

The Tragedy of Wiio's Law (or communication usually fails, except by accident) - kunle
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/03/26/the-tragedy-of-wiios-law/

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gruseom
This is actually pretty interesting. Such felt connections between humans are
a space in which a great deal that is worthwhile, such as healing and
learning, can take place. The psychologist Stephen Gilligan (a student of
Erickson and Bateson who has articulated their work conceptually in a way that
preserves some of its unexpectedness) calls it the relational field and says
that it is a somatic process.

The reason this kind of communication usually only succeeds by accident is
that you can't force it. That's like trying to have fun. Or the old joke where
someone screams, "I thought I told you to _relax_!"

You can, however, learn the patterns whereby it tends to arise and cultivate
them. The disciplines that have the most to teach about this are the ones
where practical success depends on working this way; so, things like therapy,
teaching, and the arts. By contrast, disciplines that work by reducing their
material to mechanism tend to exist in a realm that is disjoint from it.

