202507232318 Creative work takes place in the imagination and in reality

#new

Turning something from an idea into a reality

can make it seem smaller.

It changes from unearthly to earthly.

The imagination has no limits

The physical world does

The work exists in both¹

There is a fundamental difference between an imagined idea and a reified one. Even the most faithful creation of an idea will lose some quality that is present in our minds.

Sometimes this is because of something as simple as the differences in my experience vs yours. If an idea evokes in me a feeling because of a related memory, then it won’t evoke that feeling in you. Other times it’s simply impossible to describe the full scope and nature of the idea precisely. There are countless ways that this can manifest.

A good example of this is this Zettelkasten. I attempt to make my ideas explicit and show the connections between them, but it’s not always perfect. Sometimes the ideas connect in strange ways too.

This concept reminds me of “the compression of reality” discussed in the 202408220851 Willful ignorance of reality in organizations Zettel (update link when breaking out that Zettel#wip)