Prologue

Here’s a question. What is the fundamental nature of reality?

The reality could be conceptualized as a fractal of systems. Anything that maintains its identity across space and time can be seen as a system, whether it’s a protein or a civilization.

These systems are interconnected and nested within each other. For instance, a cell is a system nested inside an organ, nested inside a human body, nested inside a local community, nested inside a society, nested inside an ecosystem, nested inside the planet, and so on.

However, the form of these systems remains fundamentally the same. Across various levels of existence all systems share the same logical structure, which is the very reason for the fractal nature of the universe.

That universally shared common structure is the structure of Sign.
In other words, reality has the form of a Sign.

Sign is not a material thing, but a logical structure. For this reason, signs can manifest themselves in myriad ways: in different materials, shapes and sizes, enduring for a fleeting moment or spanning millennia. Signs serve as the very medium through which reality manifests. They provide the fundmantal framework in which everything is expressed. Signs are the very fabric of reality.

The unfolding of reality is then signs in movement, or sign-action – semiosis. This process in turn can be conceptualized as communication.

Therefore, the fabric of reality is communication through the medium of Signs.

With this idea in mind, I want to introduce you to the very form of reality, to the logic of reality, to the structure of the Sign.

Four Periods

The sign has Four Periods:

The semiotic movement in this solenoidal structure is highly dynamic. Semiosis is a continuous, analog, and non-linear process, filled with feedback loops. Consequently, the solenoidal form serves as a fitting illustration of the nature of semiosis, which is vibrant and living, constantly adapting and responding.

But how to understand this structure?

Let us approach this structure through our experience. We can understand the Four Periods as describing the “status” of the sign in our experience. The model’s guiding idea is the following:

Our mind is “focused” on one of these periods at the time.
At every moment our mind is “excited” by one of the periods.

We can be either:

  • Participating in Communication; as the sign produces effects by mediating information from its object.
  • Seeking to comprehend the Representation and meaning of signs; as the sign denotes and points to its object.
  • Experiencing the tangible Presentatiom and embodiment of signs; as the sign presents itself as otherness.
  • Being immersed in the Grounding immediacy of esthetic qualities; as the sign is non-consciously perceived as a qualitative possibility.

As semiosis is dynamic and continuous, these periods are always intertwined. In reality, our minds aren’t solely fixated on one period at a time. Therefore, the model shouldn’t be used to derive clear-cut answers. Rather, everything is always more or less vague and fuzzy.

However, to simplify matters, and to help us use the model more effectively, we’ll make a deliberate compromise and simply say that our minds tend to focus on one period at a time.

Let us make ourselves familiar with these periods. We’ll begin from the top, from the Communication period.

Communication

Engagement with Reality

As systems, we’re always interacting with our environment, which can be viewed as communication with it. In this dynamic, the environment continually mediates information that we internalize through inferences.

Imagine you glance out of the window and notice that the street outside is wet. You intuitively infer that it must have rained. You were able to do this by interpreting the wet street as sign of past rain. You’ve just internalized information through signs in a process known as semiosis.

In other words, you are communicating with the environment. Or maybe more precisely, you are participating in the communicative process, as it is the signs that are communicating with you.

Communication is not just about sharing symbolic information, such as having a conversations or reading. Signs can also lead to actions (looking at the phone after hearing a notification), or convey feelings (listening to music or enjoying art).

Fluid communication with the environment can be understood as the phenomenon of flow state. In this state, every feeling, action, and thought moves in perfect harmony with the surrounding environment, creating a seamless connection to the point where the boundaries of the self begin to blur. Many people, especially in rock climbing, access these flow states, where the climber becomes one with the rock, fully absorbed in the experience.

When we are focused on the message of the sign, when our mind is excited by the information transmitted by the sign, when we are participating in the communication, our mind is at the Communication period.

Representation

Inquiry Into the Meaning

The signs are always about something. Sign is of something. For this reason sign is in many ways synonymous with representation.

