Metaphysical categories, abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space, are not the essence of meaning. Experience is not reduced to these categories. Experiences are exemplified and enlarged by the world and its traditions that connect us all. Consciousness takes an object — the other in all its forms — and the act of focused purpose cannot be detached from the renewed or, arguably, revived understanding of the perceiving subject. The focus on the "complexity of the middle" centers experience even in the presence of ambiguity and confusion. The human condition is situated between the "semantics" of desire and the "verbum of the hierophanies," the expression of the sacred. An individual is not "given" to an object. The object remains a mystery, and awareness of this, even in the most ordinary of experiences, adds depth and meaning to life. Winquist called this calm of the unknown a "dark time," or "taboo," a juncture of understanding that allows individuals to enter a "range of meaning" that is already a part of human experience. The middle allows an avenue of heightened awareness while remaining centered. Many modalities of thought can access the middle, and there is more than one way to turn thoughts to look upon the process itself.