This was originally published on the old blog. It was meant to sum up my feelings with regard to the “right” way to view a story.

I’ll let you decide what it means.

—

Do I exist?

Although it may not seem like it we are not very much different you and I or you and everyone else. Matters of circumstance are the only things that separate people. Where we were born, the language we speak, what we believe to be true, the color of our eyes, hair, and skin are all things that many say make us unique and individual. Yet, take from afar they seem so superficial.

“Taken from afar. . .” What a farce that is. Are we to assume that somehow we can separate from the masses of ignorant peoples and mockingly say that their natural behaviors are inferior to ours. As people we may be able to step back, at times, and see the contradictions and ignorance of the actions of ourselves and other people, but that doesn’t mean that we can eliminate what is inherent within us.

Take it for granted that I am here and that you are here and that more than one person is probably reading this at the same time. The world is revolving around the sun. The sun is revolving around the center of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is in a cluster of galaxies somewhere in an infinite expanse, or is it finite? You are on Earth. You live in a country. You have neighbors. You have family.

Take all those assumptions together. They are all assumptions are they not? How do I prove to myself that you exist? I take it for granted. The effects of your existence are the only proof I have. I can see you. I can touch you. You can hurt me.

Reality is perception.

Artists create for a single purpose and that is to communicate with other people. The assumption is that they exist and can comprehend the message. No matter what we do all human language is insufficient to express what we mean. People don’t speak in sound or some syntactic rhythm. We speak in emotion. All the letters, symbols, words are subtext for what people actually want to say to each other.

Look at a painting and what do you see? Brush strokes. Paint. Definitely it would be some image if it exists there. That is if you had sight and the ability to see.

What does the image mean? Obviously, the artist intends to convey a message. The viewer of a work of art is not the creator of that work. Therefore, the message becomes flawed in transit. From the mind to the brush to the eye of the viewer there is a disparity that cannot be corrected. Such is the nature of human expression that we cannot totally convey the meaning of our thoughts.

Yet, we find beauty within those expressions nonetheless. Even though the picture is not complete we try to understand what the image means. We try to understand by filling in the missing thoughts with ourselves, our experiences and history. In this way the viewer becomes part of the art. Just as the artist cannot remove himself from the work, neither can the person who would experience it.

Or, maybe I’ve stepped too far back.