When the sign excites our mind by denoting or pointing to its object, our focus is on the representational aspect of a sign. We are grasping the sign’s connection to its object and comprehending what it claims to represent. It is understanding the focusing on the representational meaning of something.

Perhaps it’s a scratch on your car or footsteps in your house. Maybe it’s an unusual, repetitive sound from the washing machine, seeing an uniform, or simply observing someone’s bookshelf to learn more about them.

In these situations we are concentrated to understand what the signs represents, not necesseraly what message it mediates. It’s different to think of the cause (object) of the scratch in your car and the fact that it might be a message from somebody. Or to notice that that a person is police (representation) compared to trying to guess why the police is here (communication).

When experiencing culture shock, individuals often struggle to engage smoothly with their surroundings. This is due to the difficulty to comprehend the meanings and representations of signs.

When we are excited by the denotation of the sign and focusing on the object that the sign points at, our mind is at the Representation period.

Presentation

In the Moment

In order to communicate and to represent, signs must be present. In order to be effective, signs must have embodied existence and experienced otherness that can be perceived and felt in space-time.

We may focus on the presentation of some sign without considering what it represents or communicates. Maybe you are looking at some unknown weird object for the first time, feeling sudden pain, or hearing a surprising sound. It might be a fleeting sensation, an unusual smell, or the sight of a shadow.

Quality management involves inspecting the sign in its presentation. For instance, when worker in factory is examining a traffic sign, the focus is solely on its presented condition rather than its representational or communicative aspects. Or when looking at a plant in order to see how it is doing, we are focused on its presented qualities.

Presentation could also entail losing oneself in the moment, like experiencing an euphoric sense of oneness at a concert or feeling an inner peace in the forest. In these instances, our experience isn’t excited by transmitted information or focused on representations. Instead, it’s a vague feeling of wholeness that simply presents itself in the moment.

When we are focused on the thisness and nowness of the sign, on its presentation in the moment, our mind is at the Presentation period.

Grounding

Esthetical Foundation

At the foundation of all the preceding periods are the immediate, non-consciously perceived, qualities of the sign. Every embodied presentation of sign requires qualities that can be manifested.

Grounding is the free, non-conscious, spontaneous and vivid dance of qualities in themselves. Spontaneous perception of color, texture, sound, taste or smell. For example, when we see a flower, we notice its color and shape before identifying it.

Or consider the feeling of cold. The sensation of coldness isn’t always denoting or even presenting a specific sign. Instead, the feeling of coldness is experienced as a pervasive holistic quality in our experience.

As the sign is not presenting itself as otherness, the sign doesn’t have to be real. It could be a daydream, a hallucination, or a fleeting memory. A vague unforced suggestion causing no immediate reaction or effect. Psychedelic experiences and artistic musements are examples of our mind on the Grounding period.

There is thus this non-conscious contact with the qualitative continuum underlying all experience. All we experience are the immediate esthetical qualities and possibilities without considering their particular presentation of otherness, what they represent, or what they communicate.

Grounding is about the fundamental connection to the universe. It is the fundamental “image” of reality, the grounding metaphor. Grounding is the realm of possibility from which signs manifest themselves. It is what Peirce calls the “common ground”, which is a prerequisite for any communication:

The universe must be well known and mutually known to be known and agreed to exist, in some sense, between speaker and hearer, between the mind as appealing to its own further consideration and the mind as so appealed to, or there can be no communication, or “common ground,” at all. The universe is, thus, not a mere concept, but is the most real of experiences. (1902)

Communication across different species poses challenges due to the diverse ways of forming the grounding metaphors and images. Although the immediate qualitative continuum is shared, it can be perceived and synthesized in countless ways. For instance, it is challenging for us to imagine what it is like to be a bat, an octopus or an ant.

Grounding serves as the foundation upon which further experience is formed, and when it’s not shared, communication becomes exceedingly difficult.

When our mind is immersed in the qualities in themselves, our mind is at the Grounding phase.

