According to Deleuze and Guattari (see a thousand plateaus, and other writings too), the dominant model of thought which we employ is what they term the arboreal model. By this, they mean, tree-like.
You’ll be familiar with this. Think of how we categorise using this model. It creates a hierarchy with layer after layer of subdivisions, branches or roots. But everything is connected back to the trunk, or up to the top level of the hierarchy. They say
The tree imposes the verb “to be”
It attempts to nail down exact definitions, to fix things in their place, to pigeon-hole them.
They challenge us to think instead using the rhizome as a model.
the fabric of the rhizome is the conjunction, “and….and….and…”
In a rhizome every element is connected to every other. There is no central trunk and no hierarchy. Think of a web
This is a non-linear model. You can’t fix things into pigeon-holes this way. It’s dynamic and flowing, without clear beginnings or endings.
I love this simple analogy. It’s one of my favourite parts of Deleuzean thinking. I find it liberating, even to the point of being dizzying. It’s got life and movement and creativity and flow. It helps us understand by considering difference rather than by categorisation.
Heroes Not Zombies 