You're forgetting

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Saturday, June 08, 2013, 00:46 (3983 days ago) @ Leviathan
edited by Cody Miller, Saturday, June 08, 2013, 00:51

And where the 'matrix' ends and a 'real' experience begins is a vague line for me; sometimes I don't think there's a difference at all. From all the dreams I've had and stories I've experienced, I sometimes feel like I've lived hundreds of lives -lives that rise and fall in my subconscious like half-remembered dreams. And they inspire me and invite new dreams I want to illustrate. They come from a different place than my waking reality, but not necessarily less of a place.
That girl that I dreamed of 5 years ago... The one I fell in love with and then broke her heart... The hard emotions that stayed with me as I awoke... Should I have disregarded all that because I never 'truly' experienced it? Were those emotions somehow worth less than others? And if I poured that experience into a story... would that story be a waste of time? Could I or anyone else not learn from that or resonate with it? The girl was a dream, the emotions were real, and a false story created a truth. So was it 'false' to begin with?

Have you ever really been in love? With an actual human being, not with a dream; something you can't control and someone who has thoughts and feelings of her own? Your story could very very interesting, but it's not a story about real love. Your dream girl does what your mind wants / fears, not what she wants. Love is also about the other person. And so this is actually a fairly good example if you use your experience to make some kind of statement about true love or whatever, since that's only your mind's conception (or even its wish) of what love and heartbreak are. The matrix feels real while you're in it. (unless I misunderstand, and you dream of a woman who is or was real whom you really were in love with).

Even in real life, people kiss, but is the kiss real? Or is it a rehearsal of what you saw on TV or used to do in the past? At least then the girl is real even if the kiss isn't.

From all the dreams I've had and stories I've experienced, I sometimes feel like I've lived hundreds of lives

Exactly what I'm talking about. You haven't lived those lives. You've only lived your own. Do you watch COPS and think you've lived the life of a cop? Watch Mad Men and think you know what the 60s were really like? You're in the matrix…

Just because it's a story, a metaphor, a dream, a matrix, that doesn't make it less real to me - it's just a different beast is all. And I can learn from all of types and kinds. Whether I'm in-line with the author's intent or not, I can still take something meaningful and wonderful from their work. Sometimes an author's accidents can turn into fireworks for a reader, and I think that's worth celebrating.

Hence my 'the genius proves everybody right' comment.