Sparkle Valley Philosophy: The Beast and the Problem of Closure

The Beast Wants Closure

What if the Beast doesn’t only attack wonder through fear and distraction? What if sometimes it attacks by giving us what we want too quickly? By offering closure.

Not long ago the world record was broken in the marathon. The guy ran it under two hours. That was considered inconceivable only a few years ago. But now he's done it, and I felt elated at the time. But in the aftermath, I started to get a different type of feeling. A post-event let down. He had broken two hours, what was there left to do now? There was closure in a way. The quest for two hours is over. It's been done.

Inzos and the Smortzle

So why am I talking about the London Marathon here?  It’s because, as usual, I was thinking about the Blue Flower.

Let me just throw my thought out there:

What if the Beast is actually trying to help us catch the Blue Flower?

This would be the Beast at its sneakiest.

The Blue Flower loves mystery. The Beast loves closure.

And what is the Blue Flower ultimately? It's yearning, longing. For beauty, for that transcendent something in life. But what happens if you actually catch that Blue Flower? Doesn't it in some sense then stop being a blue flower? If the Blue Flower is a big mystery and the mystery is solved—you hold it there in your hand—then the Blue Flower is no more. Case closed. It’s definitional. If the sub two hour marathon has been run, then the yearning is over. The anticipation is over. Move on.

Banksy

Or here's an even better example. I love the artist Banksy. He would leave these artworks around cities, poignant artworks, and you wouldn't know where and when they would arrive, but they would always make some kind of creative statement. This was art in its truest form. But, and here’s the kicker, his art was anonymous. Nobody knew who he was. That anonymity was a big part of his art. It was a beautiful mystery.

And then recently, I read that Banksy had been identified. I remember the BBC I think gave some self-serving excuse about how it was important to reveal him because he had cultural status. Really? Is that really why? Even when such a big part of his artwork was his anonymity? I can just see them congratulating themselves after they spill the beans. It's like being a magician, and somebody comes in and spills your secrets. Why? Banksy, in this sense, is kind of a metaphor for the Blue Flower. Is he still Banksy now that he’s been identified?

The Beast over-explains

Maybe that's the Beast’s secret. Maybe he's trying to give us the answers so he can flatten our lives.

“Let me explain it so you don’t have to feel it.”

Maybe it’s trying to shine a big spotlight over our “Magic Garden.” Because If you over-explain things, wonder dies. So what this means is that the Beast isn't taking beauty away, it's the opposite. It's over explaining it. It's deconstructing it. Disenchanting it. Giving us the answers. Explain everything to death. This is Beast logic. This is Hank logic. But I’ll come back to him in a second.

Counterfeit Fulfillment

We talked before about the Beast being a counterfeiter of meaning. Maybe closure is just another way it counterfeits. It’s a false fulfillment. You get the answer and that closes the deal. And then you mistake this closure for fulfillment. But the Blue Flower does the opposite. When you see beauty, you want more. The Blue Flower opens up more world. It doesn’t end longing at all. It actually deepens it.

The Blue Flower loves mystery. The Beast loves closure.

With technology, more and more mysteries are being solved (just swipe a screen). But being a kid is all about discovery. You ride your bike and you never know what's going to be around the next corner. In Emily's magic garden, there was always something new. That was imagination. She was creating. But the Beast, it doesn't like that. It likes answers. So you have to stay ahead of the Beast.

Don’t catch the Blue Flower

So think about for a second what happens if you actually catch the Blue Flower. I know you can't, definitionally. But let’s do a little thought experiment:

I remember when I was a kid at Christmas and I found some presents before the big day. I was so excited in the moment. But then Christmas came and it wasn't that exciting. I had stripped those presents of context, the ritual, the humanity of it. It was now just another transaction. Suddenly it's less of a magical story. Flat. And that's what the Beast is all about. He's trying to flatline your life. The ultimate cynic.

What if the Beast is actually working this way? What if it's out there just looking around for closure. Like a wack-a-mole game. It sees magic and it explains it. Sound familiar? Think about those people who give away the secrets to magic tricks. They’re the mature ones right?

Of course you have to be responsible. You have to live in a real world. But this is where that balance comes in. How much is too much in either direction?

You can't be Hank or Frank.

Hank is the control freak who wants to shut things down. His whole world is about closure. He wants to shut the portals to the real world. Then there’s his brother Frank, who wants to do the exact opposite. For him, chaos is beauty. It's up to Emily to thread the needle, to find that balance. That’s quite a challenge, especially in a world where around every corner there is someone or thing just dying to spoil things for you.

I’m not talking about romanticizing ignorance here. It’s good to know the earth isn’t flat. The Enlightenment was exactly that – enlightening. And science is not an enemy of wonder. In fact, the more we understand about reality the more mysterious and magical it becomes. Just think about cosmology. What I’m talking about is something totally different. It's simply the excessive desire to over-explain everything, to label it, to make it mundane. To de-Banksy Banksy. To close it off.

In Rortian terms, the Beast would be the “anti-storyteller.” Or the terrible comic who goes straight to the punch line (actually that might be pretty funny). It’s actually diabolical isn’t it? Defeat them by giving them what they think they want: every answer.

But the magic was never in the answer. It was in the longing.

Continue Exploring

If you want to explore the symbolic world further

→ The Beast — counterfeit meaning

→ The Blue Flower — longing and wonder

→ Thin Places — where mystery breaks through

→ Abigail’s Impossible Choice — why some endings destroy meaning

If you want the character version of this tension

→ Hank & Frank— control versus chaos

→Emily — the struggle to stay emotionally open

If you want the practical side

→ Blue Flower Power: Balance — living between order and wonder

→ Blue Flower Power: Imagination — keeping mystery open

→Searching for the Blue Flower — resisting premature closure

Field Guide Notes (Quick Reference)

• Concept: The Beast as premature closure.

• Counterforce: The Blue Flower — longing sustained by mystery.

• Beast logic: explain magic until it goes flat.

• Core principle: explaining it shrinks it.

• In the story: Hank seeks closure; Emily keeps portals open.

• Core warning: counterfeit fulfillment can masquerade as wisdom.

• Guiding line: Don’t let the Beast give away the secret.