THE EMBARASSING GAP BETWEEN IMAGE AND REALITY
It is in reading the prologue of this very big book ( over 700 pages I will never read) by Garett Stedman Jones called KARL MARX , GREATNESS and ILLUSION that I found the title above. It has to do with Marxism and the Socialist philosophy.
My plan is to take these words , analyze them, develop them and come up with an understanding for the common mortals we are. It will be a bit philosophical, yet acceptable.
I must say that reading the word image, the first image that came to mind was that we , as men and women, are the image of God. If so, should I stay the course and start right there?
On the other hand we have reality, and that word should be easy to understand even if at times it does not appear to us most pleasant. We live in what we think is the real world , that is where reality comes from, and yet, at times we are not satisfied with the reality it is. Why?
Many examples come to mind to better appreciate why there is a gap.
You are presented with a job offer, the image of it is pleasant, from the position, the jib itself, the salary and benefits, you get a great image of what it will be. Six weeks later, things are not the same, your boss is not kind to you, the hours of work are longer, you learn that this years there won't be benefits because of the unfortunate situation caused by the pandemic . You realize that the image and the reality are not the same.
You meet that charming young lady who seems to be not only attractive but also smart and sharp. You find you have common interests and she should be your ideal companion , to start with. You start dating and within two to three weeks you realize she has a bad temper , disrespectful, lacking common sense and you wonder if you should carry on with this relationship. Again the original image is far from what the reality is.
I can say so much about the two words themselves. Here is a beautiful one for image: The image of France in the world is that of 'l'art de vivre' ( the art of living) . So much so that Paris has been a source of inspiration for many artists who diffused its image in the whole world
Whereas for reality , here is another one: many big discoveries during la Renaissance and the years of light, come from in reality from the knowledge transmitted by the Moslems since Greece, India and Babylon. And by the way when you are convinced of something, it becomes a reality, your reality. And remember that what we see with our eyes is not necessarily reality.
What can we learn of above examples?
Not to always or quickly believe what we see or what we hear. We have to be careful not to be disappointed by appearances, occurrences. An image can be beautiful and so should reality be, but always beware.
What I did above was to take a sentence, read it, pronounce it and decide to write few paragraphs to share with my readers.I have in the bank several words that will soon end up being paragraphs. I like that word as few of them become a little writing.
