before there was copyright: the original attribution war

When you hear an orchestra perform a symphony, you can listen to it on many levels. You can listen for the specific instruments. If you are more skilled, you might here the unique character of the specific conductor, and if you zoom out so to speak still further, you may appreciate the genius of the composer.

This metaphor repeats itself throughout life, you can watch a movie and only see the actors, or you can see the editing, or appreciate the screenplay, or perhaps even the overall production.

It's true of advertisements, whether you appreciate the content, or how it was portrayed and at what level of portrayal.

It works for software, baseball, engineering, architecture, everything.

When we look at the product of any intentional act of creation, we can approach and observe it from many levels. Now that we understand that this flexible focus is possible, perhaps we can understand a little bit more about the world:

The goal is to get to a level where we experience everything that happens in the world as originating with, and fully planned and executed by, HaShem.

(a related teaching can be seen here about the Baal Shem Tov)

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