The why of it. An existential video essay on communication, death, and power

An existential video essay on communication, death, and power. (c) 2025 by Maria Rustica. - "Language springs from vulnerability.” - The essay also reveals the meaning of the channel's avatar and banner.

Images from Wikimedia Commons:
0:01:52: George E. Koronaios: The handshake of Procles and Proclides. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_handshake_of_Procles_and_Proclides,_31-12-2019.jpg
0:03:43: Unknown artist, 15th century: The Earthly Paradise. Les Sept Âges du monde. KBR ms. 9047, f. 1 (Adam and Eve)
0:03:48: J. A. Jerichau: Adam and Eve before the Fall (1863). Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
0:20:51: Unknown artist, possibly Elisabeth von Stägemann: Portrait of Immanuel Kant (ca. 1790).
0:21:03 and 0:21:42: Henry William Pickersgill: Jeremy Bentham (1829).
0:21:21: Jeremy Bentham: Plan of the Panopticon. (The Works of Jeremy Bentham vol. IV, 172-3.)
0:22:22 and 0:52:40: Edmund Blair Leighton: The Shadow (ca. 1909).
0:22:43: Detail from Raphael: The School of Athens (1511).
0:23:19: Inside the cover of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray as published by Three Sirens Press in 1931. The artist is not named on the page.
0:28:51: Richard Greenhill and Marie De Ryck: Comparison of the Shadow Dexterous Hand to the human hand. I modified the image from colour to black and white. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HandC_CRW_9331.jpg
0:35:35: Holbein der Jüngere: Der Leichnam Christi im Grabe. Photographer: Moleskine. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb_(Holbein_der_J%C3%BCngere)_Basel.jpg
0:39:54: Pamela Colman Smith: The Fool (1910).
0:40:57: Viktor Vasnetsov: Витязь на распутье (1882).
0:41:29:, 0:45:27, 0:49:07, and 0:55:27: Alexander Ivanov: Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (1835).
0:42:58: Yurii Bilous: Moth near lamp. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moth_near_lamp.jpg
0:50:20 and 0:57:42: Michelangelo: Creation of man (1508-12).
0:52:25: John Hardman Powell: Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, North Aisle Window: Cain and Abel. Detail: Adam Naming the Animals. Photographer: Andreas F. Borchert. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dublin_Christ_Church_Cathedral_North_Aisle_Window_Cain_and_Abel_Detail_Adam_Naming_the_Animals_2012_09_26.jpg
0:57:56: Vyacheslav Argenberg: Sinai, Egypt, Canyon through the mountains, majestic desert landscape. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sinai,_Egypt,_Canyon_through_the_mountains,_majestic_desert_landscape.jpg

Images from other sources:
0:09:12: Still from "The Master and Margarita" (2005 tv series by Vladimir Bortko): Pilate.
0:18:43: Still from "Jesus Christ Superstar": Left hand. Detail from Matthias Grünewald: The Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-16).
0:19:03: Still from "Jesus Christ Superstar": Right hand. Detail from Matthias Grünewald: The Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-16).
0:36:15: Still from "Jesus Christ Superstar": Jesus folding his hands.
0:40:41: Beatrice Offor: The Knight (1910). https://wikioo.org/ru/paintings.php?refarticle=AQS2JL&titlepainting=The%20Knight&artistname=Beatrice%20Offor
0:43:43: Still from "Jesus Christ Superstar": The Virgin Mary. Detail from Masaccio: Crocifissione (Cuspide di Polittico di Pisa, 1426).
0:44:02: Still from "Jesus Christ Superstar": Mary Magdalene. Detail from Matthias Grünewald: Die Kreuzigung Christi (Kunstmuseum Basel).
0:46:14: N. Roerich: Christ's Descent into Hell is from https://www.rbth.com/arts/335725-paradise-hell-russian-art

Images (c) Maria Rustica 2018:
0:56:29: Autumn in Sparrow Hills
0:57:10: Autumn leaves over the river

Video clips from:
0:10:50: MTD Designs: https://www.vecteezy.com/video/49102597-horses-ready-for-montage
0:10:58: The above video mirrored by me.
0:15:57 and 0:41:44: Jesus Christ Superstar (1973, Norman Jewison).
0:23:58, 0:27:38, and 0:30:05: "The Neverending Story" (1984, Wolfgang Petersen).
0:25:10: "Krabat" (2008, Marco Kreutzpaintner).
0:22:07: Matthias Groeneveld: Sheep walking in the forest on an early morning. https://www.vecteezy.com/video/2014456-sheep-walking-in-a-forest-on-a-early-morning
0:43:35: Ari Choirul: Single flame glowing in darkness with soft radiance. Fire and warmth concept https://www.vecteezy.com/video/51034698-single-flame-glowing-in-darkness-with-soft-radiance-fire-and-warmth-concept

Text quotes from:
0:38:42 and 0:38:46: A. H. Almaas: Diamond Heart Book One. Elements of the Real in Man. (1987) https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/diamond-heart-book-one-elements-real-man
0:39:22: A. H. Almaas: The Pearl Beyond Price. Integration of Personality into Being; An Object Relations Approach. (1988) https://www.diamondapproach.org/public-page/pearl-beyond-price

The end theme is an excerpt from Camille Saint-Saëns: Opus 79. Caprice sur des airs danois et russes. William McColl et al. Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive 1977.
https://imslp.org/wiki/Caprice_sur_des_airs_danois_et_russes,_Op.79_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns,_Camille)