So, I wonder, since when do we look to public recognition for affirmation that we exist? There are so many problems with this idea. Firstly, as an educator, I know that not everyone wants to try to think, and therefore understand what they are listening to. This means that not everyone is capable of providing affirmation, nor will they be good at discernment, which is crucial if our fate rests on their approval. Secondly, isn't it true that true stories are always evolving? There is a reason why the Native Americans change the telling of the story each time, and why there is more than one point to the stories.
If we expect the public to understand a story, the story must, by default, be an ersatz version, because it must remain static long enough to be perceived by all. It may even look better than the truth, because it is a fantasy and, also, not interrupted by reality.
If we think about stories that have to do with the truth (elusive as it sometimes is), we can remember that sometimes the truth isn't ready to be told. People need to feel safe in order to speak the truth calmly.
Another problem arises if there is no one to confide in who understands. Isn't it in War and Peace where a man shares his woes with his horse, having no one else to talk to, and the horse sheds a tear?
Understanding comes from good will. Even if people do not speak the same language, if there is the will for there to be communication, they will somehow succeed. But people who speak the same language can suffer from endless misunderstanding if there is no good will. I think that we resemble those mythical beings Plato described more than we think: projecting colours before us as our means of communication. These colours are our moods and represent the amount of peace and patience we have in our souls at a given time. They determine the overall outcome of our fancy talk. Why else do we speak of the "universal language" of the arts?
So, perhaps, no, we do not have a story, but we do have our will: whether we wish to understand other people, wish to understand ourselves - and allow ourselves to explore our potential. I think we become mute to ourselves if we invent and project a story to live by. Because as we know if we have ever travelled alone to an unknown country, there needs to be some space for circumstance to add its own, unexpected narrative: whether we meet a new friend on the way, the kind of friend we could never have imagined for ourselves due to constraint of imagination, or whether we stand at a place with a particularly strong genius loci, which may stir our emotions and change us; and so on.
Because the story is not ours alone; stories are organic structures subject to change and transformation.
There are the stories that are, and those which are fabricated on pretense. There is a place for fantasy and dreams, but it is important to come "back to reality," as Soul II Soul sang it!
Look it's me writing on the wall/ ... Make up your mind/ So I know where I stand.
Elements: sequins, ledger paper: pugly pixel;
frame: maybemej.
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