In his painting, 'Aristotle with a bust of Homer', 1653 Rembrandt symbolically depicts the Vita contemplativa vs Vita activa: Aristotle's right hand rests on Homer's head (poetic wisdom) while his left touches a gold chain with a medallion of Alexander's face (worldly gain)
“Only in dreams, in poetry, in play […] do we sometimes arrive at what we were before we were this thing that, who knows, we are.”
— Julio Cortázar, Hopscotch