Approaches to Infinity (Escher)

When one dives into endlessness, in both time and space, farther and farther without stopping, one needs fixed points or milestones past which one speeds. Without these, one’s movement does not differ from standing still. There must be stars along which one shoots, beacons from which one can measure the road covered. One must divide one’s universe in distances of a specific length, in compartments that repeat themselves in endless series. At every border crossing between one compartment and the next, one’s clock ticks. . . . When one is finished, however, and looks at what he has done, then one sees something that is static and timeless. In his representation, no clock ticks. Only a flat, motionless expanse is revealed.

There is something breathtaking in such laws. They are not inventions or creations of the human mind, but “are” or “exist” independently of us. During a moment of clarity one can at the most discover their existence or become aware of them.

– M.C. Escher (1898-1972) , from “Approaches to Infinity”