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42
Hermann Kuhn
combine meanings, then the mere naming, the mere mentioning or listing of all the components we want to convey hardly ever produces the intended comprehension.
Communication is basically the attempt to coordinate and align the ideas and concepts which different people associate with more complex contents. But contrary to common opinion only a small part of this mechanism involves the use of spoken words.
Most people are not aware that during communication they not only exchange physically expressed words, descriptions and explanations, but that they also transmit content on an emotional level. Whatever meaning we express in speech we also convey on the level of feeling. It is an associated field that automatically reverberates in every word we use.
Our communication can be compared to an iceberg. The visible peak above the water corresponds to the words we exchange on the physical level. Yet the contents we really transmit equals the far greater part beneath the surface that is invisible to the eye.
The questions and answers we use in our communication inform us to what degree the emotional (invisible) meaning that we transmitted beyond words and sentences reached its destination intact. Here we employ our spoken words mainly to correct the differences that exist on the level of that deeper, emotional understanding. Yet
morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'
_ 'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar, sternly. 'Explain yourself!'
'I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir,' said Alice, 'because I'm not myself, you see.'
From ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
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