Encounter
[ɪnˈkɑʊn·tər]
Related terms: Becoming-with, Crossing, Difference, Disruption, Porosity, Responsibility, Transformation, Uncertainty, Unpredictability
»Unpredictable encounters transform us; we are not in control, even of ourselves.«[*]
Life consists of encounters, which can be between or among all entities, humans and nonhumans. An encounter is the moment that oxygen meets a new layer of rock, or the way the deep-sea sponge interacts with a squid-like predator, or how bacteria work in collaboration with soils. Constant series of encounters of different scales in time and space between life-forms in the Critical Zone keep the Earth in a precarious balance and in a process of transformation. We exist though encounters, as there is no moment in life when we are not in interaction. Every encounter is a singular event with an unpredictable outcome; that is what makes life and the Earth uncontrollable.