representational inquiry regarding meaning » concrete conditions » materiality
The symbols for L-phase nodes are horizontally oriented disks, but they're wobbling disks, and so they extend more or less into the vertical dimension, marking out levels in a developmental progression. The D-node is closest to the flattened black disk representing ideally-opaque materiality; its wobble doesn't extend far into verticality. It thereby also represents the first of six stages in a developmental progression.
The letter D is used to represent this node primarily given the relation of its traditional numerical value (4) to the other L-phase nodes as arranged in a triangle. See letter L for an explanation.
Also, the Greek letter Δ (delta) resembles a triangle pointing up. The shape suggests a firm grounding, with the shape's stable base firmly seated on the earth. D represents material/physiological conditions, the most grounding of experiential conditions. Better, the number 4 can be associated with a square, a square with a cube, and a cube with the classical element earth, where earth offers a paradigmatic way of understanding materiality—the most (literally) grounding of the classical elements.
