Stargazing Into Your Mind

An appreciation of stars shining across the cosmos is not just for astronomy or science fiction fans, sometimes a centerfold across Cosmopolitan magazine will do.

On a dreary, disappointing day, many of us are tempted to wonder what it would be like to live the life of someone else, especially someone rich, powerful, physically fit, and attractive. Hmmm, here I go thinking about hotties in a centerfold again, or maybe obsessions with news about favorite rock stars, actors/actresses, and popular leaders.

But just as photographs of dream dates, mates, or idols might distract us, we have to remember images of the celebrity class are many times airbrushed or photo-shopped. No one ever can physically live the life of someone else, no matter how advanced virtual reality technology might become, and even if you could morph into the realm of another, you likely would have to accept some unpleasant blemishes too.

Would you really want to live the life of a Kardashian? Be judged for being the spouse of a cheating politician? Eat vile animal entrails on Survivor? Humiliate yourself on The Biggest Loser?

Does it make you feel better about yourself to be able to chuckle at the foibles of celebrities? Well, maybe on occasion? It can provide a common base of knowledge (and in many cases I mean base in its worst sense), to bring us together, share an experience to have something to talk about, and enjoy the mental and physical health benefits of a few belly-laughs at some antics.

We’ve created a new shorthand language to help us navigate the increasingly overwhelming fast movement of information. LOL is not necessarily lots of love, LMAO.  And there’s more to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media besides keeping in contact with family and colleagues, re-connecting with old friends, building businesses, and sharing cat videos. In the worlds of social networks we all can become stars with fans in our personal online kingdoms.

But it can be creepy when people share too much and become consumed with constant posting or stalking. It also can be dangerous for a career. In some cases, there probably should be a breath-a-lyzer requirement for accessing social media.

Sometimes it’s more convenient, and possibly healthier, to escape from yourself into yourself. Depending on how financially successful or famous you might be, some might belittle that distraction from reality as schizophrenia, while creative types can pass off their musings as imagination. There’s the danger of staring too long into Harry Potter’s Mirror of Erised to plot out how your life might have changed if not for a few unfortunate circumstances while missing out on the possibilities of your current physical existence – unless you want to trust having your brain/body preserved in a cocoon of computer entanglements, the stuff of many bad science fiction stories, or be permanently imprisoned in a room of holograms.

And then some scam artist offers an unthinking programmer help with his Internal Revenue Service bill or his Windows operating system, and you are hijacked by malware.

In a world where reality shows captivate a certain strain of curiosity, a curious stain of mind-numbing unreality can infect our senses the more we try to make the world of others our own. An obsession with becoming a star, or in a psychotic state attempting to subsume the life of a famous person, can tease the insecure and weak-minded among us, as if touching a celebrity deity can magically transform and uplift a lackluster, obscure life, creating a permanent bond with the admired.

The psychology of personal engagement and dream fulfillment is what celebrity endorsements are all about, as well as so much created in this world to distract us from what can be painful realities. The dangerously self-engrossed among us acting on demented delusions have taken or otherwise harmed too many promising leaders, iconic musicians, ordinary people trying to live a decent life, and school children. The unchecked fantasies of a few can steal or dramatically distort the reality and dreams of the many.

The current climate stoking a bi-polar ability to believe only what you want to believe and disregard facts that don’t fit your views is unsettling. The planet may be warming, while the people are turning colder with the 24-hour bombardment of negative news and unleashing of extremist rantings and power-hungry manipulators around the Internet, especially on social media.

Distortions of news, events, and images of people are becoming the norm. That was one of the thoughts going through my mind when I was inspired to write Dystortions: 100 Hues of Purple.

Distracting myself from the issues of the day and watching late-night comedy about a politician speaking in amusing malapropisms, I wondered what it would be like to be someone else. So I went down that rabbit hole, as opposed to a worm hole, and ended up on Planet Malaprop, a place very much like Earth, but dystorted, and warmer and more colorful than any shades of grey.

Imagination has led to many of the great advancements of human kind. Sometimes it’s a valuable, fun exercise to think about how a slight twist might have led to a different result, or maybe the essence of truth remains the same, even if the details are wildly off. That’s how conspiracy theories and revisions of history get started. In exploring escapism, it’s important to leave yourself an escape from your escape.