As much as we would like to think that we have modernized and become intellectual and as fully invested in "reality" as we seem to be, we make the same silly decisions time after time and allow our decision making to be informed by the same myths we have had for two centuries. We make meaning from the predominant stories that we are told day in and day out. I fancy myself a storyteller, but I frequently diverge from the formulaic story telling of the ancients. I try, most often, to craft my stories using real life events and salient observations that reflect both the things that remain the same throughput time as well as the changeable world that we find ourselves in. The "take away" message (and oh, how I hate that moniker) is not at all like take out food in a styro-trash clam shell. I might find a way to incorporate such an iconic and ubiquitous element within a story, but only to act as a placeholder for a larger picture, a deeper set of values and actors within the story. We each have the power to make our own meaning from whatever story we are told and for that matter the entire internal landscape of our minds is our responsibility. The story teller is only entrusted with the stories, civilization is based on the myths within the stories and those are eternal. the way we look at them may change, but birth, death, love, hate, joy, pain and life remain constant.
The greatest story tellers have a very deep well of stories inside them. They have stories for nearly every occasion and to teach a myriad of principles that societies across the arc of time depended on as touchstones and points of reference over the ages. One of the most useful functions of the storyteller is the ability to allow us to look at upsetting or difficult data sets and make sense of them in light of a longer view. The worst story tellers, and we are facing greater and greater threats from these, distract us from what is important and hides truth from the listeners for the sake of driving us over the edge of that cliff I mentioned earlier. The words of Ozzy Osbournes "Crazy Train" come to mind. His story was designed to be a warning, though many did not understand it at the time. For some, this song has become an anthem for self-destruction, but it was a cry for sanity in the face of overwhelming craziness. Ozzy's admonition was to step off the crazy train, or a call for help to everyone to step off. Who on Earth today can't relate to that? We are dangerously close to the edge of environmental catastrophe, social collapse, political annihilation and intellectual collapse. Whenever times get hard, it causes stress. This stress is frequently accompanied by increases in fundamentalist religious beliefs, rebirth of old stories and old myths that got us through the last period of stress. Today, we see this happening. Trouble is, myths are only helpful when everyone shares them. The world is shrinking around many facts that disprove many of the myths we based our civilizations on over the eons. If we are to grow and prosper in the future, we need to develop more inclusive stories, that allow us to grow out of dysfunctional myths of the past, band together as a cohesive crew on Spaceship Earth and move beyond the limits or "us-them" thinking.
At the risk of sounding like a Dr. Bronners Soap Bottle, "ALL ONE!" Humans are beginning to see the truth of the matter. We are all more akin to a single organism than an endless series of individuals. For some, the myht of individualism will die hard, but for those among us who have understood this for years, it comes as no surprise that the shrinking of the intellectual landscape that has been possible through the internet means that we can plainly see beyond the arc of the Earth. Events that may take place in my tiny corner of the planet are inexorably tied to things that happen in Australia, Denmark Slovenia and Bolivia. Oddly enough, even streaming a few electrons into "the cloud" can have effects worldwide. Strangely, just in the past decade or two, the myth of the butterfly's wings being able to create thunderstorms halfway around the world has been surpassed by the power of electrons which are even less discernible. The power of moving electrons has now toppled despotic leaders in several countries and the instability is growing. The patriots who fight for the souls of their countries are growing in number and strength, in Madison, Wisconsin, across the nation with the advent of the #occupy movement across the United States and in nations across the planet. what is needed is the intestinal fortitude to relinquish out-dated myths in favor of a more universal set of ideas and insights that allow us to understand our new world order and how we can affect positive change for the next seven generations.
Anyone who has ever gone to summer camp knows the power of the myths that they teach, the songs and stories that get passed around the campfire. When I began to sing them and tell them, I wondered about the origins and meanings that each one conveyed. Oddly enough, the older I get, the more meaning I find in them and the more important they become. The camp I worked at, College Settlement Camps of Philadelphia, provided services for many of the most difficult children of the "City of Brotherly Love". Many of the children who come to that camp have had the hardest of lives. without security, comfort, or hope, many young people who came to our camp had handicaps that are not evident on the surface. Our programs were designed to heal some of the damage caused by poverty, malnutrition and neglect. Some of our campers only had three meals per day for two weeks each summer and for many, knowing that they were cared for took a bit of time to begin to make sense to them. Our myths were not about rugged individualism and harsh realities of the streets, but of abundance and caring for one another. It was occasionally like trying to speak Chinese to chickens, but oddly enough, pairing the same messages with compassion, love and honesty slowly began to make sense for many of our charges. Sadly, at the end of their two week respite from their harsh lifestyles, we had to turn them back over to many of the worst neighborhoods of Philly. Just as the experience helped me to find my way and my voice, I am sure that the songs and stories that we shared each night at campfire are still a peart of those people's experience. what they do with it is ultimately up to them, but at least they heard the truth once in their lives.
Wherever you are, whatever station you find yourself in, never forget the powerful act of storytelling. Sharing your stories, especially if they help us to approach the most horrible truths safely, have the power to transform culture, inspire positive growth and change that has the power to outlive us. Be careful about the stories you choose to believe and even more careful about those you choose to share. The future of humanity may depend on making the right choices today. The planet surely does, and we all depend on the abundance of a healthy planet. As has been said many times before, you may be on the right track, but you will still get run over if you do nothing. Even something as ethereal as a story can help move our culture forward. Have fun and in closing, peace, Love and pass the ammunition!
