Reflection and Culture

In my Culture and Sociology class we are diving deep into defining and learning more about cultural objects. So often in my sociology classes, I find incredible overlap with my fascination with flowers and find it helps to apply my understanding of readings to my dream of floristry. This cross-comparison was simple as flowers have been cultural objects for centuries. 
Flowers, as cultural objects stand for beauty, poise, power, passion and countless other relevant terms that are desired and striven for across countless places. 
As we are learning in class, there are two different ways to understand cultural symbols and their intermingling with the social world. 
Marx believed that cultural symbols are reflections of the social world and have derived meaning from their surroundings. In this understanding of Marx's reflection theory, we could believe that flowers are cultural representations of those ideals that are already possessed and desired by individuals within each society.
In contrast to this idea, Weber believed that cultural objects help to create the world around us by bringing meaning to our surroundings. This understanding sounds a bit more romantic to me, as it would assume that flowers have helped to create those very attributes that we desire to see thrive and grow within individuals.

 Each of these theories are fascinating to apply to the floral world as flowers continue to change and morph over time and reflect the changing world around us. Yet, even as the world changes, people get busier, and lines get longer... flowers still bloom every spring. Lupines still burst forth from the ground across the country and sunflowers break through concrete searching for light.

As we learn more about reflection within cultural objects, we have also been learning a bit about Plato's idea of reflection. Just to touch on the idea, as it too applies to my interest in flowers, and the drawings below... Plato believed and taught that God created the "Ideal Form" of all things. Including flowers. Then, to mirror Gods creation, there are those who create the "physical", like us humans who create the flower we desire by fussing with seeds, cross-pollinating blooms and searching for the darkest of the hellebores to save for next year. Lastly, Plato saw artists as producing an "imperfect copy of an imperfect copy" and distorting reality so that we were farther from the ideal desired form that God wanted to create.
Well Plato, I say, no matter how far I am getting from Gods perfect vision... I will continue drawing, and painting flowers until the day that I die.