Creative Writing 1: Epistemology.
All displays of excellence peer into the divine. Wealth, status, and other markers of success are crude forms of distinction. I understood this much. But one surveys the natural beauty of the river valley, or observes the practiced blade of a surgeon, and is filled with awe. This affect is the sublime. Knowledge, then, is a mere attempt at capturing the sublime into words. And epistemology, the most rudimentary field, cuts a streak of light across the formless and empty, the darkness over the surface of the deep. Having glanced at the sublime but lacking a way to reproduce it seemed to drive my obsession even further. It was a vain activity, but I pursued it nonetheless. You see, I was always dreaming about powerful people. Even in my youth, I recognized the purpose of the allegories that my ancestors had taught. These stories had one common theme: that life was full of sadness and tragedy, but was worth living. Great men and women were put in unfair situations, made hard choices,...