A Paradox of Pictures

"A picture is worth a thousand words, " they say. I agree.

However, have you ever seen a picture that communicated this idea as well as the saying I have just typed? I haven't, at least, not yet. If anyone knows of a picture like that, I would be very interested. The saying is true, but a picture can not say it. Sometimes a sentence is worth many pictures. These ideas seem paradoxical, they seem to contradict, but when you investigate them, they both turn out to be true.

In the telling and listening an authentic image emerges.

When I wrote, "The Road out of Nowhere," I found myself wanting to draw pictures with words. You see, most of the chapters in the book were based on pictures that seemed to spring into my imagination. As I put pen to paper, or fingers on keys, the words would describe what I was seeing, and the more I described, the more the story unfolded. I was trying to paint a picture with a thousand words. What is more, I found that much of what I was seeing was about the power of words. Words are amazing. I love watching the Peter Jackson films based on Tolkien's stories, but when I read the books, the pictures are better.  The words spring to life, and create vivid images in the mind that are hard to match even with the best special effects. Often the best pictures are painted with a story, not with an explanation.

A well told story should help the listener see things that explanations can never convey. Listening to friends talk about an adventure together will paint a picture of what they are like far better than most explanations. In the telling and listening an authentic image emerges. People are amazing, and you can hear it in their stories. However, the picture that the story of our lives paint is often not a good one. We don't want to look and we long for it to be different. We see how the picture should be, but do not know how to get there.

The paradox here is that we can often see what we we want to be clearer than we can presently see ourselves. I have found that when I surrender to the reality of what I see, I can start to walk towards something better. I see that in other people's stories as well. Honesty with ourselves brings more light. Seeing with more light is often the first step in painting a better picture.

In the end, we might be able to give it words as well.

-Matthew