Søren Kierkegaard hit home regarding my view of story when he said that “people held in the grip of an illusion cannot be directly reasoned with. One must assault them with appealing but apparently absurd stories and even contradictions in the desperate hope that indirect communication can accomplish what direct communication cannot.”
As valuable as direct, unhindered truth is, it is often missed, unaccepted, or misunderstood. Story, among a number of things, is a means to break through the preconceptions and presuppositions that hinder our minds from seeing different perspectives and truths. Our tremendous capacity is limited by packed-in, “received” knowledge. Story disarms us and allows the assault of counter-grain views and visions. This is often the meaning of story in the scriptures. But our proclivity looks for facts and twists the story into science and western concepts of history thereby missing the intent and spender of the affect of story which is often called myth.
I plan to further examine these preliminary thoughts in my ongoing doctoral studies dedicating a chapter to its understanding and application. Yes, I know whole books have been dedicated to this study, but unless the subject of my PhD is modified a chapter will have to suffice. Thoughts? Resources? Discussion?
