The Clutch Problem

When a teenager, while on holiday in France with my sister and parents, the clutch on our Vauxhall Cavalier failed. The result of this was that no matter how much one revs the engine, no drive results. I took this as inspiration for this analogy, and with it the name I give to this problem.

1. I may know what to do;
2. I may know how to do it;
3. I may know there is need to do it;
4. I may want to do it; yet
5. I cannot make myself do it.

By 'revving the engine', all that occurs is that I imagine doing it more and more strongly, giving rise to more and more frustration, and yet on the outside, nothing happens, as if the drivetrain is disengaged.

Communicational Clutch Problem

This affects not only what I can and cannot do, in ways that those on the Exterior cannot see, but also it affects what I can and cannot say.

1. I may know what to say;
2. I may know how to say it;
3. I may know there is need to say it;
4. I may want to say it;
5. I may imagine myself saying it; yet
6. I cannot make myself say it, and the words just don't come out.

This can be quite a subtle effect, carefully notching out particular areas of conversation, with a quiet outer quirkiness masking things and providing the Facade with a degree of plausible deniability: there is no evidence that I wanted to say something, or that I knew what to say. Without access to the Interior viewpoint, there is just far too little observable evidence to go on.