Episode #24: 2 Christopher - Chapter 3 - Immitation

Jan,15 2026

<-#23: 2 Christopher - Chapter 2 - War#25: 2 Christopher - Chapter 4 - Work ->

On imitation, understanding, and the difference between painting and living

3:1

On another day, when the work was lighter,

I spoke of the first book.

3:2

I held it up and said, "This book brought me here."

3:3

Christopher glanced at it as one glances at an old tool

whose handle remembers many hands.

3:4

I said, "In it you corrected the author

when he tried to imitate you."

3:5

He answered, "I corrected haste."

3:6

I said, "Then tell me this.

Why do you now accept that so many around you are unclothed?"

3:7

He did not answer quickly.

3:8

I said, "Some will read this and claim you changed.

Some will call it contradiction."

3:9

Christopher replied, "A river looks inconsistent

only to the man who expects it to be stone."

3:10

I said, "But you warned against copying."

3:11

He answered, "I warned against copying the surface."

3:12

I said, "And what is the surface here?"

3:13

He said, "Cloth and skin are both surfaces."

3:14

I frowned and said, "Then why did you discourage him?"

3:15

Christopher answered, "Because he was trying to use the surface

to do the work of the heart."

3:16

I said, "Are you saying the author of the first book

did not understand you?"

3:17

Christopher said, "He understood enough to be faithful."

3:18

I asked, "Enough?"

3:19

He replied, "He understood with his eyes."

3:20

I said, "And what is wrong with that?"

3:21

Christopher answered, "Nothing.

A man who sees clearly can tell the truth.

But seeing is not the same as being changed."

3:22

I said, "Many will debate this."

3:23

He said, "Let them.

Debate is how minds chew.

It is not always how hearts eat."

3:24

I said, "Then tell me: why do these people live as you live?"

3:25

Christopher answered, "Some came for freedom.

Some came for novelty.

Some came to belong to something."

3:26

He added, "And a few came because shame starved them."

3:27

I asked, "And you allow them all?"

3:28

He replied, "I am not a gate."

3:29

I said, "But do you not fear imitation without understanding?"

3:30

He answered, "I fear it less when the work is real."

3:31

I said, "Explain."

3:32

Christopher said, "A costume is dangerous when it is worn for an audience.

But when a man sweats beside you,

the audience disappears."

3:33

He said, "Work is a fire that burns pretense first."

3:34

I said, "Then the field is your test."

3:35

He nodded and said, "Yes.

Here, a proud man grows tired.

A dishonest man grows bored.

A hungry soul stays."

3:36

I held the book tighter and said,

"But the author of the first book stayed."

3:37

Christopher answered, "He stayed to record."

3:38

I said, "Is that lesser?"

3:39

He looked at me and said, "No.

When you see beauty, you may paint it.

When you feel beauty, you live it."

3:40

I said, "And what if a man wishes to live it,

but cannot yet move?"

3:41

Christopher answered, "Then let him paint until his hands are ready."

3:42

He added, "But let him not confuse the painting with the living."

3:43

I said, "Is that what you saw in him?"

3:44

Christopher replied, "I saw a good man

whose heart was still behind a door."

3:45

I whispered, "And you see that in me."

3:46

He said, "I see your hunger.

That is already a crack in the door."

3:47

Then I said aloud, as if confessing,

"This is why I will write."

3:48

"For until my body can follow my soul,

I will use words to walk."

3:49

Christopher said, "Then write truly."

3:50

And I understood that my book would not be a ladder to climb,

but a mirror to hold-

and that even a mirror can feed a man

if it makes him honest.

<-#23: 2 Christopher - Chapter 2 - War#25: 2 Christopher - Chapter 4 - Work ->