Fields of freedom

One encounter in my life is enduring, of many episodes, but rather than consider details more appropriately dealt with in a different venue, I'll intellectualize. So consider: what are the possibility spaces grounded in any encounter, such as this?  Indeed, what are the fields of freedom of anything?

Here is something actual, say a shoe, photograph-able, measurable, wearable. First of all, it's there: what it is, vs what it can be (a symbol, say), what it can have (a flaw), what it can do (pound a table).

Second, it's manifest: plainly evident, vs what's hidden (the construction), what's invisible (the odor), what's suggested (the style of the user).

Third, it's here: what is present, vs what is absent (the partner shoe), what is empty or untenanted (footless), what is missing (the laces, say).

Fourth, it's this one: what is individual, vs the form (shoe styles), the many (all the shoes in my closet), the whole (part of a costume or ensemble).

Fifth, it's now: what is of the moment, vs the past (in the package), the persistent (ever on the ground), the coming to pass (worn out and discarded).

Finally, it's related to me: what is I (or as-if I), vs an other (others' shoes), you (your shoes), myself (mine).

So concerning an Other in an encounter (now I'm winging it): there-ness, manifest-ness, here-ness, this-ness (pace Duns Scotus), now-ness, me-ness (or perhaps us-ness), all part of the immediacy of the encounter as it occurs. But on reflection by one or both participants, possibility spaces offer themselves for consideration. That which had seem wrapped up like a fly by a spider in its actuality begins to be real beyond that zone of confinement, much as quantum particles can show up on the other side of a wall.

The value of such mapping? It prompts no predictions, but perhaps deeper appreciation and perhaps prods to further probing. Yes, in the conversation of our multi-episodic encounter, we do ponder now this, now that point, related to the possibilities of each and the freedom of our relationship, and concerning each of them, there's much left to discuss.