bhaskar saikia

Every civilization, every system, survives on a blend of truth and illusion — ideals that keep people moving, working, believing. Some might call it deception; others, social design.

From ancient kingdoms to modern democracies, from religion to capitalism, the pattern repeats. Societies are built not only on laws and structures but on stories — myths of purpose, destiny, and order. These stories may not always be true, but they give shape to our collective existence. They hold people together when truth alone might divide them.

A civilization cannot run on bare facts; it needs faith, narrative, and emotion. It needs heroes and symbols, promises and dreams. Truth provides the skeleton — logic, science, order. Illusion gives it flesh — meaning, hope, beauty. Together, they form the living body of human progress.

Friedrich Nietzsche once suggested that truth itself is just a convenient lie we’ve agreed upon. George Orwell showed us how power thrives on controlled illusions. And perhaps both were right — that the world, to remain stable, must keep its people half-awake: aware enough to function, yet comforted enough to obey.

But the question remains — where does necessary illusion end and dangerous deception begin? When ideals become instruments of control, illusion turns poisonous. When truth is stripped away entirely, civilization loses its moral compass and begins to decay from within.

Maybe that’s why every generation faces the same quiet struggle: to live within the dream without being consumed by it. To believe just enough to belong, yet doubt enough to stay free.

Because perhaps the survival of any civilization depends not only on what it builds — but on the delicate art of believing in what isn’t fully real, and still making it so.