All cultural situations are composed of an area of attention (figure) and a very much larger area of inattention (ground). The two are in a continual state of abrasive interplay, with an outline or boundary or interval between them that serves to define both simultaneously. As in the paintings of Van Gogh or cloisonné art, figures rise out of and recede back into ground, which is configurational and comprises all other (available) figures at once.