Should I comment on the brilliance and depth of your work that no one would dare to refuse about? Or should I praise the obvious hard work you’ve poured into it?
You know, Jordan Peterson's work has taught me to act responsibly, confront fears, and speak truth (or at least not speak a lie).
David, the Recovering Overthinker, through his work and actions has taught me the valuable skill: the practice of staying consistent.
And you, Noah, my dear friend, have taught me the value of doing real work—the deep work, the eternal work, the beautiful work. You’ve shown me the importance of working for the sake of work, of creating something worthy in the the eyes of a "Judge Outside of Time." You didn’t just do this with your words, your ideas, or the people you write about; you did it through your actions. For me, you are the true embodiment of a man who is "Immovably Centered."
This masterpiece is so deep that it touches on multiple aspects of imagination. It’s the kind of work that can’t be fully understood after just one read. To be honest, I think I’m too young, too inexperienced, or maybe just too dumb to grasp everything all at once. I’d even say it would be a crime for me to read it once and think I’ve understood it all. My intuition tells me that I’ll need to return to it again and again to learn more, to uncover more, and to be changed more.
You’ve explored different perspectives. I especially appreciated how you addressed the skeptics of imagination, and even more so, how you acknowledged the wrong uses of imagination while offering solutions. You didn’t just leave the reader hanging but provided ways to use imagination constructively — or in your words, to — "uncover a little more of the images in your mind" and "see things a little clearer."
Here are a few quotes that struck me most. I understood them based on my own past experiences, and reading them helped me put words to things I had felt but couldn’t express before:
"Many times, the stories and images that present themselves in myth and derive from the imagination are archetypal (original patterns) and represent something 'meta-true'—that is, true in a way that they represent things that don’t just happen one time at a specific point in history, but are always happening (or recurring)."
"This is the creation of the Beautiful as a visible manifestation of the Good and True."
(Beautiful — the manifestation of the Good and True. Though, I know it can't be defined completely, but only experienced, I couldn’t have find a better definition of the Beautiful than this one.)
"When something comes to us from the various imaginative filters of different artists, what gets reflected back to us is a more complete vision of what stands outside of us… with each addition, we are given more angles from which to view something that seems to transcend time."
"Those gestures, produced by our imagination, are the bridges that can take us beyond where reason and logic alone can go."
"Imagination used this way might be understood as a sin in the same way we think of lying as a sin—it is to miss the mark and set ourselves on a path where the inevitable consequences contain misery of our own making."
"Lies are always self-defeating because eventually, they are found out; the only question, in the end, is the magnitude of the cost."
"Avoid the screen demons that want to train your focus on what’s new instead of what’s true."
Thank you for writing this down. It’s more than a piece of work; it’s something that will continue to teach me.
This is a brilliant essay. I fear that our imaginations are fading away under the weight of digital technology and artificial intelligence. Thank you for this wonderful essay.
Hmm… where should I begin?
Should I comment on the brilliance and depth of your work that no one would dare to refuse about? Or should I praise the obvious hard work you’ve poured into it?
You know, Jordan Peterson's work has taught me to act responsibly, confront fears, and speak truth (or at least not speak a lie).
David, the Recovering Overthinker, through his work and actions has taught me the valuable skill: the practice of staying consistent.
And you, Noah, my dear friend, have taught me the value of doing real work—the deep work, the eternal work, the beautiful work. You’ve shown me the importance of working for the sake of work, of creating something worthy in the the eyes of a "Judge Outside of Time." You didn’t just do this with your words, your ideas, or the people you write about; you did it through your actions. For me, you are the true embodiment of a man who is "Immovably Centered."
This masterpiece is so deep that it touches on multiple aspects of imagination. It’s the kind of work that can’t be fully understood after just one read. To be honest, I think I’m too young, too inexperienced, or maybe just too dumb to grasp everything all at once. I’d even say it would be a crime for me to read it once and think I’ve understood it all. My intuition tells me that I’ll need to return to it again and again to learn more, to uncover more, and to be changed more.
You’ve explored different perspectives. I especially appreciated how you addressed the skeptics of imagination, and even more so, how you acknowledged the wrong uses of imagination while offering solutions. You didn’t just leave the reader hanging but provided ways to use imagination constructively — or in your words, to — "uncover a little more of the images in your mind" and "see things a little clearer."
Here are a few quotes that struck me most. I understood them based on my own past experiences, and reading them helped me put words to things I had felt but couldn’t express before:
"Many times, the stories and images that present themselves in myth and derive from the imagination are archetypal (original patterns) and represent something 'meta-true'—that is, true in a way that they represent things that don’t just happen one time at a specific point in history, but are always happening (or recurring)."
"This is the creation of the Beautiful as a visible manifestation of the Good and True."
(Beautiful — the manifestation of the Good and True. Though, I know it can't be defined completely, but only experienced, I couldn’t have find a better definition of the Beautiful than this one.)
"When something comes to us from the various imaginative filters of different artists, what gets reflected back to us is a more complete vision of what stands outside of us… with each addition, we are given more angles from which to view something that seems to transcend time."
"Those gestures, produced by our imagination, are the bridges that can take us beyond where reason and logic alone can go."
"Imagination used this way might be understood as a sin in the same way we think of lying as a sin—it is to miss the mark and set ourselves on a path where the inevitable consequences contain misery of our own making."
"Lies are always self-defeating because eventually, they are found out; the only question, in the end, is the magnitude of the cost."
"Avoid the screen demons that want to train your focus on what’s new instead of what’s true."
Thank you for writing this down. It’s more than a piece of work; it’s something that will continue to teach me.
Appreciate the thoughtful and insightful comment!
This is a brilliant essay. I fear that our imaginations are fading away under the weight of digital technology and artificial intelligence. Thank you for this wonderful essay.
Agreed. The risk of atrophy is very real!!