Right along with free will, simulacrum is one of the greatest gifts ever to be bestowed upon mankind. It is what gives us the mechanism to manifest the things to which we aspire, and gives us the enormous shoes which we feel compelled to fill.
I was looking at the clouds this morning and they were pure magic as if they were the fleck marks of some brilliant impressionists' painting. I remember Jewel or somebody alluding that God must be a painter or something to account for so much beauty in the world.
As I peered upward at the irradescent ripples forming an illuminated canopy under the sun, the thought occurred to me: "How remarkable that man was able to emulate such a beautiful representation out of something as beautiful and natural as this with only with a few dyed hues and brush strokes of paint. The real deal actually took a lot more to formulate and goes through a much more complex process than that.
The fact that something can be simulated out of two different materials (and really 3 if you can account for the picture that is formulated within the mind's eye) even if it isn't precise in it's exactitude... that alone speaks to the creative capacity of man. And that is what got me thinking about Baudrillard's Simulation and Simulacra.
A representation of a representation of something. Yet we purists often find ourselves looking down upon acts of imitation rather than celebrating the adaptation and ever evolving spirit of mind. Why shouldn't a person be able to feel one's way out until they gain the experience and inspiration to branch out on their own? It's a perfectly natural response when you're out there alone and grasping at straws to want to emulate or adapt the traits of something that appears to be working better with what is given than we are. And people are so hard on today's youth for doing what any inquisitive, inexperienced human being would do, for lack of better role models to identify with.
If anything, it should remind all of us to be much more mindful of the influences we put out there because we never know who is looking to us for inspiration. Per "Plato's allegory" someone who looks like an idiot to those more seasoned can appear as a "shining beacon" to someone who doesn't have a better understanding of the dynamics of what the person they choose to emulate struggles with. This doesn't mean that we should inhibit our ability to make mistakes and be human. It just means that when we learn and exhibit the choices we've made, or failed to make, (like correcting some of those errors) we get to be different kinds of humans -hopefully more evolved and responsible ones. There's a lot to be said for being conscientious from time to time, even if we tend to label it neurotic...
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