear other people doing this with their language, we can use the meta model to call it into question. (I guess “calling it into question” might be another name for the meta model.) As the therapist, however, we sometime may choose to deliberately presuppose certain things into our communication. Thus we reverse the meta model.

SImple Presuppositions

Bandler and Grinder’s book, “The Structure of Magic” is a treasure trove of incredibly useful presuppositions.  Here are five “simple presuppostions:”

1. Proper Names

(Presupposing that this specific person exists)
Won’t you be delighted when Agent Scully walks through that door?

2. Pronouns

(…that this general person exists)
Won’t you be keen when she walks in?

3. Definite Descriptions

(this specific thing exists)
I liked the woman in the blue uniform.

4. Some quantifiers

(all, every, some, few, many, none, each)
Everyone has many potentials that they are unaware of, yet are there.

5. Generic Noun Phrases

(Noun phrases standing for a whole class)
I have often considered the great communicators of our time to be poets.

I suggest you write out several examples of each one above. Because, when you write them, you know you know them and they will be yours to use. Or perhaps I am wrongly presupposing that that is of interest to you.