In his 1929 introduction to the (reprinted) Manifesto of Surrealism', Andre Breton writes of something he calls 'the human adventure'. Specifically, he refers to the unbounded exploration of the imagination, an endeavour which poses 'minimum risks on almost all sides at once' - a perfect starting point for the present inquiry into the nature of reality. Sixty years after that document was published, this 'spectre' continues to haunt us in ways which are not necessarily obvious. Indeed, since the technological boom of the 1970's and 80's we have witnessed an unprecedented blurring of the line between fact and fantasy, what is real and unreal, and even between the possible and the impossible. The 'adventure' could be described in terms of an unfolding 'spectacle' within which we are confined, but in which we also participate, carving out our individual realities and this dialectical tension (as with freedom and slavery, creativity and destruction, order and chaos) is central not only to Surrealism, but to philosophy, art, and life in general. Reality can be defined as a network of possibilities. However, because our concept of time and social organisation is essentially linear, we tend to classify activities and events as a serial progression of tests, where a given outcome will, or will not, occur. Based on the former description, we could define 'ultimate reality', not as some absolute state of certainty, but as a superset of all possibilities. By applying this concept to our current situation, we will begin to view realities as relative phenomena - as selections or 'subsets' of a hypothetical totality. If this is the case, reason itself must be considered relative, incapable of authenticating itself outside of the framework of thought in which it operates. Thus the stability that logic and reason impose upon thought is undercut, concluding in the abolition of all truths and certainties. Furthermore, we could postulate that everything which exists (including thoughts,ideas and dreams) is in some way 'real', regardless of whether or not it can be empirically verified. Therefore reality is the totality of everything which exists either physically or conceptually. But of course, this ideal, this complete reality which allows for the manifestation of all possibilities has not yet come into being - it slumbers in the strange, murky depths of the Surrealist crypt, waiting silently for Mouka. Lying With Maps Found *Two "There are no moral phenomena at all, only a moral interpretation of phenomena." Nietzsche Phillip To question reality is to become conscious of one's own existence and acknowledge the position one holds in relation to some kind of system. The world we experience is transformed from 'sense- data' into a mental framework of ideas, beliefs and meanings which are institutional in character. Everyday activities, especially social interactions, comprise a vast repertoire of essentially fear responses[1] upon which we act in order to maintain our status as sane citizens and for most of us, compromising true 'free will' in exchange for membership of society is justifiable on grounds of practicality. However, increasing regulation of public activities, combined with growing aspirations to 'freedom' may well encourage many of us to break out of the 'prison of the ordinary'. Beyond the confines of 'normality' might lie an idyllic world of unlimited creativity or a chaotic nightmare of degeneracy, fear and the 'condemnation of freedom'.[2] But whichever reality we 'choose' we should consider the example set by artists and thinkers throughout history, for whom creative thought and mental exploration are of primary importance and to which conformity, regularity and repetition, some of the defining characteristics of our age, stand in direct opposition. It is often forgotten that economists, politicians and businessmen are essentially engineers, they understand repetition, order and efficiency, and whilst we can entrust them to operate and maintain the 'life support systems', their influence on the creative domains of existence should always be questioned. It remains to be seen whether or not we will endeavour to further liberate thought and action from the restrictions of the economico/ political machinery and if we have the capability of dominating or even transcending the 'spectacle' in which we are trapped. [1] Madness, isolation, and confinement are the result of behaviour which conflicts with the social norm - our fear of these extremes, to the point of avoiding 'standing out in a crowd', directs us towards the main currents of thought and behaviour. Group behaviour, though understood biologically as a survival strategy, manifests in human society as a 'cult of conformity'. [2] Jean Paul Sartre 'Existentialism and Humanism' "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away" Phillip.K.Dick 'VALIS' A reality is, in practical terms, maintained by the complex interplay between dogma and belief, indeed our entire social fabric is regulated by the mechanism of 'received knowledge'. Of course material objects will not 'go away' if we stop believing in them, but what they mean will. Our methods of understanding the universe 'objectively' are concerned in the main, with structure and function and because of this the subjective (even arbitrary) nature of 'meaning' eludes scientific comprehension and evaluation. To view reality as having a fluid quality is not a new idea. Since humans first walked the earth there have been fabrications, exaggerations and simple lies. But upon these mental simulacra, we have built empires comprising religions, laws, commerce and moral codes, aspects of which are invariably rooted in some concensus notion of 'truth'. In modern