Semi-Random Reflections

Read time: 2 min.

When I shared my poem “Three Suggestions” the other week, I had no picture on hand that I felt really captured its meaning. I also had no notion of what illustration I could create. I ultimately chose a photo of the sun behind a library to imply the imaginal exploration hinted at in the third suggestion. In the two weeks since I posted the poem, I’ve gained inspiration from reading The Book of Kells and finding, to my surprise, designs reminiscent of (but not identical to) the Yin Yang among the contents of this 9th century Irish manuscript (a screenshot from the PDF is included below).

My variation on the Yin Yang in the featured image above captures the theory of truth expressed in “Three Suggestions”. The blue and pink swirls represent subjective truth: each person’s honest, unique perspective; “my truth” and “your truth” respectively. The white circle represents what the poem calls “interjective” truth: the truth we shape together through the interaction of our perspectives; this aspect of truth exists between us and around us. The silver crescent represents objective truth: if such a thing exists at all, it exists outside of us, detached from us, and yet provides our foundation in ways we may not even see. Naturally each of truth’s aspects includes part of all the others within itself. When presented in good faith, each aspect is true, most true, and without untruth. 

The shades of pink and blue represent the part of life to which the poem applies its theory of truth. Everything exists on a scale, including gender. Points at the end of a scale imply points between and beyond. This is another layer of meaning to each color containing a splash of all the others colors inside it. You can’t have the inside/outside dichotomy without having the doorway that is simultaneously neither and both; you can’t get from wheat to bread without going through flour and dough.

I do still think the library photo captures the last section somewhat better. So many people want to understand others’ perspectives before they accept them, never realizing that the only way to understand is by taking the imaginative leap to accept and then live in that acceptance. Imagination is how one expands the mind enough for acceptance and comprehension to dawn.