From: Unleesh-AT-aol.com
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 04:44:37 EST
Subject: Matter-flows


"Matter-flow" enters matter into history, history into matter, time is no
longer separable from matter ; thus, an atom, for example, is just a snapshot
of a small fragment of a matter-flow.

Certain matter-flows tend to produce "mindings" as Bateson pointed out. Thus
"mind" and "matter" are not separate or opposite.

So, I have this piece of china in front of me. It is roughly circular, about 6
inches in diameter, the circumference is wavy with 18 humps. Directly inside
this humped circumference is a circular wavy line that moves around forming a
second inner circumference, each hump having atop itself smaller humps : a
large hump in the middle and two smaller humps beside it. Beneath the hump is
a dot. There are fourty flowers, blue and green. There is an inner wavy
circle, similar to the secondary circumference, about an inch and a half in
diameter, and at the center is a flower whose petals are actually pink and red
hearts, embroidered with a few flourishing patterns. The piece is part of a
set which is distributed by American Country "Dina", and manufactured by nikko
in Japan. It is probably made of kaolin clay, porcelain quality, and thus is
clay that has been carefully and selectively collected from various zones
historically discovered to have deposits of this special type of clay, then
dried, and then further filtered so it is the finest, then recombined with
water, and pressed into some sort of mold. It has been decorated and then
glazed. The glaze is probably some form of powdered glass which has been
reheated. The decoration is some sort of dye, probably earth-based.  It is
possible that there are some synthetic polymers involved in its processing, I
am not sure, tho I doubt it. Thusly, the matter-flow that participated in the
creation of this plate / saucer has a whole history of the earth connected to
it. This is like a geological "raindrop", a tiny sliver of a geological flow.
But areas where certain minerals are found tend also to affect human
settlements, and therefore is part of a certain type of village
specialization, trade routes, etc. And of course all of these, very old, have
been taken up into an industrial machine whereby the materials are probably
mass delivered to a factory where they are then taken out of their bags,
watered, and pressed into molds, etc. So the matter-flow enters into an
industrial set of relations, with a specifically Japanese history. The
American company "American Country" probably on contract with nikko purchases
these and has them delivered to the United States. Thusly the plate / saucer
enters into relations with the matterflows of the steel of the airplane or
shipping tanker, and becomes a part of international relations, to a very
small degree. But "American Country" caters to a very specific aesthetic which
fits in with a very specific "lifestyle" : ie, sets of fashions that fit
commodities together into a unified "feel". And only certain types of people
are attracted to this particular aesthetic or lifestyle.
   So, a family living in Thousand Oaks, southern California, who are on the
boundary between lower Upper Class and upper upper Middle Class purchase a set
of these from American Country because they fit in with their notions of how a
kitchen should look, the feel it should give, etc. Being meticulous in such
matters, they select the set that is just right. So far so good ; the
protagonist of the story, the plate / saucer I hold in my hands right now is
part of a set, a happy family of plates that has gone through a set of
relations to reach our family in thousand oaks.
  Now the youngest daughter of our family at a certain point in her history,
say 17 years old, meets a young man whom she falls in love with, and they live
together for three years. During this time, her kitchen aesthetic rules, which
means that she receives a healthy portion of the china set from her parents,
including our hero, the plate / saucer. At a certain point, she brings and
happens to leave one of the set (yes, you got it : our hero) to the house of
the young man's mother. Eventually they break up, and the young man discovers
this plate / saucer.
   It is unlikely that this plate / saucer would be in my hands right now
without this whole history of events. It's so improbable it nears
impossibility, tho I am always open to interesting coincidences. So the
"history" of this plate, its matter-flows, all the interactions which make
this plate what it is, where it is, and how it is, is crucial.
   The young man realizes that this plate / saucer is one of the only things
left of the relation with the young woman. He feels as if somehow it condenses
into itself the entirety of his relations, what he had with the young woman.
It is a "throwing-together" of all these forces.
   Soooooo .... is this feeling of the young man's representative of something
"real" or is it "just" "symbolic"?
   What does it mean for something to be "just" "symbolic"? Does it mean it's
entirely in the mind? Entirely subjective? Just a connection my brain puts
together in thought? Or is the thought a (p)reflection of durational
connections "out there", "real" connections in the "real" world ? Keep in mind
that the word "symbol" literally means "thrown together". (I think of a woman
emerging from her dressing room going out for the evening saying "Oh this is
just something I threw together.")
I think this is the problem Deleuze and Guattari had with the idea of
"metaphor" : that somehow it was "just" in the mind, and not actual
intersecting matterflows connected and thrown together in all sorts of various
ways.
  In fact, if I interpret Nietzsche correctly (what an utterly silly phrase
that just was!!!!!), the whole notion of the will-to-power is the notion of
forces struggling in the universe and coming together at various nodes to
create effects ; these comings-togethers or throwings-together could be
thought of as matter-flow symbols or symbolein. Interestingly enough, the word
"diabole" as in "diabolic" or "diabolical" means "to throw across", implying
excess, some sort of over-throwing ... the sym-bolic throws together. So the
will-to-power throws together forces, into various boquets which produce
various effects including ourselves.
   According to the dictionary, "psychometry" is "the supposed faculty of
divining knowledge about an object, or about a person connected with it,
through contact with the object". It implies that somehow a matter-flow
carries traces, clues, hints, fossils with it of all its history of relations.
Is this an entirely illogical thought? Am I just "projecting" the romantic
history of this boy and this girl onto this plate, or is there some level at
which it in fact did enter into an ensemble that included that romance, and
thus is a very real, tangible connection to that desiring-machine?
   Any thoughts?