The metaphor of “crystallization”

(Scientific metaphors in everyday language - Part I)

In his now classic work “Metaphors we live by”, George Lakoff has awakened the general awareness regarding how much our linguistic landscape is under the influence of experiences from the physical world; As the start shoot for this blog I will analyze metaphors from natural sciences widely used in modern language. In the present entry that of “crystallization”, an excellent metaphor in the concept-complex of “expressing-ordering-creating”. In a later entry I will look on the metaphor of “DNA” used as picture related to ideas around “coding-control”; a usage in fashion nowadays in the business world, but in my opinion extremely problematic.
Let us start then with the goodie, the world and idea of “crystallization”.

First of all we must have it clear: the crystal is not a practical metaphor of “perfection”. This idea is mainly spread by New Age shops filled with purple smoke and by crappy science fiction B movies from the seventies. Those who have tried to search for real crystals in their original environment, smashing rocks with hammer in a quarry and getting dirt under the nails, know that most crystals in nature are very far from perfect. It’s pretty seldom to find crystals like the idealized ones on textbook drawings. (and new age shop windows) Usually the grows of crystals is unequal in different directions, and they are often intergrown with their neighbor crystals, the visible faces and edges presenting a mess of small shining plates; The identification of the forms present being a complex puzzle, a challenging mental exercise. Similar considerations apply to the inner structure, the crystal lattice. To summarize, crystals are full of imperfections, both outside and inside, hence the world “crystal” is not more apt as metaphor for “perfection” as the words “raindrop” or “cow”.

What could it then be used for, the concept of the crystal?
Well, to illustrate ORDER, and the process of crystallization express “ordering according to a principle”.

The atoms and molecules in a liquid solution, for example a glass or salty water move up and down and in all directions in a highly chaotic manner. During the process of crystallization the matter is organized in a concrete solid structure determined by the nature of the materials involved and by external conditions such as temperature, pressure, time available etc. As indicated above, the result of the ordering will never be perfect, but compared to the initial state, i.e. the liquid solution, it is absolutely meaning- and powerful to talk about the crystallization as creation of order.

In a mental dimension the liquid solution corresponds to a state where all kind of ideas and associations flow around freely in the space of our consciousness. During “crystallization” the ideas in turbulence are settled down to form a concrete argumentation, a stable plan of actions, that is something solid enough to be exported from our mind, to be communicated for others.

I would say the analogy to organic growth, such as that of germination of a seed or the development of a fetus, is much weaker. These processes need constant metabolism, i.e. exchange of energy/matter with the outer world; while both in physical and mental crystallization the potential result is already there, it is just a question of ordering the elements present to reach solidification. Note that crystallization can happen very suddenly in an oversaturated solution – just like the sudden grasp of an idea.

I will conclude that the physical process of crystallization is an enriching metaphor for the mental process of settling ideas because 1) the physical process has a clear interpretation 2) there is a meaningful analogy between the two processes even if they are in totally different areas.

In a later entry I will show why this is not the case for use of “DNA” as metaphor for coding and control. (=>HERE)