I Guess I'll be a King

History is a fiction. It’s a pretty standard postmodern concept but it rings true in many ways. The idea is that history is written by the “winners” who then record their wins, omit their losses, justify their sins, and demonize their opponents. This means that the history I read out of a history book is only a warped reflection of the actual events off of the biased perception of the “winners”. This is undeniable. I am not content to stop there though. It seems to me that all perceptions are a fiction or, to phrase it differently, that reality is always 100% imperceptible to us. A person’s fears, loves, and prejudices shape every stimulus; visual, audible, and substantial.

Communication is a fiction as there is no combination of physical, audible, or substantial methods by which one can express any idea/emotion fully. Here I think it is important to delineate between emotive communication and instructive communication. Person one can explain to person two how an engine works. He/she can enumerate all of the parts of the engine and explain how they function together. This is instructive communication. Try as they may however, Person one can never convey to person two the picture of an engine and understanding of an engine which exists in their mind. This is emotive communication. For emotive communication we use metaphors, similes, hyperbole, and a list of other tools but they all fall short of conveying reality.

Perception is a fiction in that my senses are predisposed (as is my mind itself) to filter outside stimuli and categorize it. Four people who have all witnessed the same event will describe it in four different ways because, although the event was the same, their experience of it was different. On a deeper level if one gazes up at a star fifteen light-years away, one is actually looking at that star fifteen years in the past. If that star had blown up fourteen and a half years earlier it would make no difference to the perception of that star-gazer here on earth.

Emotions are fiction because they are based on the perceptions and communications referenced above. The anger Person one feels toward Person two burns stronger if person one has had a rather difficult day. The rejection person one perceives from person two and the consequent loneliness felt may be due simply to a jumbled communication caused by person two’s own preoccupation. What one feels very seldom reflects reality because what one experiences often bears little resemblance to reality.

With this in mind, relationships are a fiction. We project onto others the attributes we would like them to have. If we want to like them, we attribute positive characteristics to them. If we want to hate them we do the opposite. It is impossible to know or be known by another person at any more than a surface level because fictional perceptions, fictional communications, and fictional emotions are the lens through which you view them and they view you; “through a glass, darkly”.

So this leads to a rather bleak outlook on life. This leads one to be an island unto oneself, investing very little in relationships positively or negatively. None can know me and I can know none. All I have is my fiction. But how empowering would it be to realize that the “history” you’ve been writing is merely fiction and is thus yours to mold as you wish? How freeing to begin to do intentionally what you’ve been doing unintentionally all your life? If you are writing fiction anyway, why not construct a world worth living in?