society we similarly rely upon 'received knowledge' in the form of information provided by the mass media, a mechanism which can mould perception by reinforcing certain ideas whilst rejecting (usually by omission) others - (issues which remain outside of the mainstream media are often literally 'out of sight, out of mind'). Carefully targeted information can also create public concern over subjects which would normally merit only a brief mention (the sporadic appearance of various (non)'epidemics' is a case in point) and which can conversely shift the focus from 'sensitive issues'. Manipulation of 'factual' information is a widespread technique by which a perceived reality can be subtly altered among the general population. The authenticity of a reality which is constructed with the aid of secondary information should certainly be questioned, since empirical confirmation is often problematic. It is apparent that within advanced communications networks, the distinction between truth and fabrication is often indiscriminate if considered at all. So to correctly interpret this unidirectional flow of information we are sometimes obliged to employ methods of comparison and deduction, as with historians or archeologists compiling facts on subjects from which they are temporally removed. "The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon" Robert M Pirsig Reality is subject to continuous change over time - a fact which can be illustrated by comparing two different periods of history. In the Middle Ages, our reality consisted of witches, demons, spirits and goblins. We believed that the earth was a flat disc placed in the centre of the Universe around which the planets and stars orbited. With the scientific revolution our reality has changed dramatically, especially in relation to the cosmos. What were once thought of as astral bodies, floating around the heavens, are now categorised physical entities, composed of carbon, hydrogen etc. and it is largely the result of our ability to measure these objects that supports the empirical certainty with which we now view the universe[3]. Lying With Maps Found *1 It could be said that measurement, classification and categorisation are the cornerstones of modern civilisation, imposing apparent concreteness and stability upon reality. From the earliest forms of measurement, such as counting sheep with pebbles and ascertaining distances in paces, to modern methods of carbon dating and computer modelling, it seems clear that we are striving for ever greater 'fixity' - making our reality apparently more defined. Phenomena, (real or imagined) which elude measurement or description, present an obstacle to rationalistic thought. It is perhaps not surprising then, that our 'here and now' consists of an relatively limited range of behaviours and concepts, given the extraordinary range of variables. However, although the idea of a constantly varied reality may be appealing to some of us, as a society we need the stability of a conceptual infrastructure in which to operate. Life would be extremely chaotic if our bank managers or store owners spontaneously decided that money , as a concept, was meaningless - better used for making paper butterflies. If reality is a concept which relies on certainty to validate itself, we have to address the baffling discoveries in subatomic physics. The most simple components of atomic structure appear to behave in a random manner with contemporary theories emerging that suggest that the three types of neutrino (electron ,tau and lepton) have the capacity to change into one another, or may assume two or more states simultaneously. A similar theory exists regarding neutral kaons and their fluctuation between the status of particle and antiparticle. Surely such uncertainty casts doubt upon our theories relating to the concreteness of reality in larger systems - the adherents of the study of chaos will assert that this is definitely the case. It would be an understatement to say that reality is uncertain - the ambiguous nature of our interpretation of existence goes to the core of consciousness, to thinking itself. The preconceptions upon which any theory is based are themselves subject to debate and interpretation, an idea Nietzsche was familiar with: "It is no more than a moral prejudice that truth is worth more than appearance; it is even the worst - proved assumption that exists". [3] We are presently poised for another 'Copernican revolution' - fossil remains of simple organisms have recently been found on rocks which are believed to have originated on Mars. It remains to be seen whether our place at the centre of the conscious universe is assured in the next Century. As notions of an objective reality are important, so are the representations of reality. Insofar as an art work concerns something, this 'something' is not necessarily from the 'real world' and can be drawn from the infinite world of the imagination. Breton asserts that reality is all-embracing, that real and imaginary entities are just different aspects of a continuum. This concept of reality allows for the realisation of any conceivable idea - even if it is merely a pictorial or written 'description' of that idea. To bring an element of the abstract into existence in some concrete form is to allow the imagination to impose itself upon the world - in this sense, the Manifesto of Surrealism is also the manifestation of Surrealism. Let us consider the following : "The least hem of the breezes, there where the pheasant of the moon flees and dies, there where the dazzling comb of dungeons wanders, there where the hyacinth of evil steeps, I have described in my rarer and rare moments of lucidity, lifting this distant fog too tenderly." [1] This