„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

here-and-now becomes past data that fill “mini-buckets” in the there-and-then
(preconscious) area of our larger buckets (Figure 2).
Figure 2. The There-and-Then Level: Preconscious
While receding into the there-and-then area, data are either posited so that they
influence our current behavior, thoughts, and feelings or so that they are comparatively
insignificant in our lives.
Through memory we can recall a great deal of these data, but some are virtually lost
forever. Much of what we have done, thought, and felt has the potential to influence us
dynamically at some later time in our lives. The data remain to be recalled and perhaps
serve as a modifier of our current (here-and-now) behavior, thoughts, perceptions,
feelings, and experience. Sometimes harmoniously, sometimes not, the past and present
interrelate. Lewin (1951) might call these data the “facts” in our life space—memories
that force their way into the current situation where they stir old feelings and thoughts
and modify current perceptions and behavior. To kenepathize with us, others must
understand the influences of the intruding mini-buckets that act as catalysts at the
present moment.
There-and-Then Level: Unconscious
Even more remote and inaccessible is the unconscious area of our buckets—the most
inscrutable of all (Figure 3). This area contains miniature buckets that represent what we
have repressed throughout our lives. Experiences too painful to deal with have been
pushed into the unconscious. Like experiences stored in our preconscious, they often
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 39