imaginary paths
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Text by Vincent Moustache with AI assistance for research, proofreading, and translation. Illustrations by Vincent Moustache.
Dear Croissant,
What if the goal of the path isn't to get anywhere at all, but to find yourself, to discover who you are?
THE ODYSSEY OF COMING HOME
This week, like everyone else, we went to see The Odyssey, in my case on the preview screening day. Here I'll share a movie review that needs no spoilers because it's based on one of the oldest books in existence—YET, it sparks controversy, modern translations, and contemporary interpretations. Conclusion: whether you like the movie or not, everyone is talking about identity and classical literature right now, and that is FANTASTIC.
LOSING HOME TO FIND YOURSELF
In 2019, I lost my home, my little place, my dream: a small attic apartment in the bohemian neighborhood of Belleville, set within a park with views of the Eiffel Tower—a true dream. Ever since then, like Ulysses, I have tried to get back home (not that specific one, but another one in Paris), to a life in Paris, to the stability of living as an artist, if such a thing even exists and is possible. Homes and cities are islands too, safe havens. Social media acts as the sirens' song. Your drawings are your crew. And Penelope represents your friends; they wait for you to celebrate your adventures and achievements together, cheering you on from their shores. Unlike The Odyssey, in real life you return to Ithaca many times over, and—just like Ulysses himself—you discover that Ithaca wasn't the place you had to return to at all; rather, you had to find out what kind of sailor you are. That is, in reality, the home you will inhabit forever.
WALKING AWAKENS YOUR IMAGINATION
It has been scientifically proven that walking stimulates your brain. In fact, one of the best techniques for creatives is to walk alone or with company. If you go with someone, as everyone knows, walking turns into a conversation. In these modern times, doing nothing and imagining has become a true luxury—so much so, in fact, that the use of imagination is on the verge of extinction. This is the first article in the IMAGINARY series where we are going to—literally—explore imagination through paths, maps, and cities. I hope you're ready, croissant, and wearing comfortable shoes; we are about to read and understand how the imagination works.
PARIS SAINT-JACQUES
In 2013, the day I came to Paris for a job interview, I saw a tower from afar and felt the urge to go see it. At the time, I had no idea how deeply connected that tower would be to my future path. In the center of Paris (75004), there is a tower standing in the middle of a park. It is the Tour Saint-Jacques, built in the Flamboyant Gothic style.
ICHIGO - ICHIE: LIVE THE PRESENT MOMENT
What is most necessary always seems the most impossible: Stopping for two seconds, looking around, breathing, enjoying the moment. Knowing that those moments are unique, and that you are unique within them. That is Ichigo-Ichie, the Japanese concept of "Enjoy the present moment: every moment is unrepeatable and will never happen again." Walking has a lot of that. This phrase is hung in places where the tea ceremony is celebrated, reminding everyone that each time it takes place, it is a unique and unrepeatable moment. On our "Other Camino de Santiago," Mimi and I repeated it like a mantra. Mimi later went to Japan and brought me this calligraphy as a gift. I'm this close to getting it tattooed.
THE PATH THAT FINDS YOU
We believe the goal of the path is to arrive, when in reality the path is simply the walking. It's the same thing when people tell us creatives that we must enjoy the process instead of obsessing over results. How hard capitalist productivity makes that for us!
I'm going to take a picture of what I see right now while I write this. I am privileged—so privileged among humanity. Behind my computer screen, I see chimney pots. Many of them, like tiny characters inhabiting the sky above the zinc rooftops. They are little mud and tile men and women perched on silver mountains. From time to time, a bird flies by; there are crows, pigeons, and seagulls. When I leave the house, I close the windows just in case a seagull decides to fly in, or a magpie—they are huge thieves—and steals a paintbrush or my iPad pencil. That would ruin my day; the iPad pencil is expensive.
FROM A TO B VIA Z
We tend to think the path is linear, running neatly from Point A to Point B. Ah, my friend, the path goes from Point A to Point B while passing through A, B, and every single letter of the alphabet a thousand times over! They say your soul chooses your life before coming into the world, and that everything that happens to you is a spiritual and karmic choice. Your soul has a great sense of humor.
The path means climbing mountains, descending valleys, crossing tunnels, catching a distant glimpse of the sea and failing to reach it, or arriving only to have to turn back because you cannot walk on water. The path is many things; the path is what you make it.
THE PATH DOES NOT EXIST UNTIL YOU WALK IT
It's a bit of a paradox, but it's true. The physical path is just a proposal; you are the one who truly creates the path. As you move along, you discover that you can wander wherever you want—you can step off it, find it again, take a shortcut, get lost, or try a brand-new route. The path only exists in your imagination, even while you are walking it.
Something similar happens to us in life: we have goals and desires, but there is a road to reach them, and that road is invisible to the naked eye. You have to be creative; you have to imagine it, visualizing yourself taking action and reaching the finish line. Then, by magic and determination, the path becomes real, your desire is fulfilled, and once it's all over, everything you did seems so easy and logical—whereas at the very beginning, you couldn't even imagine it.
