I am currently re-reading Owen Barfield’s Saving The Appearances (A Study in Idolatry). I have made a few videos on the topics of Figuration, Alpha-thinking and Beta-thinking. Figuration is, essentially, ‘recognition’ of things, beings, qualities and situations according to the lexicon of Collective Representations we have acquired during the processes of enculturtion and enlanguaging. Alpha-thinking is the common thinking we do within the collective representational lexicons we sustain, and Beta-thinking (what is going on here) is thinking about the nature of minds, representational cognition, and concsiousness.

I wish now to discuss what he refers to as Original Participation, which he shortens to participation after introducing the idea. It’s a complex topic, made more complex by our modernity and familiarity with Figuration and Alpha-thinking.

He draws on material from Aquinas and medieval thought to sketch the experience of direct knowing of, not the signifier (word) or the signified (what it points to), but something rather resembling Origin-as-beings (places or situations). In this sense, every form and relationship IS Origin (or god) just behind the form or figure.

Participation, is, then, the only TRUE knowledge. It is not discursive, explanatory or descriptive, but is analogous to having ideas about a peach or rose, and then tasting or smelling them. Original participation also resembles the experience of a kiss, lovemaking, or, in some cases, the deeply felt senses that we have in dreaming. It is similar to, but also distinct from, some experiences that arise from the use of psychedelics.

Yet it is far more than this. I suggest that it is the direct apperception of and participation in that which forms ‘represent’ in the phenomenal world… that is, their actual nature, origin, character and their relationships with (the universe).

This description is nearly useless without a few examples, so I will give one from my own experience in the post ‘above’ this one on my FB page. After I have composed it, I will add it below in the comments. First, however, I will add a response from a reader below that is indicative of what is meant by the phrase…

I will also add links below to the two videos I have thus far created on these topics.