The Art of Conscious Conversations

THE CONVERSATIONAL BYPASS

Language sets everyone the same traps; it is an immensenetwork of easily accessible wrong turnings.

—LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN, Australian-British philosopher of mind and language

In this chapter, we take an in-depth look at the crucial role our everyday commitments play in our work and home lives. The daily promises we make to ourselves and others, the agreements we sign, the time we spend coordinating action—that all shapes our days, our plans, and our future. We explore how our agreements work, how they fail, and how we can recover from them when they go awry.

In the introduction, I wrote, “We live in conversations like ...