H.
Oh my. This blot makes me think of... beauty. As an
abstract concept. Yeah.
he
concept of beauty is one of the most important to me, and also one of
the hardest to put into words. Like the concept of life, its abstractness
makes it so difficult to explain or even define, it's usually easier to
simply discuss taxonomy. One form is natural beauty -- sunlight streaming
into a clean room, the endless blue-on-green horizon from a peak above
Muir Woods, the pair of golden butterflies copulating on my window right
now. Although I appreciate these sorts of things very much, I'm more
interested and impressed by the forms of beauty created by the human mind.
here
are the traditional arts, of course -- pictures, music,
architecture, poetry, storytelling, cooking, body-piercing, and so on.
But for me, there is also undeniable beauty in a clever algorithm or
mechanical design. Beauty in a well-designed economic or social system.
Beauty in a joke, or clever turn of phrase, or convincing argument, or
novel way of looking at an idea. There can be beauty in any human
endeavor that relies upon skill and ingenuity.
consider the creation of beauty to be the noblest of all human
activities. It is the closest thing I've found, at my tender young age,
to a "meaning of life". Survival is important, of course, and happiness
is nice. But the creation of something beautiful is what makes a life
worthwhile. It justifies humanity.
hat's
the philosophy, in any case. In practice, my own creative urge
usually manifests itself as a single-minded obsession with whatever
project is currently on hand. Projects tend to consume me. An active
project might devour every waking hour, every thought, and every quantum
of attention, sometimes to the detriment of more survival-oriented
activities such as eating and exercising. (But not bathing, since I do
some of my best thinking in the shower.) Project-time insomnia is
incredible, and entire nights might be spent mentally turning around a
musical phrase, or line of poetry, or piece of software or circuit
architecture, around and around like clay on a potter's wheel. But the
epiphany, the moment when perfection is achieved, when the last piece
falls into place, when the beauty appears -- that is when I feel alive.
There is no greater feeling.
fter
this blot description and the previous one, you might already have
an idea of my Ultimate Life Goal. My Ultimate Life Goal is, basically, to
Create Something Good. To invent something that improves the state of the
world. Something that helps people, something that improves the global
quality of life. Something. Someday.
nd
if I'm extra-lucky, it'll fit into a Box With Lights And Buttons.