The facts don’t care about your feelings.
Your feelings don’t care about the facts, either.
Nor do anyone else’s.
OK.
Deep diving on storytelling for reasons. Exploring several sources.
A previous round of my nerding out on storytelling saw me eagerly devouring Brandon Sanderson’s lecture series, among several other sources living consistently in the background of my media diet.
Fuck.
Stories are the language of the brain.
Rooted in cause and effect.
All stories are about survival, connection, or status.
The greats are about all three.
We occupy both the material world,
& the story world conjured by our brains,
Where we can coordinate & explain.
Social coordination via social identities,
As guides to earning status in the group.
Earn status by showing you believe.
By behaving like we do.
Story shaped:
At least one person pursuing at least one goal.
Contending with resistance and conflicts.
Pursue the goal, & whatever happens is the story.
Where characters have traits,
We have social identities, beliefs, & values,
As well as the gifts of our nature,
And the learned legacy of our days before this one.
My nature and legacy stand as they stand.
But my character is mine to author.
My beliefs are mine to embody or edit.
My goals are mine to set & pursue.
My resistance is mine to grapple & overcome.
I can author my own arc, at least in this regard.
I can tell myself the story of my self.
I can listen honestly the the world for evidence.
Or it’s lack.
& adjust accordingly.
The world and other people will get their votes.
I choose to take my vote seriously, too.
If you’d like to make it a conversation, please feel free to reply.
If you know someone who might like it, please forward.
If you haven’t already, you can subscribe at reflective.praxisandprose.com.
Thank you for reading.