Imagination

Ever since I was a kid, I hated looking at the butchering of imagination. I loved fantasy but disliked the often dismal and mediocre portrayal made by people. This must also be the impetus in preferring books over movies or stories over dramas; the purity of the characters and setting remain undiluted, thereby allowing us to imprint our desires onto them.

This essence lies in one of the ten commandments:

לֹא-תַעֲשֶׂה לְךָ פֶסֶל, וְכָל-תְּמוּנָה (Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image)

– Book of Deuteronomy

Putting it another way: anything that is an archetype, or an ideal, cannot be adequately articulated or portrayed. That is the pursuit of art. To risk expressing our vision of it is to risk denigrating its beauty. I’ve often tried to capture a photo of the incredibly beautiful night sky, and though we’ve advanced technology to incredible lengths, still it does not seem possible to convey the awe one feels.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche