Art and ‘Reality’

Does art imitate ‘reality’ or does ‘reality’ imitate art…?

This question returns to me periodically throughout the journey of my life…

The relationship between these two concepts, art and reality, is, in my opinion, the key to understanding the human condition, our development as a species, where we’ve been, and where we are likely headed…

This idea must be considered, if one is to rightly understand the mystery and illusion inherent in the enterprise: this aspect of life being, too often, outright ignored, or ridiculed…by those who’ve convinced themselves they somehow know the Truth…

The importance of understanding the difference between the ‘false’ reality of humanity, and the ‘true’ reality, as it exists, simply cannot be overstated. Without a proper understanding of the false reality (which is almost always presented as the true one), we allow ourselves to fall victim to our own delusions, and the schemes and machinations of others, who seek to control this world for themselves, as they have all throughout human history. Those clever, misguided ones, who, in their hubris, declare themselves to be the sole arbiters of Truth.

First though, I think it is important to note that the imagined, contrived ‘false’ reality of humanity can, and does, overlap with the ‘true’ reality. In some ways, you could argue that there is no such thing as a false reality, and that anything and everything that humans can imagine is ‘real’, and that since we can’t ever really know the truth about reality, the falsified version is the only version that actually exists. However, I would argue that this is precisely the problem with human history. It is this fundamental issue that I am trying to address in this essay.

To protect ourselves, and those we care about, from ourselves, and those who would seek to take advantage of our inherent un-knowing, we must come to a basic understanding of ‘reality’, at least as far as humans can know it. To equip ourselves with the proper tools, by which we might create the best possible fiction that we can, by which we can build the truest, most worthy ‘reality’, with the understanding that it is, in its very essence, a human construct, which is limited first and foremost, by our basic definitions of what it is to be human. Confined to our limited senses and sensibilities, rooted in our traditions and understandings of the world, inherited from our forebearers; forever a work in progress, as conditions change, and people come and go.

Our beautiful delusion, by which and through which we manifest ourselves, and the world. Or quite possibly, our hideous, terrifying, murderous nightmare, by which our world is made to suffer.

This understanding revolves around these two essential states of being: Art and Reality, which are usually represented as being somewhat contradictory. Art being a kind of affectation of the human psyche, upon, from within, this vastly wider thing called ‘reality‘. In truth, that which we call ‘reality’ is but itself an artistic representation, a symbolic construct of the human imagination, trying to order the universe, to make sense out of the world around us.

There is almost certainly a true (unknowable to us) reality, itself generally understood to be a part of the human mind, but also exterior to it…but, as I say, unknowable to humanity, in its true form, as it exists apart from the abbreviated symbolic shorthand, we use to transcribe it.

It is precisely because of the unknowable nature, of this unseen, true reality, that a natural, perhaps inevitable, (artistic) constructed faux ‘reality’ arises in us, and through us, that symbolically seeks to mirror the nature of that natural true reality, lying beyond the veil of human knowing. A product of the human mind, this faux reality exists as a part of the greater reality, but limited by and according to things like, human perception and the laws of physics, as they apply to humanity, persistently gaining form and shifting shape, according to the interactions and whims of the various constituent ebbing and flowing energies of the world upon the human race, both mental and physical; taking into account also, of course, the particular biases of the partaking creative lifeforms, as they create themselves and are created by themselves…

(reality as we know it or choose to see it)

You see, there’s simply too much going on around us…much more than we can possibly perceive in any given moment, limited as our senses are…this extreme lack of necessary information precludes the possibility of us knowing anything like the truth of what this reality actually is, other than the bits and pieces we might glean with our perceptions…try as we might to interpret this existence, using our logical and creative faculties…

It would seem that in the collection of this sensual data, the human mind is granted the ability, to catch fleeting glimpses of that true reality, whatever it may have been, or may be, at any given moment. This seems to be something that all living creatures are capable of, to varying degrees. But at least in the case of the human being, in so doing, in our attempt to interpret and make sense of what we have witnessed, we transmute the source data, in order to create the false reality construct…exposing ourselves in the process to madness and dangerous delusions of all make and manner…

…The true reality: the one that’s understood to be the innate course of events in the physical world around us…that mysterious stream of physical cause and effect, action and reaction…taking place all around us, at all times…readily glimpsed in all waking moments…even in our dreams…the stream of causality, and retro-causality, in which we are perpetually swept along…

As a kind of organic byproduct, we instinctively create our own imaginary version of the true unknowable reality that is always there with us, but ever just out of reach…calling this false replicant the truth, the true reality…pretending that this fluctuating system of symbolic words and correspondences not only makes sense, but that it is the real thing itself; not just simplified, not just made easier to understand, but the thing itself, the true reality; which we have captured and hold indefinitely, to effectively shape to our will, in the moment of our choosing, as required. So that we can understand what is happening, and act accordingly, and thereby take control of our lives and our destiny, to whatever extent may be possible…

This manmade ersatz ‘reality’ is the living, ever-changing, ever-fluctuating meta-narrative, our constructed guide for understanding the universe, our planet, and ourselves…the vital fiction, abstract embedded oracle, serving both the group and the individual, at every level.

