Sliding achieves mastery in depth without plunging into matter

Evidence

We think of sliding as remaining on the surface. This is inexact; to be sure, I only skim the surface, and this skimming in itself is worth a whole study. Nevertheless I realize a synthesis which has depth. I realize that the bed of snow organizes itself in its lowest depths in order to hold me up; the sliding is action at a distance; it assures my mastery over the material without my needing to plunge into that material and engulf myself in it in order to overcome it. To slide is the opposite of taking root. The root is already half assimilated into the earth which nourishes it; it is a living concretion of the earth; it can utilize the earth only by making itself earth; that is, by submitting itself, in a sense, to the matter which it wishes to utilize. Sliding, on the contrary, realizes a material unity in depth without penetrating farther than the surface; it is like the dreaded master who does not need to insist nor to raise his voice in order to be obeyed. An admirable picture of power. From this comes that famous advice: “Slide, mortals, don’t bear down!” This does not mean “Stay on the surface, don’t go deeply into things,” but on the contrary, “Realize syntheses in depth without compromising yourself.” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1360

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the appropriation-relation of sliding against its opposite, root-taking, as a way to master matter in depth without self-engulfment.
• DEEPTHINKING: The sliding/rooting opposition models a whole existential stance — mastery without commitment, commanding depth while skimming surface — that generalizes far past skiing into how one relates to any material or situation.
• XREF: The dreaded master obeyed without raising his voice ties sliding to Sartre’s later bad-faith and authority themes; also the root-assimilated-into-earth image resonates with the grafted tree metaphor from ‘Grafting & Growth.’ — connects to: Art and play preserve depth only by retaining life’s traces in autonomous forms; Habit converts learned subjection into free action — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 404; Artistic activity is a distinct training ground for free attention (+1 more)
• BMF: The root that can only utilize earth by making itself earth — submitting to its matter — evokes the intimate entanglement of the narrator with his environment in Farah Nuruddin’s Maps, where identity is rootedly fused with homeland.

Broader Connections

• Artistic activity is a distinct training ground for free attention #corroborates (0.85)
• Art and play preserve depth only by retaining life’s traces in autonomous forms #corroborates (0.75)
• Executing discipline with minimum necessary force shapes behavior effectively. #corroborates (0.72) — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos, 459
• Habit converts learned subjection into free action #corroborates (0.70) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 404