The Design of Living

Appearances aren't everything. There are feelings too and appearances of feelings which, really, are a direct result of appearances. Appearances and feelings. Thank God for design. Design is God's gift to us. With design we can mold our appearances which, in turn, mold our feelings. Genius, really. Should I wish to have a good feeling, for example, I can design, by God's Grace, an appropriate appearance. I can shave, cut, pierce, and paint myself in any number of combinations. I can rotate combinations endlessly, for a frenzy of feeling. When it was finally discovered that one could actually design the appearance of feeling there was the appearance of great jubilation. Suddenly design could really shine. Eventually the appearance of feeling became indistinguishable from either appearance or feeling. The great golden age of design emerged from the confusion. Annoying philosophical questions became marvelously rococo hair styles or complete face reconstructions and clothing to match. Hours of design time for a moment of simulated feeling. Soon, however, the designs and simulated appearances of feeling lost a bit of furor. It began gradually at isolated dinner parties or parades. Try as they might, they couldn't regain their original simulated exuberance. New paints, hair shavers, mirrors. Violent encounters. Humiliation. Cruelty. All forms of abomination design could muster. In the end it was all they could do but pretend that they were truly simulated. Their pretense became the appearance of design. The appearance grudgingly allowed them the illusion of apparent feeling. And so it went. Appearance, feeling. Designed and simulated reality. Life remained somewhere in there. Some designer will figure out how to simulate the appearance of it.