Dear Bruno,

Re your statement to Phil, that the individual can't divide the field since
the individual and the field are one:   The field consisting of the organism
and the other (most frequently, though not always, the environmental other) is
not a homogeneous whole.  There must be otherness or there can be no awareness
(which is always intentional, i.e. of an object) and no contact (which is
meeting with the other).  Reality is lumpy, not an undifferentiated "soup".
It's both incorrect from the standpoint of Gestalt theory, and its not
practical to think of the individual person and the field as an
undifferentiated and simple unity.

Lewin correctly said that the individual's need organizes the field.  In other
words, our own interests make certain things within the field stand out in
relief, while others remain in the background.  Those elements which arouse
our interest also mobilize our energies and guide us toward contactful action.
All of this necessarily takes place within the context of otherness.

Further, the context in which we are aware and have contact has its own
structure (not everything is possible, some possibilities are easier or more
difficult, more or less costly, etc than others).  And each person brings to
every situation an ever-evolving internal organization of his/her life's
experiences.  The responses of the individual person arise partly out of the
ground which he/she brings to the present situation, and partly as a result of
what the situation itself presents at that time.  So awareness and contactful
action always occur through the reciprocal interaction of these two
"structured grounds".

Sylvia