Photography, Philosophy

Perusing through Issue 77 of LensWork, I came across this quote by Brooks Jensen:

"Philosophically, any given thing is perfectly unknowable because we can never know it completely. Said another way, any given thing is known by its relationships with other things -- and this is the trap that thwarts creativity.

"The moment we define a thing, we limit our thinking about it. At the speed of thought, we restrict it, box it, classify it, limit it..."

Now the context of this is in making photographs and photographic art. The point being made is that photographers are usually self-limiting in the pursuit of making art. Photographers tend to make art that fits within boundaries of what already is. Brooks Jensen goes on to describe how truly creative work is created when boundaries are pushed and stepped over, when commonly accepted norms are set aside or even broken.

I find the quote above deeply significant because I think it applies to much more than just creative processes. So let's strike out the last phrase of the first paragraph -- the one that reads, "and this is the trap that thwarts creativity" -- for the moment. Now I think we have a philosophical statement that is broadly applicable to just about all of life.

Of course, being this particular blog and the nature of the work that I do, my thoughts naturally turn to the religious and spiritual applications of the above statement. I've mentioned this before, but I frequently find the most profound spiritual insights within the pages of LensWork. This is yet another example.

The history of religions, wherever and whenever, has tended to box God (or gods) in. Through stories, through teachings, through commandments, in their pursuit to define God people have erected boxes (and temples, sanctuaries, and churches). People have defined what is within the boundaries and what is outside. The longer and stronger religion gets, the more definite and certain the boundaries become.

When I look at my own religious tradition, Christianity and its sub-genre Seventh-day Adventism, I can find this trend and tendency. It's a far cry from what the founder, Jesus, taught. Jesus taught that God cannot be boxed in, God cannot be defined, and God can only be known by an experiential relationship with Him.

The application of Brook Jensen's statement is that every person's relationship with God is necessarily going to be different from everyone else's. One person's view of God, necessarily is going to be different from another's perspective of God. To rehash perhaps a tired cliche, it's like the blind men and the elephant. Every person is going to arrive at a different idea of God. And that's okay. When the best from each perspective is gathered together, we come closer to seeing God as He is. But we should never be arrogant in saying that we've actually seen or known God completely, because if we ever did, we would be claiming to be greater than God.

The statement, "We have the truth," is one of the most offensive to my ears. So also is the statement, "We are the remnant." Both smack of foolish certainty and arrogance. Both tend to lead to a mindset that closes itself off to fresh ideas and perspectives.

As for me, I know what I think I know, but what I think I know, I know may be quite wrong. I am quite certain that what I think I know will more than likely change as time goes on as I am exposed to more perspectives and experience God's workings within and around me. The one thing I hold fast to is that my God ultimately is a God of love and freedom. I am a follower of Jesus, pursuing God's love and freedom, and I pray that I'll never become so fixed and rigid as to end up as yet another box, useless on the shelf.