Ladders on the Wall

As far as I know, our brains are capable of understanding only two languages; logic and imagination. Separately, each have their own limitations but, together, they are boundless and unconquerable. Logic can take you from point A to point B, wrote Einstein, but imagination can take you anywhere.

I have always been fascinated by these seemingly incongruent metaphysical concepts. That the mind does not distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. That, even in the face of reason, we only believe what we choose to believe, because we imagine that it’s true.

Perhaps this is why I am so drawn to the intellectual dexterity of Albert Einstein and the prophetic vision of Joseph Campbell — Einstein, not so much for his insights as a theoretical physicist, but for his inspirational ability to visualize and demystify the universe in which we live; Campbell, not so much for his penetrating understanding of world mythology, but for his natural ability to decipher the universal message inherent in those myths.

All myths are public dreams, wrote Campbell, and all dreams are private myths. They are realities of our own creation, limited or unconstrained only by our imagination. They justify our core beliefs, or they perpetuate our doubts. They enable or ennoble faith, or they manifest our fears. They give meaning to our very lives, or they rob our lives of meaning.

Part of this, it seems to me, is that we live our lives in silos. A vertical existence. A ladder on a wall. A well-worn path to follow. A harbinger. An omen. For those who choose to walk this path, their path is chosen for them. Rung-by-rung and step-by-step, their lives are predetermined.

Campbell saw this very clearly, when he made this observation; if your path is put before you, one step at a time, then it may not be your path at all, it may not be your calling. Your path is cleared by living life, with every step you take. With every hope and dream and circumstance. By the choices that you make.

Life, for Einstein, was outwardly experiential — that man should look at what is, not what he thinks should be; that the only source of knowledge is comprehension and experience. For Campbell, life was inwardly experienced, and devoid of preconception — soulful, transcendent, sublime; less about experiencing ‘life’ than seeking an experience of ‘being alive’.

I dance between the raindrops and I live my life in motion. An outward expression of an inward journey. The logical extension of the imagined world in which I live.

It’s my world. It’s my life. It’s my choice.

Imagine that.

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Photo: Georgia O'Keeffe Studio, Ghost Ranch, Taos, NM