Story

myth ∙ metaphor ∙ word ∙ message 

We tell stories about the world:
∙ ‘The world is like an organism, a living whole!’
∙ ‘The world is a battlefield, hostile!’
∙ ‘The world consists of physical things!’
∙ ‘The world is far too complex to understand!’

we write our own life story
narrative identity

Even science tells stories:
“Evolution, then, is the creation myth of our age. By telling us our origins it shapes our views of what we are.”
Mary Midgley

Many of our stories are older than the language we use to tell them.

Stories are alive; they evolve. “They compel us to share them and, once told, they begin to grow and change, often becoming longer and more elaborate. They compete with one another for our attention—for the opportunity to reach as many minds as possible. They find each other, intermingle, and multiply.”
Ferris Jabr

Stories survive through being told. Each teller re-creates them. When stories are written down, they can stop changing, evolving, living. Writing can kill.
“To preserve is to burn, for understanding means creating.”
Trinh Minh-ha

the living library
lessons ∙ secrets ∙ imaginings

Whose shoulders are we standing on?
Which ancient stories are living through us?
Whose stories are we living in?
his-tory ∙ her-story ∙ their-story ∙ our-story

factual ∙ fictional ∙ truthful

Tell me a story!