ECOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
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predators. In this way, the deviation or differentiation of particular organisms
represents a form of individual flexibility which leads to the greater flexibility of
the larger unity.
To return to the homology between the eco- and socio-erotic, we may
say that the latent striving in natural evolution for differentiation represents a
nascent form
of the
social
desire within
individuals
and
society for
differentiation. We could say that humanity incorporates nature’s tendency for
differentiation, bringing it to a more complex and conscious level of
development. The social desire for spontaneous creative expression, for
dynamism and change, while not reducible to organic differentiation, resonates
historically with this impulse. The spontaneous divergence of corn plants from
seemingly stable genetic patterns is evolutionaiily homologous to the social
desire in society to spontaneously diverge from social and cultural patterns to
create something new, to further expand the horizon of freedom, choice, and
social complexity.
TFe DesIre For Nature REVisiTEd: TowARd A SociaI DesIre For Nature
Yet as in the case of the sodo-erotic, the idea of differentiation in the eco-erotic
remains unfulfilled unless complemented by the idea of development. The
tendency toward development in the natural world represents the latent
striving for ever greater degrees of coherent self-organization and maturation.
As explored in the previous chapter, the idea of development is qualitatively
different from the idea of simple growth or change. The idea of development
implies the movement from that which is more general to that which is more
particular, complex, and differentiated. Yet again, within this process of
differentiation,
development
degrees
are
of unity and
retained
order within previous
throughout
the
process
of
phases
of
developmental
complexification.
As an organism develops to become something new, it retains its old
identity, incorporating and transforming the structure of the old identity into a
more mature form. To digress briefly from our discussion of nature, we might
consider the experience of meeting an individual we have not seen since they
were a child. While we may be struck by their new mature physique, we are
often able to identify this new individual precisely because we can derive from
this more mature form, a previous less differentiated form. When we say “I
know you from third grade!” we are saying that, despite the process of
developmental transformation, we understand that the old individual we knew
has been incorporated and retained throughout the process of maturation. We
are able to see through the more particularized form of the adult presented to
us, recognizing the more general form of the child that has been retained.