Graffiti found in the East rock-pit cave. Sending a wash crew to clean it up.

Apprentice: “I’ve noticed that the philosophical, literary, and scientific giants of our history had immense natural beauty to inspire them. Jung, Nietzsche, and Barth were all surrounded by the Swiss Alps. Darwin had his excursions on the vast oceans. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in the rock pit in this work camp. I feel so disadvantaged. I feel defeated before I’ve even had a chance to start.

Master: “Beauty did help them and inspire them. But don’t forget about context and truth. You can be amongst the Alps and the oceans and never see past your own nose. The rocks you are surrounded by are not necessarily ‘just rocks’. After all, what is the moon but just a rock? Yet it is its context, placed in the sky among the stars, that helps to create its beauty. And it is the rays of light from the sun that strike it that illuminate this beauty, that convey it to our mere mortal eyes here on Earth. The sun is the truth. It reveals from the mere rock what is great. What you lack is not the inspiration of beauty, but the discernment to find it. Use truth to find beauty.

Apprentice: “But what if I’m locked up, alone, and in darkness? Then I cannot see what is beautiful even if I am capable of discerning it.”

Master: “Then rely on what is the foundation of beauty: Truth. It is when we can no longer see that we may see most clearly what is true. The illusions and preconceptions of our minds no longer hinder us. We find the light that is always there, even in darkness. It is that which can never be extinguished. Make that truth your light by which you see everything else.”