To manage the massive influx of sensory inputs, your brain filters incoming data. It deletes extraneous details. It generalizes unique instances into broad categories. This mechanism prioritizes efficiency. Your nervous system navigates the environment by focusing on relevant patterns instead of processing every individual photon or vibration.

We organize these patterns on a vertical scale called the Hierarchy of Ideas.

The Concrete Level #

The bottom of the scale holds the world of direct experience. Here, your brain stores specific, sensory-based descriptions. “A 1969 Ford Mustang, cherry red, with a dent in the left bumper.” This level provides absolute clarity. It grounds your communication in observable facts.

As you move up the scale, the specific car becomes “Muscle Car.” Then “Car.” Then “Vehicle.” Then “Transportation.” Finally, you reach “Movement.” As you ascend the ladder, you lose information. You gain scope. Practitioners call this vertical movement Chunking.

Chunking Up #

Moving toward abstraction serves a strategic function. High-level concepts generate agreement. Large groups of people unite behind words like “Freedom,” “Justice,” or “Transformation.” These terms function as linguistic containers. Since the speaker removes the specific details, the listener fills the container with their own personal meaning.

In hypnosis, artfully vague language induces trance. The Milton Model utilizes this ambiguity. It occupies the conscious mind while the unconscious searches for resources. A suggestion to “feel a sense of comfort” works effectively because the client accesses their own specific definition of comfort. Abstraction builds rapport. It aligns internal maps regardless of shared details.

Chunking Down #

Moving toward specificity) drives action. High-level goals often stall when they lack sensory coordinates. “I want success” remains a vague aspiration. Your brain requires specifics to execute a plan.

To solve problems, you descend the ladder. Use the Meta Model to recover the missing information. Ask, “How specifically?” This question transforms “Success” into “Earning $100,000 this year.” It turns “Anxiety” into “A tightness in the chest when the phone rings.” Specificity recovers the structure of the experience. It makes the abstract manageable and solvable.

Lateral Chunking #

You also move sideways, exploring ideas at the same level of abstraction. This lateral movement connects related examples within the same category. From “Car,” you can shift to other “Vehicles” like “Truck,” “Motorcycle,” or “Bus.” You neither gain scope nor add detail; you generate alternatives.

In problem-solving, lateral chunking is the engine of creativity. When you’re stuck on a specific approach, moving sideways opens up new possibilities. It allows you to reframe the problem by exploring analogous situations. “How have others solved this?” or “What’s another way to think about this?” This shift in perspective breaks rigid thinking patterns.

Therapeutically, this maneuver is a powerful tool for reframing. A client might state a belief like, “I am a failure.” A lateral shift explores other potential identities at the same level: “What else are you? A parent? A friend? A musician?” This doesn’t invalidate their feeling, but it offers alternative “vehicles” for their self-concept, expanding their sense of possibility and resourcefulness.

Application #

Effective communication is not about what you say, but about how the other person’s nervous system processes it. The most common source of conflict and miscommunication is a mismatch in abstraction levels. One person speaks in high-level values (“We need more respect in this relationship”), while the other operates in low-level behaviors (“But I washed the dishes and took out the trash!”). They talk past each other because “respect” for the first person might mean “listening without interrupting,” while for the second, it means “doing helpful acts of service.” They are on completely different rungs of the ladder.

Mastery of this hierarchy means navigating it with intention. You consciously select the level of abstraction that best serves your outcome.

Chunking Up: For Vision, Agreement, and Rapport

Move up the ladder to inspire and unite. High-level concepts bypass the critical faculty and speak directly to our values.

To Inspire: Leaders use abstract language to create a shared vision. “We are building the future of communication” is far more motivating than “We need to hit our Q4 sales targets for the XT-1000 model.”

To Build Consensus: In a negotiation, finding a higher-level point of agreement is key. If two departments are fighting over a budget, chunking up to the shared goal of “company growth” or “customer satisfaction” can reframe the conflict and open up collaborative solutions.

To Pace: Matching someone’s level of abstraction is a powerful way to build rapport. It signals that you understand and accept their model of the world.

Chunking Down: For Action, Clarity, and Problem-Solving

Move down the ladder to make things happen). The brain needs sensory-specific instructions to execute a task.

To Clarify and Plan: Vague goals like “I want to be successful” lead to inaction. Chunking down with Meta Model questions (“What, specifically, does success look like? How will you know when you have it?”) turns the dream into a project plan: “I will earn $100,000 this year by acquiring 10 new clients.”

To Troubleshoot: When a relationship is struggling, the complaint is often abstract: “We just don’t communicate anymore.” You must chunk down to find the root cause.

“What, specifically, do you want to communicate about?”

“I feel like you don’t listen to me.”

“Can you give me a specific example of when you felt I wasn’t listening?”

“Yesterday, when I was telling you about my day, you were on your phone the whole time.”

Now you have a solvable problem.

Lateral Chunking: For Creativity and Reframing

Move sideways to generate new options and break fixed patterns of thought.

To Generate Options: When a team is stuck on a problem, ask for alternatives at the same level of abstraction.

“If we couldn’t use this marketing strategy, what’s another way we could reach our target audience?”

This prompts creative brainstorming instead of incremental refinement.

To Reframe with Metaphor: Lateral chunking is the engine of analogy. By framing a “business challenge” as a “chess match,” you import a whole new set of strategies and perspectives.

Navigating the hierarchy is about distinguishing the map from the territory. Abstraction is the map—it helps you get your bearings and choose a destination. Specificity is the territory—the sensory world where you take the actual steps. The menu represents the food, but it is not the food itself. Abstraction allows you to design the menu. Specificity allows you to cook the meal and eat it.