Hierarchy of Periods

The periods are organized hierarchically, akin to Matryoshka dolls. The Grounding period is the smallest doll, while Communication is the largest. Each larger doll encompasses the smaller ones, but also conceals them within itself, rendering them invisible.

If we look at the solenoid from above, we see this aspect of semiosis. The more “advanced” periods conceal the more fundamental ones by wrapping them inside themselves:

For this reason, when we participate in fluid communication, we aren’t fixated on the Representation, Presentation, or Grounding because they are “hidden”. On the other hand, when we’re immersed in the immediate esthetical qualities, we don’t concentrate on Presentation, Representation, or Communication because they “aren’t there”.

From these logical relations, we gain further insights into communication:

  • Communication necessitates Representation:
    • Successful communication requires understanding the signs in a mutually agreed-upon manner. Conflicting meanings hinder communication (culture shock).
  • Communication necessitates Presentation:
    • Effective communication relies on a medium through which it can be manifested. Furthermore, the medium influences the nature of communication (digital, spoken, written, art, music, gestures etc.).
  • Communication necessitates Grounding:
    • Successful communication requires a “common ground” — a shared perception, image and metaphor of the reality. Even symbolic communication relies on this esthetical basis.

Examples

Seeing a Police

  • Communication: You see a lot of police officers on the street and you think that some crime has been committed in the area. This is a hypothesis or the meaning of the sign.
  • Representation: In order to, make this inference, you have to be able to recognize these persons dressed in blue as police officers.
  • Presentation: In order to, recognize the police officers, they have to be existentially present to have an effect on you.
  • Grounding: In order to, be existentially present and be perceived, the police officers must embody certain qualities, like the color blue.

Foul Smell

  • Grounding: A foul smell is a pervasive quality in our experience. It penetrates everything in it.
  • Presentation: Smell is connected to something near you. You try to locate it.
  • Representation: The smell represents that there is something unpleasant nearby.
  • Communication: This has the effect of you trying to evade this smell. Maybe to search a different route.

Analyzing Art

  • Grounding: The qualities used in the work. The colors, light, technique and the impression these qualities make.
  • Presentation: What is presented to viewer? What objects are there in this piece? What is the overall form or composition in this piece?
  • Representation: What representations are use? What do the pieces mean? What kind of symbolism it uses?
  • Communication: What is the message of the piece? How this piece may change its interpreter?

Business and Marketing

  • Communication: Brand messages, advertising campaigns, and promotional content. The information about products or services, with the aim of influencing consumers purchasing decisions.
  • Representation: The meaning attached to a brand or product. Companies invest in crafting brand identities to convey specific ideas, meanings, values, emotions and images.
  • Presentation: The sensory and “hands-on” experience of interacting with a brand or product. This covers packaging design, retail environments, website interfaces, and product displays.
  • Grounding: Non-conscious or emotional responses to qualities of the brand and products. This encompasses associations, emotional triggers, the color, the smell of the product, the tactile sensation produced by the material.

Visual Design and User Interfaces

  • Communication; Mediation of information to users through interface elements. The aim is to create a fluid and intuitive interface for seamless communication.
  • Representation: The meaning associated with interface elements, like using the trash can icon to represent deleting a file.
  • Presentation. The sensory experience of interacting with the interface. This includes visual esthetics, layout, animation, and sound design.
  • Grounding: The emotional and non-conscious responses evoked by the qualities interface. This could be the use of vibrant colors or dark themes depending on the desired effect. Or the use of round or rectangular shapes.

Meditation

The preceding has been a quick first look on the Four Periods. The concepts and ideas in semiotics are not ides that can be only entertained intellectually. They have to be tried and applied in order to be comprehended.

So in this text, rather than exploring the Four Periods on a conceptual level, I want to concentrate on how the Four Periods feel in our tangible experience.

What is namely this semiotics in this sense? It is abstracting, re-framing, analyzing, turning and looking at the experience – the life, we have. All of the time a flow of experience is flowing through us, but most of the time it remains as an unanalyzed, or better non-consciously analyzed, vague stream.

