Mimēsis

Ginesthe oun mimētai tou

Ephesians 5:1

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All of the universe was created by the word of God, except for the first man, he was formed out of the creation by God's own hand. Crafted out of dust, made in the Divine image and given the breathe of life from God Himself, mankind was made the crown of creation with a unique command to rule over the rest of the created order. Man was made in the image and likeness of God to do the things that God does, to imitate Him.

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As image-bearers of the Creator, man always relates to the world as a creator as well: he plants seeds into soil and cultivates a garden; he carves the trees and stones into a city; he takes that which exists and shapes it into something new. This remains true even for our internal perception of the world. With words, we are able to reshape the world in our minds, applying language and narrative to understand reality beyond that which is seen. Whether by speech, art, poetry or song- the creative activity of man is always a re-creation of what God has made; this is called mimesis.

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The term mimesis (an english transliteration) comes from the Greek word miméomai which means to imitate or mimic. Broadly applied, mimesis is the theory that all forms of art, whether literary or visual, are imitations of the real world- a 're-presentation' of that which truly exists. While mimesis is an imitation of the world, that which it produces is not an identical copy of that which it sets out to imitate, but a depiction of that object in a different way; it is an attempt to express the truth of that object clearly. To further explore this concept, let us first consider the most natural form of expression common to humanity: language.

(Part 1 of 14 of Mimetic Reality series)