What Can Story Teach Us About Life?
Story can teach us a lot— stories, however …
Story — stories — what’s the difference?
Here’s me saying we can learn a lot from ‘story’, but ‘stories’ are a different matter.
How come?
Take the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, for example. Take it literally, and you could come away having learned that blind trust is a good thing (it’s not). It’s a lesson Jack learns after he’s sold a cow for a handful of beans. Not a good thing to do if you’re starving, now, is it?
You could come away having learned that stealing is OK (no, it ain’t). But it works out OK for Jack — he gets a goose that lays golden eggs, a magic harp, and ends up marrying a princess, after he’s murdered the giant who’s chased after him to seek revenge. Oh, by the way, just in case you were wondering, stealing, taking the law into your own hands, committing murder, and seeking revenge aren’t exactly what most people would call elements of a life well lived.
And yet … we still tell stories.
Because behind every story we tell is an impulse, an urge, an instinct … to tell stories. That instinct, drive, passion … is ‘story’.
Not ‘a story’, or ‘the story of …’ or ‘the stories we tell about …’ but simply ‘story’.
Stories like Jack and the Beanstalk, or The Old Woman and her Pig (which, if taken literally, teaches you that you can turn stubbornness into (resentful) obedience if you use violence — er … there are better ways) at least open up the opportunity for discussion and debate.
When we tell stories;
when we engage in discussions;
when we engage in the practice of philosophy;
when we put together a mathematical demonstration
we are following the well-worn tracks of story .
Story is the energy that drives us forward to answer questions, resolve doubts, solve problems, unravel riddles.
We have a lot to learn from story.
Leon Conrad is a story structure consultant, based on London, UK. His book, Story and Structure: A complete guide is published in hardback by Aladdin’s Cave Publishing (August 2022) and in paperback by The Squeeze Press (November 2022). It tells an untold story of story and how story structures work, despite the fact that we’ve been telling stories for millennia.
Leon runs a monthly writing course and competition on Medium and on Substack. Subscribe to get the details sent straight to your inbox.
Find out more at www.theunknownstorytellerproject.com.
