On the Usefulness of Confusion
This email was in response to someone who had complained of being easily confused while reading email from someone who'd used NLP language patterns.
When someone says 'confusion just obfuscates an objective, and clarity has its benefits,' I'd say that some of the time, such a person may not be seeing the whole picture! There are times when the confusion which is generated is extremely useful!
When someone says a phrase "blows right by" them, that can be useful, especially when its not the words that are important, but the sequence of emotions they generate.
If the intended confusion fails to lead a subject through the desired set of states, in the desired sequence, then the confusion was useless. However! Should the confusion end up as simply a vehicle which successfully helps a subject experience those states, then I would say the advantage is not always in clarity, and not always in confusion, but always in the greatest possible flexibility of the practitioner to recognize when to use certain methodologies....
The meaning of any communication is not embodied in what you meant to communicate, rather it is embodied in how the communication was received -- i.e., in the final interpretation by the recipient.
Occasionally, I believe, clarity just gets in the way. ;)
[An added note for people new to NLP - 1/1/98 (!) - Language patterns designed to induce confusion are an important part of something called the Milton Model of NLP. Milton Erickson used many such patterns in his therapeutic Hypnosis practice, and these language patterns were modeled by NLP co-creators Richard Bandler and John Grinder, in an effort to learn more about how Milton Erickson achieved such powerful, permanent, and rapid changes in his clients' behavior! This is one part of how/why NLP is so effective at bringing about personal change... but NLP comprises far more than skills of hypnosis.]
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