Korzybski described it as an 'event' in the sense of "an instantaneous cross-section of a process. In other words, the parabola represents the "external" cause of what we experience. The disc represents the non-verbal result of our nervous systems reacting to submicroscopic "stuff", e. The disc represents what we experience of our surroundings versus what our surroundings actually are. The labels [usually seven or eight are linked together in a chain, with the last one attached back to the parabola, but here we see just one] are shaped like suitcase labels, and represent the static world of words, e.