Fiction is an elemental force, which has the power to shape reality in its own image - or images, I should say - because reality, like light, exists not only as a single point or particle, but also as an array of possibilities.
Interpretation
Fiction can profoundly influence our perception of reality by presenting multiple possibilities.
Ruth Ozeki expresses the idea that fiction holds tremendous power in shaping our understanding of reality. Just as light can manifest in various forms and spectrums, so too can our reality be perceived through the diverse narratives offered by fiction, allowing us to explore multiple dimensions of existence and possibility.
In practice
In a book club discussion on how fiction shapes societal views, this quote could spark an engaging dialogue.
People have always heard voices. Sometimes they're called shamans, sometimes they're called mad, and sometimes they're called fiction writers. I always feel lucky that I live in a culture where fiction writing is legal and not seen as pathology.
I did documentary film for a long time, and I spent a lot of time behind the camera, fervently wishing that the reality I was filming would conform to my narrative propriety. But you can't control it.
What's fascinating to me is the way that multiple stories go into creating any world - a fictional world, but certainly the world that we live in as well. Of course, I cannot control that world. I can just control the fictional world.
Both life and death manifest in every moment of existence. Our human body appears and disappears moment by moment, without cease, and this ceaseless arising and passing away is what we experience as time and being. They are not separate. They are one thing, and in even a fraction of a second, we have the opportunity to choose, and to turn the course of our action either toward the attainment of truth or away from it. Each instant is utterly critical to the whole world.
The American society around me looked at me and saw Japanese. Then, when I was 19, I went to Japan for the first time. And suddenly - what a shock - I realized I wasn't Japanese; they saw me as American. It was an enormous relief. Now I just appreciate being exactly in the middle.
I have a pretty good memory, but memories are time beings, too, like cherry blossoms or ginkgo leaves; for a while they are beautiful, and then they fade and die.
What comes forth from you as an artist cannot be controlled. But you have responsibilities as a global citizen. Your history dictates your duty. And by writing about black people, you are not limiting yourself. The experiences of African-Americans are as wide open as God's closet.
Anything you are shows up in your music - jazz is whatever you are, playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come through.
Movies in Hollywood now, for the past 20 or 30 years, are made mainly by lawyers or agents.
You know it's very difficult to be an actor, and to have people depending on you to say the right line, at the right time, and to not be able to hear your cues! I can't tell you how many times I would've had to have said What? if I didn't have my hearing aids. So my hearing aids are a life saver, and they allow me to practice my craft.
The poem is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful.
It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work.
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