Substance Qualities and Temperature
Fieldwork Mapping Series, #6
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In this post, we will move into the next two fieldwork mapping questions — about substance qualities and temperature. (Just touching in here? Get oriented by reading the first post in the Fieldwork Mapping Series — #1: In-Depth Instructions for Rigorous Observation.)
Ready? Continue from where you left off with the location question, #5: First Impression — Plus Location, Size and Shape. Pay particular attention to your felt sense of the feeling state you are mapping. Say the feeling state name to yourself to bring your focus to it, and continue taking detailed notes as you go.
Substance Qualities
With this next question we will examine the region within the shape you’ve identified in the previous question about location to learn more about your inner experience of this feeling state. You have overlaid your field of attention with this region to prepare to collect more detailed and precise information about your experience of the affect field generating your feeling experience.
With this question, we will invite a comparison to qualities of the material world we inhabit. We will lay a filter of materiality over the space of the feeling state’s affect field to discover what new information emerges.
In observing these qualities of substance, our experience of this feeling state will become more vivid and tangible to us. It will take on more of a status of a distinct entity rather than a nebulous abstraction. This new quality of being a “something” gives us simultaneously more separation from it and more connection with it. It takes on a presence within our experience and opens up the capacity for us to conduct a higher quality interaction with it. This will serve us very well as we continue into our mapping process and beyond.
Asking the Question
Ready? As before, run through the question briefly. Then we’ll break down the new language structures before inviting you to take on the question in earnest.
Inside this region, if you were to say that the actual, felt experience of this [feeling state] has qualities of substance, would you say it seems more like a solid… a liquid… a gas… some kind of light… or energy… or something else?
Here, the language “Inside this region…” directs our attention at the outset to the region just identified with the location/size/shape question. Then it follows the standard track we’ve established as central to all of our questions in the Fieldwork Mapping Series, #2.
The new elements setting our filter to highlight substance qualities come in the latter half of the sequence, especially with the list of suggested substances, “solid… liquid… a gas… some kind of light… or energy.” As we explored briefly in determining the shape of the region occupied by the feeling state, it is often much easier to compare discrete properties to the felt sense in order to elicit an easy yes or no answer.
This list of substance properties functions as a series of micro-filters, inquiring about whether, when we apply this filter or the next one, we get a “reading” from our instrument of attention. The best delivery of this question allows some time between each suggestion for a confirmation or disconfirmation to arise. A simple pause of a second or two is usually sufficient.
Finally, after facilitating our sequence of micro-filters, we open things up by concluding the question with, “…or something else?” In this way we are avoiding the suggestion that the list covers all the options, and inviting ourselves to really let go and notice the actual qualities that emerge.
This is important. Although we are referencing properties of the material world in our question, the substance qualities of feeling states do not necessarily obey the laws of physics. It is perfectly natural to experience a feeling state as a “solid gas” or “liquid light,” for example.
Going into Details
Once you have identified the general category of substance, inquire a little further into the details of the substance qualities. Getting specific about a feeling substance’s characteristics provides you with even more tangible vividness. Try to strike a balance between expediency and thoroughness. Identifying every last detail can become tedious. Your goal is to generate enough detail to become clearly aware of the feeling state and to create a workable sensory image corresponding to that state.
Here’s a simple, general approach that can work most of the time:
Does this [feeling substance] seem hard or soft, heavy or light, more or less dense, thick or thin? What finer details do you notice about the qualities of substance of your experience of this [feeling state]?
Following are specific details useful to inquire about for solids, liquids and gases. Use these as suggestions, choosing ones you perceive as most relevant for the particular feeling state you are mapping. Again, I find it useful to place these inquiries into a question in this form, with a simple binary comparison:
Would you say this [feeling substance] seems (more) [A or B]?
An example variation of this would be, “Does this gas seem thick or thin?” Sometimes I will string together a few binary options in a row, and capture whatever stands out. “Would you say this gas seems heavy or light… thick or thin… more or less dense?”
Solids
Heavy / light
Hard / soft — (like metal or stone versus putty or foam)
More / less dense
(If soft): Resilient / malleable — (like a rubber ball versus putty)
(If hard): Rigid / brittle / bendable
What is the texture of the surface (e.g. smooth vs. rough)?
Liquids
Thick / thin – (like paint versus water)
Heavy / light
More / less dense
Gases
Thick / thin
Heavy / light
Moist / dry
More / less dense
Other Substances
Other kinds of substances you might encounter include the following. This list is not exhaustive, and you are likely to encounter other qualities of substance. Be open and supportive of whatever your experience indicates. And again, no need to obey laws of physics or conform to the nomenclature of the material world.
Plasma — Something between a liquid and a gas, or between a gas and energy.
Gel — Something between a solid and a liquid, like jello or toothpaste.
Electricity — Often with a buzzing quality.
Energy — Pure energy in whatever way you understand that. Energy is often a catch-all to define a substance quality that does not seem to quite fit any of the other categories. It can be helpful to inquire into other substance qualities the energy may carry such as density, weight, and viscosity.
