Jack, as usual, your continued inquiry is penetrating and demands
some further thinking on my part.
I said "I caution looking for 'false' messages." I didn't say,
"Don't do it." The background to this is that we are complex and
most of our communications are, or appear, ambiguous. I then said,
"I would rather respect the whole than take one "part" as being false
and some other as being "true" or whatever."
You respond,
> Assuming that the construct of meaning exists in my mind and not in the
> message itself, why is there greater value in treating the message
> holistically, rather than assigning value to differing parts, especially
> if I perceive them as conflicting?
I don't know that I'm suggesting treating it "holistically" so much
as considering each part and/or the whole as distinct messages. The
warning is against weighting - in your own judgement - which is key
and which is conflicting with that "key". It also against adding the
judgements of true/false or good/bad and thereby missing the messages
as they are being given.
Your perception of "conflict" after all, is from your own moccasins.
It may not occur as a conflict over there. I think the point of this
part of my message is that each "part" of a communication and any
complex relationships are all most powerful openings for continued
dialouge. I am not much interested in the very limited possibility
of interpreting what is meant by a single act of communication.
(This is a necessary and important ability - just not of great
interest to me in these conversations.)
My final argument is that as long as you are clear that the
judgements and interpretations are all your own and also that you
find the way of engaging useful or valid according to your own
lights, then I've not got much to say about it.
Michael McMaster : Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk
book cafe site : http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
Intelligence is the underlying organisational principle
of the universe. Heraclitus
--Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>