Art and ‘Reality’

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

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

The relationship between these two concepts, art and reality, is the key to understanding the human condition, our development as a species; including where we have been, and where we are likely headed…

These ideas must be considered, if one is to understand the mystery and illusion associated with this world; this aspect of life being too often outright ignored, or ridiculed…by those who are convinced they somehow know the Truth…

These two essential states of being: Art and Reality, are usually represented as being somewhat contradictory. Art being a kind of affect of the human psyche upon this thing called reality; while reality itself is understood to be both part of, and beyond the human mind…and a natural, inevitable effect of itself, according to the laws of physics; according to the interactions of its various constituent forms and energies…

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 interpretation of this sensual data, we gain a piece of so-called reality, but in so doing sacrifice the integral whole, whatever that may have been, or is now…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…the stream of causality, in which we are perpetually swept along…

As a kind of organic byproduct, we instinctually create our own imaginary version of the true unknowable reality that is always with us, but ever out of our reach…calling this false replicant the truth…pretending that this fluctuating system of symbolic words and correspondences not only makes sense, but that it is the same as the real thing; just simplified; made easier to effectively understand; to affectively shape to our will, as required. So that we can understand what is happening, and act accordingly…

This manmade ‘reality’ is the living 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, on every level.

It actually is Art, posing dexterously as the true reality: the highest and most abstract form of Art in fact; it is the foundation for everything the human mind can and has created, a kind of subconscious mental clay, from which the various generations can mold their worlds, a base illusory material which we pretend is the equivalent of actual reality…because we must, in order to survive, as mortals bound to flesh…

This is where it gets extremely interesting for those of us who live in this quixotic paradigm…who know naught else…

Because of the way we exist as human beings, we must embrace the ridiculous false reality, which we as a group have created, and are ever 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, and endless scientific inquiry…part of the ancient quest for truth…as we follow, wherever it might lead…as it’s responsible for the creation of some very intriguing theories along the way…

The problem with this sort of monumental, 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 the real thing: the natural, or divine order of things…

We teach ourselves that this disjointed system, of words and correspondences, equates to the real physical universe, with its endless complexity; that through this 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, or these logical imperatives, by which they are pieced together. Rarely do we stop to consider that it might be the system itself 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, manifesting repeatedly, throughout history, is that this established order of accepted Art ‘reality’ is only a product of fallible (and often capricious) human beings…

The story about what is and isn’t reality (a sacred practice), is somehow always being deliberately twisted and subverted, to serve powerful interests, according to some 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…

This false reality is being continually shaped, by skillful minds, and clumsy, often many at the same time, vying against one another for legitimacy…

This ‘reality’ of the day can be transmogrified into the strangest, most incongruent shapes and forms…as the majority are conditioned to lack the understanding necessary, to know the difference between such pervasive falsehoods, and the unknowable true reality…

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

So what you often end up with here on this planet Earth, is an absolutely insane, repressive system, seeded upon a meta-narrative bed of fertilizer, that, by its very existence, imprisons the multitude within a given set of mental parameters, almost always running counter to their own interests…

…This false reality being presented as absolutely the real thing; inalienable, and above human reproach; when really it is a product of human imagination, and 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 luck…

This, of course, does not change the undeniable fact, that when real and false realities converge, we must still face the truth, even though we will almost certainly fail to understand it correctly…in the end, we must still die, when it is our time…

Such is the way, and probably will remain so, for however long we can make it last…