“‘The sin the two of us now share,’ mused the king. ‘The sin of having known Beauty, which is a gift forbidden mankind. Now we must atone for it. I gave you a mirror and a golden mask; here is the third gift, which shall be the last.'”
Borges, J. (1998). The Mirror and the Mask. In Collected Fictions (p. 454). New York, New York: Penguin Group.
Why is beauty forbidden from mankind? Is it not man’s goal to strive for perfection, so why is attaining it considered such a sin to the poet and the king? I believe the answer is less that it is forbidden by God, but more that it is barred by man himself. My interpretation of human mentality is that we all fear change, yet continuously seek to improve. Improvement is not the exact same as chaotic change, and thus we are less afraid of it. The poet works to refine his poem each year until he finally stumbles upon perfection. While he has attained the highest form of improvement, he no longer has any further he can go. Without motivation to continue to improve, life is meaningless and so the two cast themselves away in order to preserve humanity.
My Common Place 