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Under the Influence of Stories
From fairy tales to propaganda to conspiracy theories
“Who tells the story creates the world.”
~ Christopher Ryan, Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress
Storytelling, as an art, traces back to the beginning of our human origins. Starting with cave drawings it evolved to oral tellings and then, of course, to the written word.
Stories run the gamut from fairy tales, fables, parables, allegories, myths, legends, and folk tales. These ancient stories survive for thousands of years, traversing geography, time, and space to share their journeys, lessons, wisdom, and secrets.
Creation stories explain how we humans got here. Were we created from the navel of some great god? From a cosmic egg? Or did we come from nothing? Creation stories, bereft of scientific evidence, are meant to provide a reason for our existence and a direction for our lives. Some people know that these are merely stories that can offer a sense of grounding in an otherwise fathomless existence. Other people believe these stories to be literally true and turn their creation stories into religions. What is one person’s eager virgins waiting upon death is another person’s Divine birth from a virgin. Many creation myths come with a free toy at the bottom of the box: a code of ethics or a moral compass, in case you didn’t have one.
Cultural stories tell us why we are where we are. It is the story of our lineage—for a country, for people, for a family. Purportedly rooted in history, these are designed to give us a sense of purpose, meaning, and belonging. Oh, and a flag.
When we meet new people, we love to tell the story of our lives. Today, we often tell stories through pictures and images. We share “stories” on social media. Stories are passed down through family mottos, sayings, and inside jokes. Even Grandpa’s war stories give us a sense of the kind of genes we might have in our own DNA.
As we can already see, stories have many different uses: entertainment, healing, teaching, programming, brainwashing, or providing meaning, context, and purpose to our lives. They can help us remember where we came from and what matters to us, or they can be so whitewashed that they may as well be a fairy tale…
