Fact and Fiction

Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.

Albert Camus

What came first - Fact or Fiction?

Surely the facts for they are the basis of almost any fiction. And fact is what makes fiction so extraordinary.

The Unicorn is a highly sought after creature because of the fact that ordinary horses possess neither horns nor wings. Dragons pique our interest for the sheer inability of real life lizards to spit fire or fly in the sky.

We tend to get tired of such facts and grab any opportunity to find comfort and excitement in the world of fiction. We may never get to live the stories we conjure up but we still relish them as they fulfill our dreams even though for transiently.

But facts and fictions might not be as separated from each other as we think them to be. The early humans perceived a hostile world and to bring order and meaning to it, they believed in a Divine Master in control of all phenomena - earthly and heavenly. Soon that fiction became fact and is still getting transmitted from one generation to another. The flat-earth fiction survived for centuries in the guise of a fact until proven otherwise by Modern Science.

Facts have also been deliberately and maliciously concealed behind the thick veil of fiction by many to propagate their propaganda. Lies and Half-Truths are still being presented as facts by religious groups, politicians, believers and others. Facts, we have realized, are highly vulnerable and are prone to frequent manipulations. And so, today's fact may reveal to be a fiction tomorrow and today's fiction may be presented as fact in coming days.

As the line between Fact and Fiction keeps getting thinner in this world ruled by Internet, trust is a risky business. What can we trust, whom can we trust, how much can we trust? Can we even trust our own senses? We perceive a world made up of three physical dimensions and seven distinct colors but is that the whole fact or are we living in a fiction conceived by our limited mind? With the rapid advancement in our tools of scientific exploration, are we then on the verge of unravelling all the facts or are we doomed to live in a fictional world constructed, solidified and perpetuated by our collective inability to see through the mist?

Let us now come a full circle and ponder again upon the question I posed in the beginning. Does Fact precede Fiction or Fiction over time becomes Fact? Are we basing our fictions on facts or are we just creating more and more fictions based on pre-existing fictions? Can we ever escape the allegorical Cave of Plato? We may never know.

A depiction of Plato's Allegory of The Cave.