A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words But The Real Thing Is Even Better

Hi folks,

Venus Saturn Conjunction from Meg's iPhone, February 2012. Click on figure to see more clearly and compare with the image below.

Be it looking at a photograph of the planets versus seeing them with your own eyes, listening to music versus playing an instrument yourself, or or watching sports versus undertaking a sport, the ‘real thing’ is always better, in my opinion. The first time I observed the rings of Saturn directly through a telescope that I had purchased, it was an exciting if not a ‘spiritual’ moment. The rings were more real to me through my small telescope than in all of the wonderful photos I had seen in magazines. I was seeing them directly for the first time. The adjacent photograph, taken by my friend, Meg, during a pleasant evenings conversing over a glass of wine and excellent cheese and chocolate, captures a memory. It is the memory evoked by the image that is important to me not the image. This is why a secondhand image, even by NASA, is not like the real thing – can you imagine actually going up in the space shuttle?

Venus Saturn Conjunction. From: http://goo.gl/pU8HW

In our modern world of instant media, with access to images of the worlds finest musicians, artists and athletes, it is easy to underestimate the joy of watching a school orchestra concert, clarinet squeaks and all, but true joy it is. This is why I rarely watch sports, but spend a great deal of time pursuing my chosen athletic endeavors. It is just more real. I would rather live my life than watch someone else living life on a television screen. Interestingly, this was an important subplot in both ‘1984‘ by George Orwell, and ‘Fahrenheit 451‘ by Ray Bradbury, two important and interestingly disturbing books.

There is no substitute for undertaking an activity yourself, however amateurish your attempts, because it is real!

-k @FitOldDog

Today’s Workouts:

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