Of all the skills that I have developed in my life, storytelling may be one of my least developed (although, this one isn't terrible). This is, at the very least, unfortunate because storytelling may be among the most influential of skills.
Of the skills I have developed, a common theme throughout them is my interest in impacting people with what is true…especially about them. So, to have collected a variety of insights about the human condition, the inability to more effectively use them is a kind of sadness to me. Not to say that nothing is there in that regard, but the skill of translating truth into story form may be near the top regarding impact opportunity for truth. In fact, it has been far more utilized throughout the ages, than the more written versions we are so accustomed to now. I wish then I had taken more time to develop this craft, not for my sake as much as for my part (as a fellow human being), in transmitting the nature of human truth which, of course, involves the sublime and the spiritual as well.
As I reflect back on both the trajectory and course of my life and interests, I see a thru-line that could be described as an interest, if not gravitation, to the essence of truth, wherever it may be found. And, one of the more significant discoveries I’ve made is that for most people, their respective relationship with truth is not highly rational. It is experiential. It is emotional. It is psychological.
Many might contend with this assertion, especially those coming from the rational western-philosophical approach to such things. And, even those who would want to distance themselves from some of those domains, largely believe that the basis of their particular embrace of truth is what they think they know…in other words, rational. In fact, many in this subset would side-eye these other dimensions, as being inferior.
But, that is not my experience with or observation of many people. Many, if not all of us, believe what we believe because of the stories that surround what we believe. And, those stories makes sense to us because of our experiences those stories resonate with.
Stories have profoundly impacted me over the course of my life (in some cases even more than the truth they reflect). They are powerful, in large part, because they are so personal. They make the abstract relevant. Stories can both destroy ideas and concepts and, like nearly nothing else, legitimize and perpetuate them. As we read each day, they can also accelerate them.
So, I'm left a bit with this, what stories am I telling (with an actual story, or just the way I live my life)? Which ones do I need to tell more?
