Crystallization and decrystallization shift the symbolic value of objects I perceive

Evidence

Some years ago I brought myself to the decision not to smoke any more. The struggle was hard, and in truth, I did not care so much for the taste of the tobacco which I was going to lose, as for the meaning of the act of smoking. A complete crystallization had been formed. I used to smoke at the theater, in the morning while working, in the evening after dinner, and it seemed to me that in giving up smoking I was going to strip the theater of its interest, the evening meal of its savor, the morning work of its fresh animation. … In order to maintain my decision not to smoke, I had to realize a sort of decrystallization; that is, without exactly accounting to myself for what I was doing, I reduced the tobacco to being nothing but itself—an herb which burns. I cut its symbolic ties with the world; I persuaded myself that I was not taking anything away from the play at the theater, from the landscape, from the book which I was reading, if I considered them without my pipe; that is, I rebuilt my possession of these objects in modes other than that sacrificial ceremony. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1382

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concrete lived illustration of what ‘crystallization’ means as a mode of consciousness.
• XREF: The notion of stripping objects of projected meaning echoes William James’ ‘warmth and intimacy’ of the self and connects to later Beauvoir work on how meaning adheres to situations. — connects to: Another person’s perception of objects disintegrates the spatial relations I establish between things — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 718; Conceptual art shifted artistic value from objects to ephemeral processes and ideas — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York…, 1440; The permanence of change itself grants passing objects an illusion of duration — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 742 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Another person’s perception of objects disintegrates the spatial relations I establish between things #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 718
• Conceptual art shifted artistic value from objects to ephemeral processes and ideas #exemplifies (0.75) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1440
• Symbolic and material conflicts reinforce each other rather than competing as explanations #complicates (0.75)
• The permanence of change itself grants passing objects an illusion of duration #complicates (0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 742