We take it for granted. We find it a bit mundane, even boring. The various layers of it go unnoticed.

This tool of Four Periods is a tool for more minute analysis of experience, and of that what is in front of us. But as we are not used to analyse our in this way, it feels clumsy at the beginning.

But it shouldn’t be too complicated. After all it is just four things. Let us make an phenomenological explorations together.

Pervasive Qualities – Grounding Period

I would like to ask you to just listen, smell, and feel your immediate environment. Do not try to understand anything, just concentrate on your experience like you were hearing, smelling and feeling for the first time. Please, if you will, do that for a moment.

What you just experiences were perceived qualities in themselves. Pure sensations, qualitative impressions, qualities of various types and concentrations, and the vague feelings they cause.

This is something very fundamental. The idea should be quite clear: before identifying anything, before it is possible for anything to gain identity, it must embody and express some qualities.

But this is not just an idea, but something we can concretely feel. We can feel the qualities in themselves.

One of the central differences between the Grounding and Presentation Periods is the pervasiveness of qualities in the Grounding Period. Whereas in the Presentation we are presented with some thing, in the Grounding qualities are not perceived to be connected to any object. They are not referencing anything beyond the quality itself. The quality is not even perceived as an attribute of some object.

Rather, the quality is pervasive. It just is there, coloring the whole experience. The feeling of cold colors the whole experience; some smell just is there, without any need for clarification; a feeling of uneasiness is simply very pervasive.

Grounding is about having the eyes of an artist. Tasting the qualities in themselves. The painter knows the colors, the musician knows the sounds, the sculptor knows forms, the perfumer know the smells, the chef knows the tastes.

The world of qualities is endless. It is an whole exploration in itself. Try spend few moments just in appreciating all the qualities we may feel.

Attentative Moments & Passing Structures – Presentation Period

It is unusual to concentrate on just qualities. Our eyes fixate on things. Our experience is not just a ethereal flow of qualities, rather concrete things are presented to us.

Although qualities underline everything, there is something that catches our attention. That over there! What is this? A delineated object or a pattern catches our attention.

Look around for a while. Your eyes will always naturally fixate on something.

Those things are other than you, they have forceful existence. It is this feeling of otherness

The presentation period is not only about delineating individual objects. It is not only individual objects that may be presented to us. Also patterns of objects forming a presentation of wholeness, may be just presented.

For example a strobe lights present a pattern that has an overall “vibe” to it. It is not any individual light, but the pattern of light and the absence of light, that makes up the “vibe”.

The presented makes us feel in a certain way. It is the holistic presentation, the “gestalt” of some pattern, without it being a representation (which comes only in the Representation Period). Presentation of order could be thought being akin to the overall quality presented in a impressionistic painting where many individual dots of color make up a form.

But is also the feeling of surprise that something is there. This might be a pop-up-cafe or a street show. A passing structure, that just is there. Like a tornado.

Seeing Beyond — Representation Period

With the Representation Period, our focus moves beyond the mere presented actual, to the capability of the sign to stand in for something. That is the capability to represent, to reference, to denote.

It is every moment where we are using the sign as a stepping stone to something:

  • Dark cloud → Rain
  • Many houses → City
  • A lot of people on the street → Rush-hour
  • Books from Plato in the bookshelf → Intellectual
  • Expensive brand clothes → This guy has money
  • A man with a baseball cap in Paris → American

It is the “disguise” or the “mask” the sign wears to be somebody else.

Participation with the Message — Communication Period

Signs are not passive, but invite us constantly to participate with them. Communication Period is that participation, where the message of sign is mediated and leads to some change in the interpreter.

We can focus on the change happening in us when interacting with signs. This made me feel that way, this made me adjust my movements this way, this made me thought of that. These are communicational aspects of signs.

We are in constant conversation with the environment. The meanings of signs are mediated, not only represented. Signs have power to move interpreters around them.

Next Lesson: The Four Phases