Why our most profound mysteries lack a visual language
In short: We have countless theories about how the universe began and how it will end, yet we lack a shared visual vocabulary for these moments. While science explains the 'how' of cosmic phenomena, the 'why' of our origins remains an elusive, largely unillustrated frontier of human thought.
Humanity has spent millennia attempting to decode the beginning and the end through three primary lenses: philosophy, theology, and science. While modern science has successfully 'explained away' many cosmological phenomena that once fueled spiritual faith, the ultimate questions—how did it all start, and where are we going?—remain fundamentally elusive. These questions are foundational to every culture, ranging from primitive tribal myths to complex modern scientific theories.
Interestingly, there is a significant gap between our intellectual output and our visual expression regarding these topics. Despite the vast quantity of global creation myths, modern scientific and mythological texts frequently lack accompanying pictures. With the notable exception of the Judao-Christian images of Genesis, the visual representation of these cosmic mysteries has seldom been explored in a comparative way.
When we do find visual expressions, they are often culturally specific. The beginning of the universe is frequently depicted through the mosaic cycles of St. Mark's, the works of William Blake, or Brancusi's 'egg.' Conversely, images of 'the end' often shift from religious apocalyptic scenes based on the Book of Revelation to modern 'spacescapes' featuring black holes and gravitational collapse. Notably, while 'the beginning' is often viewed as synonymous across the universe, the planet, and mankind, 'the end' is more frequently associated with the destruction of the self, the species, or the planet.
This shift reflects a modern anxiety. At the start of the third millennium of the Christian era, the threat of destruction shifted from exterior forces—like deities or comets—to an interior one: the threat of the planet being destroyed by its own inhabitants.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Beginning and the End: Images of the Universe - Dr Valerie Shrimplin
- Also: The Beginning and the End: Images of the Universe
- Also: The Beginning and the End Images of the Cosmos 2001
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