The most topical stories often reflect age old struggles between power and weakness, lovers and haters, the rich and the poor or the dreams and realities of individuals who act as stand ins for all of those elements of ourselves. How we reflect upon the stories and what we infer from them are our own part in the age old process of deciphering the ciphers. Now, the best story tellers have the power to lead us right to the precipice, where the view is expansive and the danger is great that we might plunge over the edge into madness, but also keep just enough ground under our feet that we can remain sane. As can be seen from a study of many folk tales from a variety of cultures, there has been an attempt to soften many of the messages and events that they spoke of, seemingly to avoid scaring the children. This paired with the rampant depiction of death and dismemberment that children are exposed to on television seem odd, but that perhaps is better left for another post.The myth that we operate on today seems to be the one about our own intellectual development. As greater minds than mine have said, "Our belief in the myth that human-caused climate change is debatable has been manufactured by many of the same people who told us that the scientific evidence that smoking is bad for your health was either unclear or make-believe."
The greatest story tellers have a very deep well of stories inside them. They have stories for nearly every occasion and to teach a myriad of principles that societies across the arc of time depended on as touchstones and points of reference over the ages. One of the most useful functions of the storyteller is the ability to allow us to look at upsetting or difficult data sets and make sense of them in light of a longer view. The worst story tellers, and we are facing greater and greater threats from these, distract us from what is important and hides truth from the listeners for the sake of driving us over the edge of that cliff I mentioned earlier. The words of Ozzy Osbournes "Crazy Train" come to mind. His story was designed to be a warning, though many did not understand it at the time. For some, this song has become an anthem for self-destruction, but it was a cry for sanity in the face of overwhelming craziness. Ozzy's admonition was to step off the crazy train, or a call for help to everyone to step off. Who on Earth today can't relate to that? We are dangerously close to the edge of environmental catastrophe, social collapse, political annihilation and intellectual collapse. Whenever times get hard, it causes stress. This stress is frequently accompanied by increases in fundamentalist religious beliefs, rebirth of old stories and old myths that got us through the last period of stress. Today, we see this happening. Trouble is, myths are only helpful when everyone shares them. The world is shrinking around many facts that disprove many of the myths we based our civilizations on over the eons. If we are to grow and prosper in the future, we need to develop more inclusive stories, that allow us to grow out of dysfunctional myths of the past, band together as a cohesive crew on Spaceship Earth and move beyond the limits or "us-them" thinking.
At the risk of sounding like a Dr. Bronners Soap Bottle, "ALL ONE!" Humans are beginning to see the truth of the matter. We are all more akin to a single organism than an endless series of individuals. For some, the myht of individualism will die hard, but for those among us who have understood this for years, it comes as no surprise that the shrinking of the intellectual landscape that has been possible through the internet means that we can plainly see beyond the arc of the Earth. Events that may take place in my tiny corner of the planet are inexorably tied to things that happen in Australia, Denmark Slovenia and Bolivia. Oddly enough, even streaming a few electrons into "the cloud" can have effects worldwide. Strangely, just in the past decade or two, the myth of the butterfly's wings being able to create thunderstorms halfway around the world has been surpassed by the power of electrons which are even less discernible. The power of moving electrons has now toppled despotic leaders in several countries and the instability is growing. The patriots who fight for the souls of their countries are growing in number and strength, in Madison, Wisconsin, across the nation with the advent of the #occupy movement across the United States and in nations across the planet. what is needed is the intestinal fortitude to relinquish out-dated myths in favor of a more universal set of ideas and insights that allow us to understand our new world order and how we can affect positive change for the next seven generations.
Anyone who has ever gone to summer camp knows the power of the myths that they teach, the songs and stories that get passed around the campfire. When I began to sing them and tell them, I wondered about the origins and meanings that each one conveyed. Oddly enough, the older I get, the more meaning I find in them and the more important they become. The camp I worked at, College Settlement Camps of Philadelphia, provided services for many of the most difficult children of the "City of Brotherly Love". Many of the children who come to that camp have had the hardest of lives. without security, comfort, or hope, many young people who came to our camp had handicaps that are not evident on the surface. Our programs were designed to heal some of the damage caused by poverty, malnutrition and neglect. Some of our campers only had three meals per day for two weeks each summer and for many, knowing that they were cared for took a bit of time to begin to make sense to them. Our myths were not about rugged individualism and harsh realities of the streets, but of abundance and caring for one another. It was occasionally like trying to speak Chinese to chickens, but oddly enough, pairing the same messages with compassion, love and honesty slowly began to make sense for many of our charges. Sadly, at the end of their two week respite from their harsh lifestyles, we had to turn them back over to many of the worst neighborhoods of Philly. Just as the experience helped me to find my way and my voice, I am sure that the songs and stories that we shared each night at campfire are still a peart of those people's experience. what they do with it is ultimately up to them, but at least they heard the truth once in their lives.
Wherever you are, whatever station you find yourself in, never forget the powerful act of storytelling. Sharing your stories, especially if they help us to approach the most horrible truths safely, have the power to transform culture, inspire positive growth and change that has the power to outlive us. Be careful about the stories you choose to believe and even more careful about those you choose to share. The future of humanity may depend on making the right choices today. The planet surely does, and we all depend on the abundance of a healthy planet. As has been said many times before, you may be on the right track, but you will still get run over if you do nothing. Even something as ethereal as a story can help move our culture forward. Have fun and in closing, peace, Love and pass the ammunition!
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