Reading Response: What Is Reality?

A wise saying goes, Art is not what you see but rather what you make others see. The primary goal of art is to communicate to the world without necessarily using words. Art is one area that has experienced significant advances over the years both positive and negative alike. In the past, art was more appreciated as compared to the present day. People took their time to come with great pieces that persisted through time and are still valued in the modern day. Take a look at the ancient art, drawings, hieroglyphics, sculptures, ornaments, songs, curving and even body decoration. They were and still are to be admired. People in the ancient days had a keen eye for detail and were willing to go to great lengths to achieve the effect of art they wanted to. Artists would work day and night to come up with inspiring art. When it came to art, they outdid themselves. The primary goal of every artist is to express themselves to the society, and the least the society can do is recognize their talent. Artists, just like any other being, appreciate the recognition of their work and a slight compliment here and there goes a long way for them. In the first reading, it is clear that the animation artist did not like the way her art was not appreciated and in fact, it was criticized by almost everyone including her close friends.

At one point she says that one of her friends asked whether she was writing anything serious to mean whether she was writing anything rather than fiction. The primary purpose for asking this is because her friend and the society, in general, did not appreciate fiction and for that reason, did not consider it to be anything serious. Science fiction writers were disregarded and their works unappreciated for the longest time, and this significantly demoralized them let alone belittling their passion and root of being. Science fiction involves creating the world that is far different from the ordinary one people know and gives them an opportunity to make the impossible possible. Of course, science fiction writers know pretty well what they are doing and they know even better that they are stretching the reality by creating animal characters and giving those characters human beings attributes such as talking, playing, dressing, and even driving. The writer goes ahead and talks about government funded research concerning the same, and it came to the conclusion that mice cannot be made to look like human beings. I have a feeling they were referring to the famous Tom and Jerry animation that was the favorite of every kid growing up.

It is safe to say that the research was a governments waste of funds as it is evident that mice are not humans and they never will be. One does not need to conduct research to prove this as it is a fact. This research gets the writer even to question the very being of reality and what it entails. As fictitious as the writings and plays are, they are a significant source of entertainment to people of all ages and acts as a stress reliever to watch animals behave like humans. We all know of adults who enjoy animation comedy as well as any other person because they create another dimension of life and the world; a world that does not fall apart two days later.

The second article challenges what people consider as the truth and the concept of reality. Translated from Latin, the report says that simulacrum is not anything that covers the truth but rather the truth that ascertains that there is none. This statement has some extent of truth in it because truth differs from one person to another. What one considers to be right or real, is false and inexistent to the next person. Therefore, it is safe to say that truth is relative; a topic that is more subjective than objective. The writer states that people believe in what they want to believe and nothing is a guarantee surety. At one point, the writer claims that there is no God and that He is just a character conceived from human imagination in an attempt to explain the unexplainable. This assumption would, of course, be taken differently by different people based on their faith and religion; or lack of it.

The basic fact that no one has ever seen God makes a claim to be somewhat true, but then again this would be too much of an assumption to make especially to the believers. The article dares us to think beyond the obvious, beyond what we know and to stretch the limits of reality. However, I choose to believe that God does exist and that some things are simply unquestionable. In as much as we are challenged to question what we know and the sense of reality. The matter concerning faith fall beyond question and science. Science cannot explain everything, at least not as quiet as faith does. Besides, just because something cannot be proved to be true does not make it false.