  It is proposed, that ``the colorless objects'' which manifest themselves in
large-rapidity-gap events are color-singlet gluon-clusters due to
self-organized criticality (SOC), and that optical-geometrical concepts and
methods are useful in examing the space-time properties of such objects. A
simple analytical expression for the $t$-dependence of the inelastic single
diffractive cross section $d\sigma/dt$ ($t$ is the four-momentum transfer
squared) is derived. Comparison with the existing data and predictions for
future experiments are presented. The main differences and similarities between
the SOC-approach and the ``Partons in the Pomeron (Pomeron and
Reggeon)''-approach are discussed.
