Yu Gao

Outside of daily life and conventional thinking, imagination can arise anytime, anywhere. Sometimes it lasts a few seconds, sometimes half a second, or even less. Within this, one can experience the relativity of time—when shifting into another space, half a second can feel very long. I never intended to deliberately collect or record these “imaginings”; I simply let them come and go.

In the past, when faced with my “inner demons,” I would try to overcome them—reading, observing, and learning from how others handled theirs. But later, I realized this was never a complete solution. As the saying goes, “For every foot the Way rises, the demon rises a yard.” The demon is always above the Way. You have to acknowledge that the “demon” is yourself; it is not a force outside of you. Accepting this makes life much easier. Transform it into creative ideas in art, into a continuous, unique source of energy. This process is joyful. Without demons, one would be mediocre.