REAL LIFE!

I AGREE! It's hard to put your finger on EXACTLY what makes actually experiencing something so much more valuable, spiritual, and moving. It's a little like seeing the actual Declaration of Independence in its glass case in Washington, D.C...all I could imagine was the founding fathers' hands actually grasping the pen to write their names on this document 233 years ago. The experience could not compare to seeing a fake copy of the Declaration. Seeing the "real thing" or the "real place" allows one to experience it with all his senses; he is not limited to one. Yet in the case of the Declaration, this spiritual experience can be completely in our minds (imagining the history, realizing the historical significance, etc.). Either way, the experience is a spiritual one, and even if experiencing a work of art in real life does not offer us greater knowledge (I didn't really LEARN anything new from seeing the actual Declaration of Independence) it is an enjoyable experience that can lead to inspiration--the building block of art.