The nonhuman, the material life
and connected practices
What nonhuman occurrence do you expect when building a nonhuman-human relation with the material?
Which nonhuman norms does the material maintain?
What’s the uniqueness in the expression of the material?
When you’re communicating with the material, try to understand if the material is trying to influence you in some way? Is it trying to win you over? Understand that the relation between you and the material is hierarchical and you are the dominant entity. Try not to be that.
If the material could take some form of advantaging of you or controlling position against you, let it do so and try your best to respond.
Does the material master any nonhuman language, and if so, what is the human understanding of that?
How it the material collecting itself as a body?
How is it practicing its presence?
Examine the materials bodily movements.
Examine the materials body language.
Examine the materials bodily intentions.
Examine the materials bodily needs.
AND YES IT’S IMPOSSIBLE! THIS WORK IS IMPOSSIBLE!
But carry on trying, its healthy.
Could you understand the materials identity?
Could you try to see who the material are? If you’re trying to look seriously upon your nonhuman-human relation, what could you do to the material to deserve its trust?
If you for sure trying to care for the material, how would you transfer your attention?
When you consider the materials expression, are you also able to distinguish its nuances? Could you understand the materials interpretational mechanisms?
Practice:
Could you name any material that has a considerable impact on you? It could be for any reason, like you hate the sound of it or love the feel of it.
Do you connect any memory to a unique scent?
Do you ever feel like you have to touch a specific object?
What does it feel to feel like that?
What is sentimental value for objects? Clearly, it’s made out of human validity, but is that the whole picture? And how does the object preserve the value so very precisely that it enables a revisit to the same emotions over and over again? Doesn’t that show the complexity in separating the human signification from the objects characteristics and capacity to capture and communicate them?