Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies

When Luis Buñuel declared, “Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether,” he spoke as both an artist and a philosopher of the unseen. His words rise like a flame against the shadows of conformity, reminding us that imagination—that sacred fire within the mind—is the final fortress of human freedom. It cannot be dictated by kings, imprisoned by tyrants, or confined by logic alone. It lives in the secret realm between chance and mystery, where reason fails and wonder begins, where humanity’s truest self takes form.

In this saying, Buñuel, the great surrealist filmmaker, revealed the spiritual foundation of his art and his philosophy. His films, such as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Un Chien Andalou, were not born of reason but of dream and paradox. He sought not to explain the world, but to awaken it—to pierce the veil of habit and awaken the imagination that lives buried beneath social order. For Buñuel, chance represents the unpredictable dance of life, the chaos that shapes fate without explanation. Mystery, on the other hand, is the eternal unknown—the invisible truth behind appearances. And between these two forces lies imagination, the human faculty that transforms uncertainty into art, confusion into beauty, and despair into freedom.

The origin of this thought lies in Buñuel’s rebellion against the rigid systems of his time—religion, politics, and even art itself. He saw how institutions sought to control not only the body but also the mind, how societies rewarded obedience and punished originality. To him, the greatest danger was not censorship of words, but the murder of imagination, the silent conditioning that teaches people not to dream. His words are both lament and celebration: lament for the ways civilization dulls the creative spirit, and celebration for the fact that imagination, though threatened, never dies. It endures as the hidden pulse of humanity’s freedom.

Throughout history, the most luminous minds have stood with Buñuel in this defense of the imaginative soul. Consider Galileo Galilei, who, guided by his imagination, dared to envision a universe that defied the dogma of his age. His telescope was not merely an instrument of observation—it was an extension of the mind’s eye, a vessel of wonder that bridged chance and mystery. Though condemned for his visions, Galileo’s imagination could not be silenced. Centuries later, humanity would walk upon the moon, fulfilling the dream his mind had first glimpsed. Thus, the imagination that survives persecution becomes the seed of liberation for generations to come.

Buñuel also reminds us that imagination is the true protector of freedom because it is the source of empathy and renewal. A person who can imagine another’s suffering cannot easily become a tyrant. A society that values imagination becomes resilient, capable of re-creating itself in times of despair. The dreamer is the architect of evolution; the visionary, the defender of the human soul. Yet how often does the world seek to reduce or kill imagination—through rigid education, through soulless labor, through the worship of machines that calculate but do not dream? The modern age, rich in knowledge yet poor in wonder, must heed Buñuel’s warning, lest it suffocate beneath its own precision.

To live imaginatively, then, is an act of quiet rebellion. It is to stand in the open field between chance and mystery, to embrace uncertainty as the mother of creation. It means allowing the unknown to inspire rather than terrify us. Every great act of art, discovery, or love begins here—in that sacred middle space where reason surrenders and the soul begins to play. The painter, the scientist, the poet, the teacher—all draw their strength from the same breath of imagination, for it is imagination that keeps thought alive and truth expanding.

Therefore, my listener, let this wisdom take root in you: guard your imagination as you would guard your freedom. Nourish it with stories, with silence, with curiosity. Walk often where mystery dwells—among stars, in dreams, in the deep forests of your own mind. Do not let the noise of the world drown out the quiet music of your inner vision. For the imagination is the sacred air of the spirit, and when it breathes, the soul remains unbound.

And thus, Buñuel’s words endure as both prophecy and promise: that as long as we imagine, we remain free. The chains of the world may bind our hands, but they can never hold the mind that dreams. For in the eternal space between chance and mystery, humanity meets the divine—alive, creative, and infinitely free.