We find in Paul Klee's Notebooks:
A leaf is a part of the whole. If the tree is an organism, the leaf is
an organ.
These small
parts of the whole are again articulated in themselves. In this articulation,
articulate ideas
and relations prevail that reflect on a small scale the articulation
of the whole... Leaf, stem,
and veins belong together, especially stem and central vein, indeed,
the central vein may
be described as a continuation of the stem. this whole line is thus divided
into stem and
stem continuation. The subdivisions of this line are ever different in
the different leaves, but
even division is certainly rarer than uneven... the lateral veins, moreover,
undergo their
own articulation by measure and weight. The same applies to their further
branchings on
both sides. The intervals and the dynamic forces dwindle to the point
of no return. The
tracing eye can no longer distinguish the last ramifications as lines
and abandons the
pursuit. The particles become confusingly small and are sensed as planar
elements rather
than linear forces... The planar massiveness is the element that to the
eye no longer
appears linear, but is distinguished as a separate element by its tangle
of lines. As against
linear definition, this element may create an impression of softness.
This line system
reaches into the other element, finely forked or sievelike, and enough
of it sticks. The
planar form that arises is then independent of the inreaching linear
radiation. And where
linear power ends, there arises contour, the limit of planar form...
The linear forces gather within it [the tree] to form a powerful stream, and
they radiate
outwards, in order to pervade the air space at free height. Henceforward articulation
naturally becomes more and more ramified and open, to make the best of air
and light.
Leaves become flat lobes, the whole thing begins to resemble a lung or gills,
porous,
subdivided, for a single purpose.
Let this entire organism now become an example to us- a structure functioning
from within
to without or vice versa.
Let us learn: The whole form results from a single base, the base of inner
necessity. Need
is at the bottom.
There is no random toying with results. The active path towards form and inner
structure is
ineluctable. Considering the articulation on its own and recalling the leaf,
we can observe
successive changes in the character of articulation, as we move from the main
limb to the
side limbs. Beginning with the element of singularity we arrive at the character
of plurality.
In terms of form production, the line between linear and two-dimensional elements
must lie
somewhere...
We can apply this structural analysis
to human consciousness and use either "mind" or
the
central nervous system as the primary trunk line, the branches of
which extend from the
nervous system into the objects of perception, becoming a finer and
finer cloud as
we approach the point at which "the
tracing eye can no longer distinguish the
last ramifications
as lines and abandons the pursuit".
Beyond the soft tangle of rustling leaves
lies the realm of
the invisible the silent and the unknown. That liminal area between
the linear trunk of self
and the planar cloud of perceptions shifts constantly with perceptual
attention. That shifting
border alone defines selfhood, a shell to which new perceptual territories
are claimed for
the self by subconscious desires and habitual proclivities. Even
the tip of the leaf of a tree
senses the sun and the wind, so the consciousness aggregate that
constitutes the
perceptual territory of the leaf is quite vast (i.e. extending at
least to the center of the solar
system) despite its limited perceptual apparatus. A focused human
mind, trained not to
"abandon the pursuit" could potentially follow the branches of consciousness
much more
deeply into the space in which it is embedded,
extending the linear "self" further
into the
cloud of external reality than would seem
possible in ordinary experience. "Henceforward,
articulation naturally becomes more and more ramified and open...
the whole thing begins
to resemble a lung or gills, porous, subdivided,
for a single purpose."