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Aristobulus: The Architect of Cassandreia
Aristobulus of Cassandreia served as architect and military engineer to Alexander The Great. He enjoyed royal confidence and was entrusted with many great projects including the repair of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae.
But life was not always easy for Aristobulus and difficulties in his environment seemed to also affect his art. So many opinions, so many comments by so many critics, left him empty, withdrawn and unhappy. Disappointed in his work and frustrated by his lack of new and fresh ideas, he walked the beach for hours, thinking. Thinking.
Ankokides, a well known and respected potter, lived in a beautifully crafted home on the beach and observed the daily pacing up and down the shoreline. Curious, he inquired as to his identity. Answers were not easily forthcoming, but Ankokides was patient (after all, was this not a key element in making of pottery itself?).
Gradually, Aristobulus began to unburden. He spoke of various misgivings in his life. He told of great regret. And he told of the advent of his stammer directly after his marriage to Adrasteia, an outspoken, highly-opinionated and wealthy daughter of Tsochatzopoulos (rumored to have obtained ill-gotten gains and was considered dangerous by most).
Ankokides leaned on his patience to listen, having no other “skills of the person”. And morning after morning, walking aside Aristobulus, he could sense gradual relief. Ankokides accented the positive moments they shared by pointing out some facet of the environment and urging that it had not changed, but only Aristulous’ view of it—his viewpoint.
At the end of their last meeting, as Aristobulous waved goodbye, there was a smile—something that Ankokides had never seen on the face of his new friend.
The next morning Aristobulous did not appear, but in his place, and directly on line with his home on the beach, Ankokides found a gift from Aristobulous.
“Now, what is imagination and how does imagination go by the boards? It goes by the boards in a very, very simple fashion. The individual stops originating communications. And that is the failure of his imagination. And we could say it works either way, but the truth of the matter is that he stops originating communications, he stops being an origin point on this line and his imagination fails. And that’s the way it goes about it. He can get back on the origin point and have his imagination revive it. Just start originating communications on a two-way cycle of communication…”
— L. Ron Hubbard, Mechanics of Communication, 14 December 1954
Grateful acknowledgment is made to L..Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Copyright © 2014 Arte Maren, Inc. All Rights Reserved. IA # 14112801
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