Chapter 14: The Unsung Virtues of Sublimation

When presented with an unavoidable architective obstacle, our natural reaction is to try and forcibly overcome it, to disrupt it so that we will be free to penetrate it and perhaps harness its constituent objects to our cause, if that is our intention.

But there is another, subtler way to achieve this (though it is not always appropriate). If instead of attempting to apply overwhelming force to break an object, we sublimated it instead, applying only a very small force, one that was so small as to not challenge the internal constraints of the obstacle. The obstacle therefore does not respond as a whole and its constituent objects respond individually instead. While this approach may not have very dramatic effects, if the sublimating force carried a vibration the constituent objects could connectively mimic the vibration and any signal it carried, while the obstacle as a whole remained unresponsive to and unthreatened by it.

I have found, for example, that touching someone who is agitated - say by holding their hand - sometimes allows a gentle bodily vibration of my own to calm them down and assist their agitation to subside.

Meditation can also be understood in terms of sublimation - that as one eliminates extraneous factors from one's consciousness and allows one's mind to calm down, the gentler mental vibrations that arise sublimate one's own body so as to allow one to experience one's body in purely vibrational and connective terms. Indeed, if touching another, one's gentler vibrations can sublimate someone else's body enabling one to feel their somatic vibrations.

The influence of a holism is always less than the interactive influences of the nearest participating objects of its host connective, as well as being less than any architective influences in the vicinity. The Cosmic Deity, being so very mild, is therefore capable of sublimating every and any object. I like to think that the Cosmic Deity expresses itself in a music, so that, in sublimating each object, even the smallest atom is subtly vibrating to the cosmic song.

Sublimation is a means by which connectivity can be indulged without raising the hackles of our Planetary Deity, for it does not involve the demise of any architecture nor affect any architective narrative, and so does not result in a hole in any architective serial meaning to alarm our Planetary Deity.

Indeed, the connective influence of the Cosmic Deity is generally so mild as to escape the notice of our Planetary Deity.

Ignorance of Constraint

Our behaviours in connective activities that are naturally constrained often lie well within the boundaries of their constraints. Being sublimate to their constraints, these behaviours never challenge their constraints so we do not realize they are constrained. We freely enjoy their connectivity oblivious of the fact that it is bounded. For example, very young children of different social strata may happily play together - until they are sent to different schools in line with their parents' social expectations.

It is probable that much of our everyday connective activity is sublimate, and we blithely proceed in it without raising the ire of our Planetary Deity.

Sublimation and Resonance

I used the term 'consonance' rather than 'resonance' when describing how, when waves interact with each other, if their peaks and troughs were suitably aligned their interference resulted in exaggerated oscillations in some positions and severely reduced ones in others, which are commonly known as 'nodes' and 'anti-nodes'.

In order for the nodes and anti-nodes to maintain static positions, as they do in the case of standing waves, the waves must be anchored to an architective object, perhaps by reflecting off one or more objects. The bridge and nut of a guitar are examples. It is only when a consonance is so architectively anchored and the wave stands that I am happy using the term 'resonance'.

If a wave sublimating an object were to be internally reflected when attempting to exit the object, it would echo to and fro inside the object with each reflection, and if its wavelength matched the physical size of the object then standing nodes and anti-nodes would appear in the wave as it interfered with its echoes inside the object. That is, the object would resonate internally in response to the wave sublimating it.

Should the wave be of a sufficiently long duration, the resonance would get stronger and stronger, so that the difference between its nodes and anti-nodes became larger and larger, and if their difference got to exceed a binding strength of the object, the object would disrupt.

That is, it is possible for a wave to disrupt an object if the amplitude of the wave is sufficiently small to allow it to sublimate the object, its wavelength resonated with the size of the object and the wave persisted for long enough.

I mentioned how touching someone who is agitated might allow a gentle bodily vibration of one's own to calm them down. While this can be very beneficial to both parties, one must take care when attempting such a sublimation, for one also has the capacity to tune the frequency of the vibration to facilitate a resonance, and while a mild resonance can be very pleasurable, pushing it to an extreme could cause something to break - and one does not always know what that will be. I counsel against sublimating resonances to extremes in all cases.

Learning how to sublimate can be an important step in one's spiritual development, to be followed by the equally important step of learning to be careful when letting a sublimation resonate.