Whose reality? Expository
What we feel tells us what is real.
Feeling is an objective component within our society. It has nurtured the birth of literature, cultivated diverse cultures and to some extent, has brought about a modern civilization that exists today. Feeling is also an embodiment that is tied within us, separating us from another person, offering us different forms of individuality and vigor. However, our feelings can also be destructive. Some wars have emerged because of uncontrolled emotions that could not come to terms with reasoning and logic, many more have occurred for one man’s ideologies and from the emergence of greed and capitalism, the freedom of millions of people has been sacrificed in pursuit for wealth. The observation of civilization’s historical context exemplifies that our feelings have always been interwoven with our judgments’. This illustrates that, feelings indeed, have always been explicitly intertwined with reality. To how much a person is willing to follow their feelings is subjective and shapes their own form of reality.
There are times when people choose to embrace feeling and reality together. The consequences of such action can often spring the desire for a pleasant nostalgic past, arising when our emotions and precepts are challenged. Through this, feelings can act as a catalyst in plunging ourselves into the construction of our own reality, formed from our memories of happiness, if an undesirable situation arises. We would then, rather escape to this sanctuary than confront our difficulties. This notion is exemplified in Street Car Named Desire, by Tennese Williams when Blanche creates her own world through the “____lantern.” Tennese’s construction of the symbolic image of light and dark represents the apogee of Blanche’s rejection of objective reality and embracement of her nostalgia. Blanche’s constant reminder of her past, which is encapsulated as her reality, although an illusion, from an aristocratic threshold captured through “_____” ceases to collapse. This reminds us, that when a feeling of poignancy is coupled with objective reality, it is exercised and transformed to construct our own perception of reality. This illustrates that the reality we attempt to create, to protect ourselves, can at times in fact be harmful and dangerous.
At the same time, closing our emotions from reality can often create a life that is meaningless and redundant. It also removes us from other people, so friendship and relationships can be compromised. And yet, at the expense in the enjoyment of life, we are rewarded with the full scope of objective reality. This is elucidated in Albert Camus’ novella, The Outsider” as Meursault views life in momentary existence where the past and future cannot exist. Through this, when confronted with the death of mother, he notes “Did mother die today or yesterday,” illustrating the mundane in the existence of life itself. By espousing an idea that diverges reality and feelings as separate entities, it often will give rise to the question, ‘what’s the meaning of life and how do I pursue it’. Since society conventionally, has always encouraged that a fulfilling life is one with love and emotions, it will question everything that society has built itself from. By the denouement of The Outsider, where Meursault is due to be executed, Camus highlights Meursault’s epiphany as “[he] had only to wish to be greeted with cries of hatred,” implying that combination of feeling and reality can also give transient moments of happiness and fulfillment. Therefore closing ourselves from emotions will offer the incentive to see objective reality in its full spectrum yet at the same time deny us the ability to experience life in its complexity.
And then there are others, who will subconsciously adjust their emotions with reality if it satisfies certain conditions. This is an occurrence that is predominant in many of us, where we seek to find enjoyment and would rather be ignorant than be aware, so as to not disturb our own construction of reality. In these circumstances, objective and subjective reality are mixed, and we are willing to compromise one for another to attain the highest level of fulfillment. This is exemplified in Street Car Named Desire as Stella confesses “I couldn’t believe her story (of rape) and continue living with Stanley” before Blanche is removed to a mental institution. The enactment illustrates Stella’s refusal to understand Blanche, suggesting that if Stella was to believe Blanche, her own welfare would be endangered. This holds especially true, as Stella is carrying Stanley’s child and is dependent on his income for her own survival. Thus, subconsciously, she compromises the life of Blanche in order to maintain her own life that she so desperately clings. In this sense, Blanche’s actions illustrates that as individuals, if our own fabric of reality is challenged, our emotions will implicitly change in order to preserve and protect what we perceive as reality.
Feelings and Reality are relative to one another and can prove to be both destructive and beneficial. At one extreme, incessantly incorporating our feelings with reality, it can cause us to lose sight of what truly is real and withdraw us from progressing as an individual. Similarly, rejecting feelings within reality, it may offer us an insight that others cannot obtain, however it may deny us living a life that can be considered fulfilling. At the same time, the coupling of feelings and reality can create us, as individuals, to become selfish and self-obsessed with our own existence. Though feelings can tell us what is real, it is us who must control our feelings in order for our reality to remain unbiased.
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