fiction

Why is fiction part of being human? I think it's part of what allows us to invent, to see things that don't yet exist. I think it story telling is how we learn and teach. It's from those bases that modern fiction arises but not what modern fiction can do for us. There is no doubt that fiction, for a time, can transport us to somewhere else, somewhere where the rules can be broken, even those of the natural world. Play out scenarios we don't want to happen or couldn't happen. The thing I think most people don't realize his how, once they emerge from the fictional world, how their own perception has changed. Next time you're really absorbed by something take a look at the things around you and really FEEL how your perception has changed. I think it's a good reminder that the world isn't just the world, but it's our interpretation of all the information our sense give us. One person can see hope, one person despair in the same event. The same person can see hope one day and despair the next, even if nothing has really changed. Fiction helps us understand this because by experiencing fiction nothing has physically changed (unless you get a paper cut from your book, or eye strain from the screen).