When I sit down, like right now, to write whatever it is the child trapped inside my head tells me, it will require just a few paragraphs. I tend to be a minimalist, not necessarily with art or music, not so much in politics or government but as a life style. By definition it means removing things that distract from living with intentionality. No surprise, I am seriously engaged with words and language. No other human invention has empowered the species so. Language has propelled us into a civilization that most take for granted. Without language, the fundamental rule of life would simply be, monkey see - monkey do. Even casual thoughts and ideas would be wordless, just conceptual imagery. I would never have experienced the satisfaction of identifying with Bob Seger, “We were young and strong, we were runnin’ against the wind.”
Yuval Harari is a highly regarded, contemporary historian, philosopher, writer/author. A master of metaphor, he consolidates all of human experience, for both individuals and for the collective in terms of the meaning those experiences represent. He refers to it as ‘Their Story’. He goes on to make his point about the human paradox; for individuals as well as the culture, the ‘Story’ doesn’t have to be true. It just has to work. That is incredible. Nothing about what we believe need be true, it only has to work. He means that for us to avoid extinction, the cultural construct must meet the needs of the species, Homo sapiens. Among other things but likely most importtant, survival hinges on producing viable offspring, generation after generation after generation. Nothing we believe need be true, it just has to work.
This phenomenon opened the door to the rise of Myth. Some parts of the ‘Story’ were then, still are incomprehensible, too much to fathom but absolutely important. If necessity is the mother of invention then we can credit it as the origin of Myth. With large measures of timely imagination and metaphor, they fashioned a ‘Story’ that worked. Joseph Campbell, deceased but recognized as the leading authority on Myth and Mythology made the observation; “Myth is as deeply rooted in modern human experience as it was in prehistory.” We humans continue to join metaphor with imagination in attempts to understand events and experiences that fall outside of our understanding, that can only be approached from ignorance. It gives legs to the myth of ‘Common Sense.’ In professional circles they know and make no bones about it; Common Sense is neither common nor sense. Albert Einstein said of it, “Common sense is a list of prejudices that one acquires in their youth.” For those who still cling to the common sense myth it validates believing in what they want to believe: it works for them. That is what myths do.
I’ve lived up to my claim as a minimalist. I finished a story in three paragraphs. Efficient use of language is a priority and I used to tell friends, “If I can’t say it in two or three pages, it’s more than I want to take on.” But with growing old things change and I think my longer, collective ‘Story’ needs to go down in print. I cannot do that in several pages. It will certainly test my organizational skill and efforts toward purposeful continuity. But it is what it is. I am already into the fourth chapter, if you want to call them chapters. It is going slowly. I edit as I write which all of the experts tell you not to do. They recommend writing a rough draft, beginning to end as quickly as possible and then edit, rewriting as needed. But I don’t do that very well and I’m the one hanging on the hook. I have no idea how long this task will take.
At this point I have titled it, “How The World Works”. That would be a metaphor I’m sure and it may change but my ‘Story’ will not. My experience and what it means to me, not a memoir but most certainly an indirect reflection of my journey. I do not plan on posting it on my blog but neither do I mean to keep it a secret. To that end I would share it with anyone who wants to sample my much longer, more complex work. All I need is a prompt. So for now, all things said and done, five paragraphs, I’ve said enough.
Yuval Harari is a highly regarded, contemporary historian, philosopher, writer/author. A master of metaphor, he consolidates all of human experience, for both individuals and for the collective in terms of the meaning those experiences represent. He refers to it as ‘Their Story’. He goes on to make his point about the human paradox; for individuals as well as the culture, the ‘Story’ doesn’t have to be true. It just has to work. That is incredible. Nothing about what we believe need be true, it only has to work. He means that for us to avoid extinction, the cultural construct must meet the needs of the species, Homo sapiens. Among other things but likely most importtant, survival hinges on producing viable offspring, generation after generation after generation. Nothing we believe need be true, it just has to work.
This phenomenon opened the door to the rise of Myth. Some parts of the ‘Story’ were then, still are incomprehensible, too much to fathom but absolutely important. If necessity is the mother of invention then we can credit it as the origin of Myth. With large measures of timely imagination and metaphor, they fashioned a ‘Story’ that worked. Joseph Campbell, deceased but recognized as the leading authority on Myth and Mythology made the observation; “Myth is as deeply rooted in modern human experience as it was in prehistory.” We humans continue to join metaphor with imagination in attempts to understand events and experiences that fall outside of our understanding, that can only be approached from ignorance. It gives legs to the myth of ‘Common Sense.’ In professional circles they know and make no bones about it; Common Sense is neither common nor sense. Albert Einstein said of it, “Common sense is a list of prejudices that one acquires in their youth.” For those who still cling to the common sense myth it validates believing in what they want to believe: it works for them. That is what myths do.
I’ve lived up to my claim as a minimalist. I finished a story in three paragraphs. Efficient use of language is a priority and I used to tell friends, “If I can’t say it in two or three pages, it’s more than I want to take on.” But with growing old things change and I think my longer, collective ‘Story’ needs to go down in print. I cannot do that in several pages. It will certainly test my organizational skill and efforts toward purposeful continuity. But it is what it is. I am already into the fourth chapter, if you want to call them chapters. It is going slowly. I edit as I write which all of the experts tell you not to do. They recommend writing a rough draft, beginning to end as quickly as possible and then edit, rewriting as needed. But I don’t do that very well and I’m the one hanging on the hook. I have no idea how long this task will take.
At this point I have titled it, “How The World Works”. That would be a metaphor I’m sure and it may change but my ‘Story’ will not. My experience and what it means to me, not a memoir but most certainly an indirect reflection of my journey. I do not plan on posting it on my blog but neither do I mean to keep it a secret. To that end I would share it with anyone who wants to sample my much longer, more complex work. All I need is a prompt. So for now, all things said and done, five paragraphs, I’ve said enough.
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