What is our obsession with wanting some stories to be true?

Why is it that the words ‘Based on true events’ carry so much weight? What is our obsession with wanting some stories to be true? So much so that we are willing to hurt others to validate those as facts. What difference does it make whether a story is a myth or a history so long as the main purpose is satisfied and the true message is conveyed?

There are two reason why this bothers me:

1.  By calling them true stories we are robbing our talented writers/philosophers of their competence. “Sure the stories that you wrote are great epics but there’s nothing great in that. You simply wrote down what you saw.” an arrogant person would say.
2.  By focusing on factual details we are distracting ourselves from the moral of the story i.e. the teachings we are supposed to learn from them.

Perhaps that’s why I hated history in school. I learned too many names and too many dates just like everyone else but at the end of every day I kept on asking myself, “What’s the point in learning history?”

There must be a reason why past-tense in Hindi is called ‘bhoot kaal’ (bhoot = ghost kaal = time period). Ghosts of your past should not harm your present.

Yet we are quick to fight over factual details. To use the probable facts of our history to fight wars of today. Why not give fact and fiction equal importance and learn valuable lessons from them.

I believe that if we consider stories, both real or fictional, as just stories, this world of ours would be a peacefuller place.

When it comes to the stories from the Rexal World I stress on the fact that all of my stories are completely fictional stories. So much so that I create fictional places and fictional characters to convey simple or complex messages. To me everything is equally real. According to me:

“The fact that a thought once exists means it is possible.”

Hence my approach to stories is that I take everything literally. If anytime I come across a nonsensical joke, you can bet that I will work to come up with a story based on the joke that seems logically sound.

For example, I heard this in an old Hindi movie that we all are created in pairs. So basically for each one of us there is ‘the one’ somewhere out there. This thought was introduced as just a belief but I applied to my fictional world by calling this process ‘Soul Separation’. 

Further I thought of a practical application where this concept forms the basis of a matchmaking site by making a ‘Love Compatibility Questionnaire’. Just answer the questions and find out if you are with your right partner.

At this point you might be wondering if this article has lost its purpose and I am just vomiting thoughts that come to my mind. All I want to say is, if you take that compatibility test I’ve created and if you find it useful, logical and not harmful then believe in it. If not then move on to something else that helps you. It’s that simple.

This according to me should be our approach to all stories from our past irrespective of their factual status.

Thank you.

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