Ambiguity

Is ambiguity essential? In art, this seems to be the case. A certain amount of confusion, of unexplained, of unspoken must exist to elicit within the observer those ideas, that intellectual cascade that is the experience of the work. It is ambiguity that invites audience participation -otherwise, you're looking at an advertisement.

So ambiguity allows for a multitude of interpretations, but doesn't it also act as a unifying force? Individuals of various worldviews and agendas can come together under a single consensus if it is left vague. Vagueness permits each to apply individual meaning, tailor it to fit their agenda. In this way, vague outcomes could be necessities for making compromise. If outcomes are too clearly explained, then there are multitudes likely to object. Announcing a decision that leaves within it room for interpretation gives individuals more freedom to realize their goals through different interpretation of the decision.

If this is the case, is it better, then, that we can never fully express ourselves? Does the inability of language, art and other forms of communication help us to find others with whom we seem to have things in common? Indeed, if you can't say how you truly feel, then you can't alienate yourself from others who have never felt quite that way. Does this allow us, by default, to hide our differences? But then, if we were capable of such communication, just how different could we possibly be?