„ Along the path, glued to the window panes or hung on the bushes or dangling from the ceiling, so that all free space was put to maximum use, hundreds of little placards were displayed. Each one carried a drawing, a photograph, or an inscription, and the whole constituted a veritable encyclopedia of what we call `human knowledge'. A diagram of a plant cell, Mendeleieff's periodic table of the elements, the keys to Chinese writing, a cross-section of the human heart, Lorentz's transformation formulae, each planet and its characteristics, [...] economic and demographic statistics, musical phrases, [...] brain diagrams, logistic equations, phonetic charts of the sounds employed in all languages, maps, genealogies – everything in short which would fill the brain of a twentieth century Pico della Mirandola.”
To the superficial observer, it will appear like madness. It would also have developed into one, had I not been able to absorb the overpowering force of the original experiences. With the help of alchemy, I could finally arrange them into a whole. I always knew that these experiences contained something precious, and therefore I knew of nothing better than to write them down in a 'precious', that is to say, costly book and to paint the images that emerged through reliving it all–as well as I could. I knew how frightfully inadequate this undertaking was, but despite much work and many distractions I remained true to it... ”
It is, in some respect, what is nowadays called a mind map. But hopefully also so much more: a practical tool for information retrieval, an active gateway to discovery, a glimpse into one's mind that can be shared, and which could bring alike minds together, and perhaps a source of inspiration through its geometric beauty.
Click on the graph above to enter.