Best of Today: "Sympathetic Magic"

The most interesting part about this article occurs about mid-way through when Wilson brings up the idea of cave paintings. Back when the world started changing and the Homo Sapiens starting overshadowing the Homo Erectus, art began to emerge and I find it really cool that Wilson brings it up. He talks about how when our species first came into being, art emerged in the form of cave painting and various other "barbaric" forms. He explains how the people needed a way to make note of their rituals and sort of perserve their experiences. What I find most interesting about his illumination of the pre-historic art is that he uses it to make an argument. That argument is that humans have always needed a way to express themselves personally and to remember things and that's exactly how art came into being.
Wilson takes it a step further when he mentions "sympathetic magic", which is the "manipulation of symbols and images" that ultimatley influence the people and the objects they represent. One of the most famous representation of this is voodoo. Pins are stuck into dolls and this image is suppossed to represent torture and destruction to a person. Ever since the beginning of modern man, sympathetic magic has existed and it is basically what sparked art and creativity. The idea of sympathetic magic is really interesting because you could see it in many other ancient civilizations such as that of the Aztecs and Maya in their sacrifices.
I think it's really important to learn about sympathetic magic because it is the origin of symbols and images. It is where the idea of using symbols to represent something powerful was derived from, in not only literature, but in art too. I think it's fairly important to think back to these ancient examples to remind ourselves of how to properly use symbols when writing or creating works of art because it would not only help us become greater artists, but it would help us create great works of art.