fantastical description of 'something', is still mentally accessible, it does not transcend the limits of imagination - in short, these imaginable entities deserve a place in reality despite the impossibility of their existing as physical or objective phenomena. At some extreme level of scrutiny, the universe around us fades into the realm of the abstract. Time, distance and perspective all have the power to obscure reality, for example the 'big bang', an event we can detect and deduce, will remain an imagined event. Signs and symbols serve to represent ideas and objects, especially within communications systems - cave paintings and heiroglyphs are simply prototypical forms of all modern visual communication. Non-linguistic symbols have the advantage of communicating complex ideas very simply and effectively (a quality exemplified by painting which can capture a mood that would be verbally inexpressible). However, from stone carvings to television commercials the vanity of the human race is such that depictions tend to exaggerate and idealise human endeavour - it allows us to create the perfect representation of a flawed original. So it is important not to confuse the symbol with the original, the allegory with the moral, since any sign, taken as a literal message without considering the thing symbolised can develop an autonomy which is undesirable. Just as Dorian Grey's portrait, hidden away in his attic, revealed the grotesque quality of his true character, so the superficial, symbolic world of modern society can belie its underlying attributes. Indeed, some believe that the process of reproduction, simulation and representation has already reached an autonomous stage. Jean Baudrillard, a former member of the 'Situationist International' has stated : "It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, or even of parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself, that is, an operation to deter every real process by its operational double....which provides all the signs of the real and short-circuits all its vicissitudes". [1] Andre Breton 'soluble fish' Max Ernst Deep within mankind's imagination there has always existed a strange realm - that of abstraction and the bizarre. 'Abstract' art goes back thousands of years and can be seen in artifacts from ancient Egyptian, Mayan, and Indian cultures. The twentieth century has seen renewed interest in abstraction in many different forms and in a wide variety of media. Non - representative or 'weird' art (and entertainment) generally gives few guidelines on 'how' or 'what' to see, leaving us to freely interpret our experience. To be successful in this, we must trust ourselves to make decisions based purely on personal taste. The 'free fall' of abstract or 'experimental' art, music and film and also the psychedelic experience is certainly a confusing experience and this disorientation could explain our willingness to abdicate responsibility of many 'unknowns' to preachers, leaders and critics. To a New Guinea tribesman, a ball pen and a feather may be functionally indistinguishable although possessing material differences of colour, shape, weight and texture. Functional objects are arrangements of materials possessing different aesthetic qualities but whose meaning cannot be proven as objective fact. Such ambiguity of meaning is seldom experienced in everyday interaction although it is often found in art[1]. ARGUMENTUM SIMULACRUM: prep. study *5 The primacy of aesthetic evaluation both of objects and thoughts, can also be experienced under the influence of certain drugs - noted by Aldous Huxley (during a mescaline-induced 'trip') in his 'Doors of Perception'. In this connection it is interesting to note that one of the sociopolitical conflicts surrounding the use of psychedelic drugs stems from the refusal to accept the legitimacy of chemically altered mental states. The idea that perceived reality has a certain flexibility is apparently problematic those people who prefer the security of 'normal' consciousness. Internal experiences are often classified as invalid or unimportant simply because they do not manifest in (or have a direct influence upon) the physical world. However, art forms such as music and poetry which are codified (i.e. written or electronically recorded) in tangible forms, are (like Pirsig's motorcycle) essentially mental phenomena. Like dreams and ideas which are also conceived internally, art assumes meaning only when the code is deciphered - when the original thought returns to consciousness. The theory that physical objects of this type might only be 'transference media' for ideas poses a dilemma for anyone seeking to understand consciousness, as Pirsig affirms, people are beginning to recognise: "...the inadequacy of classical reason to handle what they know are real experiences". This is especially true of those experiences of an abstract nature. [1] During a recent art and design expo in London, I wandered into a roomful of exhibits which I really liked. After about five minutes, I was approached by an official-looking gentleman (it turned out he was a sales representative) who, after sharing my appreciation, informed me that the objects were in fact machine fittings for the oil and mining industries. Part two of this essay will appear in Prescience Volume 3. Co-editor and Images - Stuart 'Wicked' Crewes Bibliography/suggested reading: Jean Baudrillard - Simulations; Guy de Bord - Society of the Spectacle; Nietzsche - Beyond good and evil; Robert M Pirsig - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance; Jean Paul Sartre - Nausea ,Words , Existentialism and Humanism; Strindberg - An occult diary/Inferno; Surrealism - Most texts by members of the movement.