D (and K in agreement): “There’s no such thing as free will. Every action you take is a result, indirect or direct, of the cumulation of all your experiences in life.”
Me: “Yeah, but it’s still free will insofar as no one else will ever be able to predict your actions with 100% accuracy.”
I don’t know if I had a valid point or was just bullshitting, but it reminded me of a conversation I had back in undergrad with two friends, one of whom was an art major. We were arguing whether or not there was a “true” meaning to any piece of artwork. One friend (the non-art major) was arguing that the “true” meaning is what the artist intended you to see, and nothing else.
I was arguing (and the art major was agreeing) that there is no true meaning other than forcing/inspiring you to feel something. My whole argument revolved around the point that everyone has a different set of experiences in life and everything they see is filtered through those experiences. And since I can’t ever possibly have the same set of experiences as anyone else (the artist, the art critic, etc.), there’s no way I could ever see exactly what the artist intended. It would be an exercise in futility.
I think this is why I like photograpy. Even with well-defined subjects, the meaning is always incredibly subjective.
Or maybe I’m just blathering. It’s late, and I’m tired.
EXIF data
P.S. – I’m trying something new here. There was a good response to the stream of consciousness post I wrote yesterday, and I need to exercise my writing skills, so I figure I will try to post some sort of random thoughts along with my 366 Days… photos every day. There probably won’t be any relationship between the photos and the writing, at least not intentional. But then again, I guess that’s up to your interpretation 😉