There must be a German word for the arc of thought/affect that is sparked when reading something so erudite AND FAR-reaching and then feeling mixed, overwhelming sensations of recognition, love, mutual understanding, constellatory attuned synaptic firing that then collapses into wonder about how another’s mind can be so very aligned which then morphs into the yearn-y impulse to respond with so much gratitude and specificity about all that’s been sparked that brought you to the feeling of attunement … only to finally resolve into surrendering to paralysis because THERE. IS. JUST. TOO. MUCH. TO. SAY.
This has to be one of my all time favorite comments... I know this feeling and I feel it reading this comment and I have also felt it in these same sources; all this participatory sense-making
Participatory sense‑making seems like a coherence process. When two bodies start moving toward another, they both adjust their boundary in real time. That interaction becomes the site where meaning is generated. Your “mutual incorporation” describes when two systems temporarily share a single pattern of action, and the coordination itself becomes the understanding. Love it!
Thank you. I love that you bring up the word coherence. A very important word I’ve been considering via all sorts of routes lately. Also really appreciate the way you discuss this ‘becoming the same pattern’ realtive to the ‘mutual incorporation’ in the 2009 paper
Coherence matters because it’s the mechanism that lets two systems stabilize a shared pattern long enough for meaning to emerge. Mutual incorporation is the local version of that: each system reshapes its boundary to fit the joint action, and the fit itself becomes the understanding. I’ve been developing this coherence architecture in a book I’m working on; the way shared patterns stabilize meaning is one of its core mechanisms.
There must be a German word for the arc of thought/affect that is sparked when reading something so erudite AND FAR-reaching and then feeling mixed, overwhelming sensations of recognition, love, mutual understanding, constellatory attuned synaptic firing that then collapses into wonder about how another’s mind can be so very aligned which then morphs into the yearn-y impulse to respond with so much gratitude and specificity about all that’s been sparked that brought you to the feeling of attunement … only to finally resolve into surrendering to paralysis because THERE. IS. JUST. TOO. MUCH. TO. SAY.
This has to be one of my all time favorite comments... I know this feeling and I feel it reading this comment and I have also felt it in these same sources; all this participatory sense-making
One of the most interesting pieces I've ever read on Substack, this is super aligned with my work and I didn't know a few of them. Thank you!
It is really lovely to read this, thank you, too!
Participatory sense‑making seems like a coherence process. When two bodies start moving toward another, they both adjust their boundary in real time. That interaction becomes the site where meaning is generated. Your “mutual incorporation” describes when two systems temporarily share a single pattern of action, and the coordination itself becomes the understanding. Love it!
Thank you. I love that you bring up the word coherence. A very important word I’ve been considering via all sorts of routes lately. Also really appreciate the way you discuss this ‘becoming the same pattern’ realtive to the ‘mutual incorporation’ in the 2009 paper
Coherence matters because it’s the mechanism that lets two systems stabilize a shared pattern long enough for meaning to emerge. Mutual incorporation is the local version of that: each system reshapes its boundary to fit the joint action, and the fit itself becomes the understanding. I’ve been developing this coherence architecture in a book I’m working on; the way shared patterns stabilize meaning is one of its core mechanisms.
Also for those who asked, Evan Thompson joined us a while back and the conversation in audios and videos is in all the usual places and also here on the substack https://lovephilosophy.substack.com/p/urgency-and-meaning-beyond-the-blind