This photo is a combination of silk flowers and an authentic black Calla Lilly. The arrangement is pleasing, but at least for me, when I noticed that the white flowers were silk, suddenly the Calla Lily because so much more beautiful. Artifice will never stand up side by side to the authentic. We can be dazzled by artifice, we can be deceived by it, but once you see it for what it is, you cannot un-see it. It is hard to be completely authentic to ourselves and others. Maybe we are not well acquainted with our authentic self. Maybe we feel that our authentic self wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. But in the end, when we drop our layers of artifice we have clothed ourselves with, the pure joy of being our true self will always shine through.