Life in HD

I often think about how we are becoming more and obsessed with giving reality a face lift. We all do it. Our pictures go through photoshop and we report on exciting things we've seen or done on public blogs or networking sites. We hardly divulge the grimy and the mundane. Sometimes it irks me a little, even though I do it all the time, and even love doing it.

Then I was thinking... well, aren't our minds sort of the same way? I remember that when I lived with my family, for reasons I don't remember, I couldn't wait to be out of the house. Then, suddenly, when I was out on my own, I couldn't help but remember how wonderful it was and how loving we were and how much fun we had. After I had moved out, I always looked forward to going back and always seemed to have a really nice time at home. I think we naturally hold onto the good in our past. Sure, it may seem almost impossible for us to look past the harsh present, but the past always seems full of fond memories.

I guess I was thinking about this because I am working on editing a wedding video for some friends of mine. For ideas, I watched a lot of other videos on vimeo. It all seems so magical. But you know at the time that the bride had a headache and the groom's stomach was eating itself for lack of substance and their mouths hurt from the plastered smile on their face, and their arms were tired from shaking hands with their dad's business friends, and the list goes on. But who wants to see a movie about that?

The ability our minds have to improve reality must be some sort of mechanism our minds use to survive. I mean, if women had perfect recollection of how it felt to push a human being out of her anytime she even thought of kids, I have a feeling families would be a whole lot smaller. But now we have the ability to actually create a higher kind of reality. Even the movies and pictures that prove our existence show a world that seems wonderful and magical. It is becoming so easy to accept this altered reality as truth.

I think that if I were ever to write a thesis or dissertation I would explore this area. Don't get me wrong... I love being able to take that nasty blemish off my face and make a muggy sky baby-blue. I'm just interested in exploring what this new ability might do (for or to) our psyches.