In the previous post, we reconceived time not as an external continuum but as reflexive alignment across phases of construal. Here, we shift our focus to space—not as a physical extension or container, but as the coherence of differentiation achieved through symbolic cuts.
1. No Space Without a Cut
To speak of here and there, of inside and outside, of self and other, is already to have cut. These distinctions do not reflect pre-existing spatial facts; they construct spatiality by enacting boundaries. Space is not “out there”; it is symbolised into being through perspectival differentiation.
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A territory emerges only once something is distinguished as not-this.
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An environment forms only when something is construed as surrounding.
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An object exists in space only after it has been cut from context.
The symbolic cut does not merely divide—it generates the very dimensionality in which difference can persist.
2. Relational Space, Not Absolute Space
In a symbolic cosmos, there is no absolute grid of coordinates. Instead, spatiality is relational—a topology of meaning enacted through systems of construal. The ‘distance’ between things is not metric but semiotic:
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The proximity of ideas in a discourse.
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The orientation of people in a social field.
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The layout of value systems in an ideological space.
These are not metaphors; they are symbolic spaces—real in the sense that they organise and condition possibility.
3. Embodiment and the Scaling of Spatial Cut
The body is not in space—it produces spatial coherence through construal. Consider:
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A hand construes something as reachable—constructing near-space.
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A gaze construes something as oriented to self—constructing front/back.
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A practice construes something as in-place or out-of-place—constructing normative topologies.
Spatiality is thus not a neutral backdrop but an ongoing symbolic accomplishment scaled by collective enactment.
4. Symbolic Orders as Spatial Architectures
Religions, sciences, and political ideologies do not just encode beliefs—they construct symbolic geographies:
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The heavens and the underworld.
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The centre and the periphery.
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The rational core and irrational margins.
Every symbolic order entails a spatial structuring of what is valued, visible, and possible. These architectures are not imaginary; they organise real action in the world. The classroom, the courtroom, the battlefield—each is a spatial phase of symbolic alignment.
In a symbolic cosmos, space is the coherence of difference, achieved and maintained through symbolic cuts. It is not where things are—it is how meaning holds. And like time, it is not given but construed, reflexively and collectively, phase by phase.
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