Heroes Not Zombies

I read a beautiful review by Robert Macfarlane yesterday. It was in the New York Review of Books and he was reviewing three books about navigation, wayfinding and landscape.

He gave several examples of astonishing navigational powers in several creatures, and of course, it’s hard to fail to be amazed by how a tiny migratory bird can travel thousands of miles and back between two particular places in the world. At least that’s my experience of the redstart who comes back to my garden every Spring, to give just one simple example.

Researchers have found magnetic particles in the beaks of migratory birds and similar structures which allow creatures to potentially detect the electromagnetic fields which encircle the planet, but they still haven’t figured out exactly how they use that ability.

It turns out there are highly specialised nerve cells in our brain which allow us to know both where we are in 3D space and to make maps of our surroundings so we can find our way easily from room to room and along familiar streets without having to stop to think about it.

But here’s the bit that really grabbed me.

Humans don’t possess inbuilt compasses, but we do have something arguably more powerful: storytelling.
Our remarkable navigational ability as a species is closely connected to our ability to tell stories about ourselves that unfold both backward and forward in time.

Robert Macfarlane in NYRB reviewing Wayfinding by MR O’Connor

Isn’t that a great insight? Our navigational super power isn’t tiny magnetic sensitive particles in our brains. It’s our ability to tell stories.

Without this ability we’d never have been able to share with others what we’ve learned, what we can imagine and where we are.