Fiction and Reality

Fiction is an integral part of human life. Man has anShakespeare most probably believed in God, strict
inherent need for diversion to get away, even ifdeterminism, and in the reality of the world, so he
for a few moments, from the humdrum of life.did not have this problem. Now it is generally
Story telling has been one of the earliest ways ofbelieved that the universe also has a beginning and
accomplishing that and over the ages it has grownwill have an end. If the universe is also a player,
into the diverse forms of entertainment we haveare there multiple universes or does it come alone
in the present day world. Entertainment is basicallyon the stage and then introduces other players?
of two types - active and passive. The activeBut what is the stage in this case? Quantum
involves physical participation in one way or other,physics points to one possibility. At extremely
while the passive does not. Fiction is essentially asmall scales of space and time there is a quantum
passive entertainment even though the mindvoid that is not really empty but filled with energy
plays an important role in it. Fiction always involveswhich is constantly transforming itself into virtual
visualization whether it is covert or overt. Theparticles and back. What remains after the end of
earliest form of overt visualization was thethe universe may be an infinite version of this
enacting of dramas as the civilizations developed.quantum void filled with energy into which all the
The development of technology brought in itsmatter has converted itself. This universal energy
modern forms - cinema and television. The covertis the source of and background for everything.
form is inherent to story telling and reading. It isIt is not merely a philosophical point either. We
an inherent characteristic of the human (orspend a considerable part of our life in the
perhaps any) mind that a thought is alwaysimagined or fictional world. We muse about the
accompanied by an image. So as soon as onethings in future and also dwell over the past
hears or reads a story the mind visualizes theimagining what could have been. The imagination
scene and the characters; this process continuesabout the future is based on our hopes and
throughout the story and often even after it hasaspirations and to some extent it is a positive in
ended.the sense that we are in a position to mold our
Fiction by its very definition is unreal. When wefuture if we sincerely try. But musing over the
read a novel we know that the story and thepast is a futile exercise because we know for a
characters in it are merely a product offact that 'what could have been' is mere fantasy
imagination of the author. When we see a moviethat never happened. Still it serves the same
we know that the characters are just acting theirpurpose as fiction from the point of view of
parts essentially pretending to be someone otherentertainment. We entertain ourselves by
than themselves. Still we are emotionally affectedimagining how life would have been, knowing fully
by the twists and turns in the story. We laughwell that it has no reality whatsoever. In a
with them, weep with them, and even feelmetaphorical sense past, at least the remote
indignant towards the bad guys. The lovable heropast, is fiction. In a certain sense history itself is
or heroine may be despicable in real life and thefiction since it invariably contains the subjective
villain may be a perfect gentleman, but webias of the author. What we know of Buddha and
identify them with the characters they areJesus now is more fiction than facts.
portraying. In essence for that brief period weWe all may be players on the world stage, still the
ourselves get transported into the imaginaryquestion remains why we show the emotional
world of the author. Strangely enough thisresponses to the happenings depicted in the
happens also with the author at least to some offiction, whether in print or visual presentation, just
them. He or she goes through the same emotionsas in real life? Just like dreams our imaginations
while writing and perhaps later as well.get presented to us on the mental screen as if
"Knowledge is limited, imagination is not." Albertwe were watching television or movies. And just
Einstein said that although the wording of theas in dreams the real world gets supplanted by
second part might have been different. Einsteinthe imagined virtual world even though we are
like any other human being was not infallible. Somefully awake. That world still has perfect
of his views that he held right till the end turnedresemblance to the real one and everything
out to be wrong even in the field of physics. Inhappening in it seems real due to something
this particular statement also he seems to have itchanging in our cognition faculty. But the
backwards. Knowledge may be limited in the casemechanism that triggers our emotional responses
of an individual but in general it is unlimited even ifremains unchanged and therefore we react to the
we consider just rational knowledge leaving asidefiction in the same way as in real life.
transcendental. Science in particular hasHere we have some similarity with the virtual
demonstrated this at every step in the course ofreality of the modern computer technology, which
its development. Imagination pertains to anis an artificial environment created by software. It
individual mind and is constrained by severalis presented to the viewer in such a way that the
factors depending on the circumstances of theperson temporarily suspends own belief pattern
individual. A mind can imagine only what relates inand accepts it as a real environment. In a way it
some way to things already stored in it. A personis not different from the phenomenon of being
who has never been outside a remote place intransported to the imagined world of fiction,
wilderness and has had no contact with the worldexcept that the computer doing the job is in the
outside cannot imagine what metropolitan citiesmind and we have no clue as to what is the
are like.software and who is the programmer.
Getting back to fiction the imagination of theThat brings us to the cause of emotional
author also has to be based on his direct orresponse itself. In regard to fiction the most
indirect experiences. In this sense fiction is basedcommon emotions are likes and dislikes that may
on reality and to that extent it represents justturn into their stronger forms of love and hate. In
another dimension of reality. Here of course wereal life we love or hate a person because of
run into the philosophical problem of the precisesome attachment through kinship, friendship, or
meaning of reality. There are two diametricallyeven through indirect knowledge of the person.
opposite views - materialistic and spiritualistic.One cannot love or hate a person one does not
According to the former only things that can beknow at all. Attachment can also be to other living
perceived through our senses are real, everythingbeings, material things, and even to imaginary
else is unreal. The latter maintains that there isthings. We love or hate a story or even an idea.
just one ultimate reality from which all that weFor an ordinary person it is impossible to live
perceive comes out and everything that isunattached to things in the world. If one is able to
perceived is simply an illusion. We again consider aget rid of attachment, one joins the rank of
statement by Einstein: "Reality is merely an illusion,enlightened souls who are indeed rare. We carry
albeit a persistent one." He was obviously referringour capacity and desire for attachment even into
to the reality of the phenomenal world. The wordthe imaginary world of fiction. We see the
illusion can have different connotations but incharacters that we come to know as the story
general it means perceiving something as differentprogresses, form our likes and dislikes, and react
from what it is. So the existence of the thing is ain the same way as in real life except that we
prerequisite for illusion, it is not a mentalcannot interact with them physically. But we do
construction. Imagination is purely a mentalinteract with them in our minds and hearts from
phenomenon and has nothing to do with anythingwhere the emotions come.
actually existent. Therefore the relationshipThe fact is that in a certain sense life itself is
between fiction and reality is entirely differentfiction. Like a story it has a beginning, an end, and
from that between illusion and reality.lot of things in between. We do not know who
In a philosophical sense the phenomenal worldwrites this fiction nor will ever know. Thus we
itself may be regarded as fiction. This is whathave an innate affinity with fiction and cannot
Shakespeare perhaps meant when he wrote: "Allcompletely detach ourselves from it. And perhaps
the world's a stage, and all men and womenthat is why, while reading or viewing fiction we
merely players". We may as well think ofget lost subconsciously in the wonderland of
everything in the universe (space, time, matter)imagination, but for that brief period we function
as players because everything has its entry andexactly in the same way as we would in the real
exit. We of course run into the problem of statingworld of our perception. In that sense fiction is
what the stage is and who wrote the script.just invented reality.