The advent of television added a whole new kind of recreation to people’s lives, that of passive spectator. It seems obvious, that direct participation would be more immersive and richer in almost every way than being a passive spectator. Nevertheless, someone close to GetWisdom has observed that passive spectating can fill a niche, a void that would otherwise remain unfulfilled. He has derived great satisfaction from watching car restoration shows. As a youth, he often dreamed of doing this for a living, and now as a man approaching sixty, this dream, never considered a serious option for him, nevertheless finds some valid vicarious fulfillment in watching others living his dream. Can Creator comment?

There are both simple and more complex and deeper meanings in the interrelationship between being an experiencer and an observer of life. One cannot be and do everything but one can learn much from observing the actions of others. This has obvious practical value when even to attempt certain things demands extensive preparation. The shortness of lifespan means people will simply not have the time to become accomplished in many, many areas and will not be able to enjoy the same benefit as someone who has honed and developed their talent and skill level to get the most enjoyment and benefits from that effort. So being an observer and living vicariously through watching motion pictures or a documentary recounting the achievements of others with particular talents, such as art or music, or creating things of beauty that have much skill and talent in the doing on display will be a meaningful reward and enjoyment in its own right. Even though the individual with a passion for that particular undertaking never has the personal fulfillment from living that life themselves, it is the next best thing to, in effect, engage in a kind of fantasy in putting themselves in the place of an actor or actress on the screen so they can imagine what it might be like going through the motions, taking on that person’s challenges, or seeing them rewarded in some way because of their abilities. There is nothing wrong or unhealthy as long as this does not lead to a state of self‑criticism or feelings of regret and bitterness if people come to feel life has passed them by because others are getting ahead and they are not, and so forth. Enjoying things that are appealing but doing it vicariously through watching the activities of others is a harmless way to reward the self with the next best thing, if this is not done to punish the self with judgment and negative emotions like jealousy or envy. In a sense, one learns by exploring the world to even see the range of possibilities that exist. In a sense, watching a motion picture with a particular life of interest being depicted is a way of sampling what is possible and engaging in a kind of dry run, if only on a thought level with some emotion stirred up within. This can be filed away and referenced in the future, and used as a basis for planning future incarnations to widen the scope of experience and indulge those prior fantasies by putting them as a higher priority and a life goal to plunge in and engage in a similar lifestyle and goal for personal achievement. This is often experienced by the young who see something as children adults are doing that resonates, and that is often because they have lived something similar before or witnessed it and made a kind of mental note, "I want to do that someday," and that someday might come up in a new lifetime when the circumstances create an opening, an opportunity to move in a direction to satisfy an old desire that might be ancient in actuality, and finally bring it into life through direct experience of one’s own. Life is about the expansion of possibilities. How you get there and make the decisions and choices is part of the art of living. Looking at the menu is a way of planning your future, and that is the kind of value you get from a vicarious experiencing through observation in such settings as motion pictures, or attending a public event of some kind showing off the accomplishments of others as a kind of example.