Light — No substance exactly, but with a presence all the same; similar to energy.
Emptiness — A void with a distinct and present absence of substance.
Multi-dimensional space — A region within which the normal laws of substance do not apply, and where space takes on a different dimension and infinity can fit within an area as small as a grapefruit.
Particles — Perhaps moving through space, perhaps clustered in clumps or solid shapes, perhaps behaving like a quantity of sand or dust.
Pieces, aggregates, combinations — Chunks, pieces, sometimes uniform, sometimes in combination with other substances. It’s possible a state like this turns out to actually be two intermixed states.
Often, the best way to describe a solid is through analogy: it is “like” something else. See if you can come up with a direct comparison with a material you are familiar with.
Nudging with Micro-Filters
If you are having difficulty getting started with identifying the fundamental substance quality, it can help to begin with a few micro-filters. For example, while directing your attention into the space of the feeling state, ask whether the state seems to be heavy or light, hard or soft, thick or thin, more or less dense. These four distinctions in particular can be quite helpful in moving toward clarity about the substance.
Once you are satisfied you have adequately identified the important qualities of substance for this feeling state and captured your discoveries in your notes, you are ready to move on to ask about temperature. Before we do though, let us take a moment to reflect on this experience so far.
Commentary: Substance Inside and Outside
For most people, the idea that feeling can be perceived as having qualities resembling substance comes as a complete surprise. Yet this link can be found many places in how we talk about ourselves. Think about the difference between “hard-hearted” and “soft-hearted,” for example. Or the difference between “heavy-hearted” and “light-hearted.” When you come across these phrases, they mean something because you can find a way to relate to that sort of inner experience.
And why should it be otherwise? As every one of us emerged into conscious presence in the world, as we first became aware of ourselves and our surroundings, what filled our awareness was the materiality of embodiment. Hard/soft, warm/cool, rough/smooth, and heavy/light were our first distinctions, even before we opened our eyes. We are embodied beings, inhabiting a material body surrounded by a material world, and this is what our consciousness had to work with as it fired up at the very beginning of our lives.
In addition, the idea that we might generate virtual material experiences for ourselves is not new. For example, I have used a hammer quite a lot in my life. It is very easy for me now to imagine a hammer in my hand, and to feel its heft and balance as I move my arm. It is easy for me to remember the sensation of the wind on the water and how to move my body and the sail of a boat to dance with that wind. It is easy for me to step into a particular dance move, to experience it virtually as if I was using my body in just that way.
People regularly use mental rehearsal to advance their skills in sports and the arts, and this rehearsal requires high quality virtual materials to simulate the actual, embodied experience of interacting with real objects and substances. This is already a field of study in psychology under the term body schema. It is a very short distance between these things we take for granted and a natural, intuitive, and mostly unconscious use of virtually-constructed materials as the basis for our experience of feelingmind.
That is one possibility, anyway. There are others requiring a bit more expansion of concepts, and we’ll leave those be for now. But hopefully I’ve given you something to think about as we continue on our journey.
Temperature
The next question is a simple one. We’ve already identified the region occupied by the feeling state, and its apparent substance qualities. From here it is an easy switch to filter for temperature, and since temperature is generally a single point on a linear scale, it’s pretty straightforward to identify. Consider substituting the name for the feeling substance identified above for the marker phrase in brackets below, or just read it as is. Either way tends to be effective.
If you were to say this [feeling substance] has a temperature, what temperature would you say that seems to be?
Sometimes temperature is fairly obvious, especially when it falls into one extreme or the other. At other times, though, it can help to add a more precise prompt. Something along the lines of, “Does this [feeling substance] seem to be warmer or cooler, or does it seem perfectly neutral?” If the neutral temperature seems accurate, clarify by asking if it is more like room temperature or body temperature.
For some people, temperature is a high-fidelity quality. If you are one of these, you may find yourself able to give a very precise degree reading of your feeling substance. For other people a rough comparison to something experiential tends to do the trick. “Like a cool breeze on a summer day,” or, “like hot tea after it’s been sitting for a few minutes.”
Occasionally you will map something with an extreme temperature that is difficult to identify. The predominant quality is one of numbing or burning, the way you might experience with either extreme hot or cold. Just make a note of this, and be open to the possibility that it could be either extreme hot or cold, neither hot nor cold, or both somehow. Find whatever designation makes the most sense to you.
From time to time you will encounter temperature that is different in different locations within the specific feeling substance, or which fluctuates. Make a note of these variabilities. Finally, occasionally temperature will seem not to apply to a particular feeling state, even after checking for a neutral temperature quality. That’s OK. Just move on to the next question about color and appearance.
Reflections
In the course of this series on fieldwork mapping, I would like to ask for your feedback about how well you are able to put these instructions to work. Where do you struggle, what comes easily, and what suggestions do you have for improving how this series supports you and others in doing the mapping? Thank you!
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