This symbolic replicant ‘reality’ actually is Art, posing dexterously as the true unknown reality: the highest and most abstract form of Art in fact, I would say, the essence of what Art is and can be; the foundation for everything the human mind can and has created, a kind of (sub)conscious mental substrate, from which the various generations of humanity can shape and mold our worlds, a base illusory symbolical material which we pretend is the equivalent of actual reality, and which, in a small way, is (a part of) the true unknowable reality, but only a small part which even we only vaguely, superficially understand…we do this because it is easier to work with that way, because the shaping of the faux-reality actually is absolutely essential, for us, in order to survive and prosper, and learn and evolve, as limited mortals bound to flesh…it is the essential nature of humanity to perform this act of symbolic replication, and thereby manipulate the world as we know it, as best we can…

This is where it gets extremely interesting for those of us who live in this quixotic paradigm…who know nothing else (which is all of humanity) …

Because of the way we exist as human beings, we must necessarily embrace this ridiculous false reality, which we as a group have created, and are forever creating: forever superimposing, over the ambiguous, unknowable true reality that underlies it all; and this, of course, leads us back and forth through the endless discoveries and ethical dilemmas which are the result of such a fanciful template…giving rise to a thousand flavors of mental illness, as well as genuine, inimitable genius…

This Art, which we deem ‘reality’…is almost entirely symbolical (and psychological) in its nature and form…product of countless psychotic episodes, endless scientific inquiry (often indistinguishable from one another) …part of the ancient quest for truth…as we follow, wherever it might lead, up and down, and all around…creating as we go, some very intriguing theories and concepts along the way…

The problem with this sort of monumental, exploratory lateral thinking is that we inevitably forget that the whole thing is a fleeting illusion, placeholder for the true incomprehensible reality…over and over and over, convincing ourselves that the fictional fake reality is absolutely the real thing, absolutely the way it is: the natural order of things…

We teach ourselves that this disjointed system of words and correspondences, equates to the real physical universe, with its endless complexity and ambiguity. That, through this endless, winding system of storytelling, we can, and, in fact, must, understand, the mystery of life. That if there’s a problem, it lies with our own cognitive capacity to understand these words, to properly formulate these logical imperatives, by which our fanciful notions are fused together. Rarely do we stop to consider that it might be the system itself, or rather our blind adherence to it, which is flawed, which has doomed our search for truth, leading us ever and anon, looping our way, through the same abysmal labyrinth of circular reasoning and exploitative hierarchies…

The problem here, manifested repeatedly, throughout history, is that this established order of accepted Art ‘reality’ is only a product of fallible (and often capricious) human beings…

Unfortunately, this plethora of sacred stories we’ve come up with, whether mystical or scientific in their nature, concerning this supposed reality, which were probably intended to benefit and uplift the human species, are themselves constantly and deliberately being twisted and subverted, to serve some powerful individual’s personal desires, passing off their own biases and misconceptions as the undeniable, indispensable truth; compelling the masses to worship their conception of reality-as-such, to dance to the rhythm of their choosing, by hook or by crook…

This false reality is continually shaped, by skillful minds, and clumsy; by all of us at the same time, to varying degrees, vying against one another for legitimacy…but the human tendency to allow itself to be ruled over by unknown hierarchies, means that there is almost always a group that is dictating the faux-reality to the masses, and rarely is it to their benefit, rather quite the opposite…

The tenuous ‘reality’ of the day can be transmogrified into the strangest, most incongruent shapes and forms by these unscrupulous shadowy figures…as the majority are conditioned to lack the understanding necessary, to know the difference between such pervasive falsehoods, and the mysterious true reality…they fail to understand the artistic nature of human reality, as we have perceived it and constructed it throughout the millennia.

The majority of human beings misunderstand this manmade illusion, thinking it to be, in many cases, the directly manifested will of God, in technicolor; the natural order of the world…when in fact, they are being manipulated by ignorant mortals, just like them, not much different from themselves…human beings, pretending to know what cannot be known…

You might argue that all this is the will of God. And so, it might be. But I believe the Creator has endowed us with the power to create the world in the image of our choosing, and in doing so to discover aspects of God in this perpetual search for ourselves. This can be taken to mean many different things, of course, allowing us to make all the mistakes and errors of judgement that we can, in so doing. And, of course, we do make those errors, all the time. Many of them grave, and disastrous. Bringing untold suffering and woe upon humanity. Of that, there can be no doubt.

So, because of this fundamental, paradoxical dynamic, this elemental misunderstanding of what actually constitutes ‘reality’, what you often end up with here, on this planet Earth, is a medley of absolutely insane, repressive systems, seeded upon a meta-narrative bed of execrable fertilizer, that, by its very nature and existence, imprisons the multitude within a given set of stringent mental parameters, almost always running counter to their own majority interests…and the multitudes think it perfectly natural and unavoidable that such a thing should be the ‘reality’ of the day. Because they don’t understand what their supposed ‘reality’ is, or rather, isn’t…or shouldn’t be anyway, in my opinion…

…This false reality being presented as absolutely the real thing: inalienable, above human reproach: when really it is a product of human imagination: can be similarly shaped, at will, by any who understand this false reality for what it truly is…depending, of course, on a healthy dose of skill, and of course, luck…

However, this does not change the undeniable fact, that when the real and the faux-constructed realities converge, we must still face the truth…that, in the end, we must still die, when it’s our time to do so…

Such is the way it’s been, and probably will remain so, for however long humanity calls this universe our home…but, it is up to us to provide those who come after us with a solid foundation upon which to build their own fantasy worlds. Starting with the knowledge that they are fantasy worlds, which, ultimately, should be treated as such. That it is the great privilege of humanity, at its great peril, to carry out this persistent task, of creating, and recreating, the ‘fantasy’ world which we will label our shared ‘reality’.

And so on, and so forth…