I have a ton of notebooks which I’ve filled, or partially filled, over decades. I’ve also posted articles on this blog, www.heroesnotzombies.com since March 2007 (some 3600 posts altogether). I like to dip into both of these collections from time to time, and because I’ve been writing for so long I often come across something in there that I don’t remember writing, and I think…..”hey, that’s interesting” So, these are my inspiration banks. I must admit I do get inspiration all around the place….in nature, art, and daily life, as well as from newsletters I subscribe to, podcasts I listen to, magazines I buy, and so on….but my own notebooks, paper and digital, have become a rich source for me.
Recently, as I was preparing the next episode of the my podcast, (More Good Days) which will, at least in part, feature the importance of stories in our lives, I discovered notes I’d made about a book entitled “The World is made of Stories’, by David R Loy [ISBN 978-086171-615-9]
I read a lot about stories, as well as reading, and hearing, stories every day, but this book is a bit different because it’s written from a Buddhist perspective. I’m not a Buddhist, but it’s refreshing to read a different take on stories. Here are two passages which made a particular impression on me.
Like the proverbial fish that cannot see the water they swim in, we do not notice the medium we dwell within. Unaware that our stories are stories, we experience them as the world. But we can change the water. When our accounts of the world become different, the world becomes different.
and
The world is not composed of facts, because what counts as a fact is determined by the theory – the story – it is related to. Science is not primarily about discovering facts. It is about accounting for the relationships that make them meaningful.
What I like about both of these passages is that they highlight the foundational importance of stories in our lives, and explain how we can alter our world by altering our stories. Stories are how we come to understand the contexts for our experiences….both in our personal and collective lives. And stories are how we create the world we live in. Changing the stories is like “changing the water” we all swim in.
Some of the dominant narratives we all encounter have been particularly bothering me in recent weeks, and I guess it all came to ahead with the riots in Belfast and various cities in the UK the other day. Headline after headline in the papers, on the TV and on the radio, described the groups who attacked the police, singled out cerrtain houses and properties in their communities and burned families out of their homes, as “anti immigration” protestors.
These were not anti immigration protestors. They were attacking anyone who wasn’t white, targeting families who had lived in their communities for decades, but who weren’t white. These people were motivated by xenophobia and racism.
Yet telling these events as stories about immigration continues and inflames the anti-immigrant narrative which is, sadly, so prevalent these days. Singling people out for different treatment on the basis of their colour, race, country of birth or religion, is xenophobia and racism.
We need better stories.
We need the stories of integration, of adventure and travel, of diversity and sharing. Those stories exist, just waiting to be told and re-told. Whole sectors of the economy in countries like the UK would collapse without the contribution of workers who weren’t born in the UK….from health care, to hospitality, from agriculture to universities, from football to film-making.
Have you ever seen any of Stanley Tucci’s travel programmes? We recently watched one of his series from Italy. Everywhere he goes looks great, and all the food he gets to eat looks so tempting. He’s really good with people, very respectful and enthusiastic. Time and again he’ll highlight the diverse origins of a particular local cuisine, and make the point that the blending of cultures produces really great recipes and traditions.
I also remember a series the chef, Nigel Slater, made for TV where he visited different families from different ethnic origins, who lived in and around London. In each programme he visited them, told their stories, and learned one of their key dishes. Then at the end of the series he invited them all to his place to celebrate their cultures and foods together. The series made such a strong case for the benefits of multi-culturism, where people respect each other, and form good, enriching relationships.
I know my focus in these newsletters and podcast episodes is how we can, each of us, have more good days, but it’s important to remember that none of us live in isolation. We humans are deeply social creatures and even our very individual uniqueness arises, primarily, from our singular sets of relationships and connections.
Sadly, we have a concentration of power and wealth in the media, and, too often, the agenda is set by a small network of rich and powerful people telling the stories which suit their own perspective.
I’ve just started reading about something called “Market Humanism” which is a term coined by Nick Hanauer and Eric Beinhocker. They convincingly demolish the dominant economic and social narrative, which is known as “neoliberalism”, a philosophy based on understanding individuals as unique, separate and selfish. They challenge the idea that the market is a way of achieving balance, growth and equitable reward distribution. They show that nothing has worked out the way the neoliberals claimed it would and we now have greater inequality (with no significant “trickle down” or “lifting all boats”), stagnant growth, growing division and disillusionment. On top of that, the idea that the Earth is a resource bank to be plundered for the greatest profit is driving both our climate and species diversity to collapse.
Their alternative story makes so much more sense to me….that we humans are actually social creatures, that we need each other, achieve our greatest achievements when we work together, and that the planet functions as a huge complex adaptive system of interconnected feedback loops. They propose we consider human flourishing as a better measure of economic health than the value-free “GDP”, and that governments and the private sector work together to create an economy focused on solving human problems, rather than one focused on maximising shareholder returns. I’ve a lot more to read in this work, but I think it’s another exciting, alternative narrative……stories which weave together to create a better paradigm.
We do need a new paradigm.
When we come to understand the world as precious, finite and delicately balanced, and our lives as unique, diverse and deeply embedded with the lives of others, then, as David R Loy, says “When our accounts of the world become different, the world becomes different.”
Another TV programme which I think brilliantly demonstrates our interconnectedness and our entangled origins, is “Who Do You Think You Are?” where a celebrity is helped by genealogists, social historians, and archivists, to discover the stories of their ancestors. If you were to tell your story in terms of your relationships and connections around the world, and, at the same time, trace some of the threads and flows from the past which have led you to where you are now, what will that story sound like, look like?
I think those stories are worth telling.
I think they can change the world.
