Disclaimer: In this blog, I attempt to build/construct my idea of affect based on Massumi’s writing. This may not necessarily accurately reflect what he intended to convey or what he actually thought/believed.
One major question related to our experience of affect is how connected the rational realm is to the affective and whether or not we are conscious of the forces operating on us in this realm. And if we are, how exactly are we conscious of these forces or how does reason interact with them? Aristotle’s description of emotions in his Rhetoric implies that we are very conscious of our emotions—so much so that we can actually alter them rationally (i.e. remove the object that is producing the emotion within us). Aristotle’s idea makes sense philosophically, but, as Brian Massumi describes, there is a lot more to it than this.
While Aristotle simply distinguished between emotion and reason and spoke about how the two work with each other, there may in fact be levels of feeling that are not directly tied to reason. At the very least, Massumi describes two broad realms that affect us emotionally but in very different ways. He explains that we may react emotionally to the “content” of an object but that we also have a response to the “effect” of that object (24). He would consider our emotional response to the content something actual, and it is something we can perceive and to which we can consciously respond; this is the realm Aristotle was probably referring to. But the effect of the object touches on a realm he refers to as the virtual (30-31). This realm is something that is not so consciously understood or experienced. As Massumi writes, this realm is the place “where what cannot be experienced cannot but be felt,” indicating that this realm involves all sorts of dynamics that we can’t just muster up on our own using our conscious, rational mind (30). Of course, as this realm affects us, eventually some conscious thought or experience emerges, and we rationally seek to identify what that experience was (30-31).
So, what bridges these two realms? What is in between? How does the virtual, non-rational, unconscious feelings get end up affecting us in our conscious mind? It seems to me that the force that connects these various dynamics and operates, both consciously in part, but primarily unconsciously, is the whole sphere of affect. Based on Massumi, I would like to pose a theory as to how this works.
Massumi describes affect as the force that speaks between the actual and the virtual realms. From my reading of Massumi, it is the point that seems to involve, influence, or be the product of all the various forces (32-33, 35). Consider the actual and the virtual as two ends of a continuum. Between these two realms, various levels may exist that act as individual reactors within us, responsive to varying amounts of the actual and the virtual. Reflection operates at each of these levels, which I interpret as a kind of internal consciousness—meaning a consciousness that operates within that level’s responsive system but is not something we ourselves are cognizant of—that causes a response or reaction at that very level before moving it to a higher level. This process of continual reflection causes a response of its own but also propels the responsive information it has processed or received on to a higher level of consciousness, moving further from the virtual to the actual. Together, all these levels bridge our relation to something (which is on the virtual level) to our reaction to it (which operates on the actual level). Since reflection happens on every level, Massumi identifies the key issue as how direct the link is between all the levels that exist between the virtual and the actual. Affect is the very sum of this force that operates on each of these levels, bringing each of them together. What differentiates people, then, is their ability to manage this linkage and the levels in between (36-38).
A fitting analogy to the process described above is our central nervous system. We receive all sorts of inputs in the various sensory input points throughout our body. These inputs travel through our nervous system at various points along the way until they meet their appropriate cortex, are recognized, and then the appropriate response is ordered. This describes the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system operates differently. In this system, when certain inputs are received, there is an immediate order issued for a certain response, before those inputs are recognized by the brain consciously. With affect, our brain somewhat resembles the actual realm described by Massumi. All the sensory inputs are like the virtual, and the nervous system, spinal cord, etc. illustrate all the levels in between. The sympathetic nervous system described the overall move from the inputs toward the brain, but along the way, there are parasympathetic responses occurring at each instance, just as in the process of reflection. Affect the experience or feeling of this whole process. This is affect.
But the question remains: can it be managed? Honestly, I really don’t think it will ever be possible in entirety. Just as the nervous system is an elaborate system developed to manage our senses and responses, our affective system is intricately structured to manage our relations and reactions. And, as Massumi implies from the title of his chapter and further explains throughout it, affect is essentially autonomous; it operates independently and in its own way. The level of consciousness we can experience and how much we can alter these responses may simply be genetically, or societally, programmed. Yet, I wonder if there are ways to use the actual realm to affect responses to the virtual or if certain kinds of emotional therapies could be developed to alter responses (like the psychological technique of flooding used to address phobias). Either way, this outline of affect is truly fascinating and leaves much to be considered.
Massumi, Brian. Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002. Web.
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