Throughout life I've often struggled with “not seeing the wood for the trees”, but sometimes I think the rest of the world spends too much time doing the opposite and ignoring the trees completely. While focusing on the big picture is useful, this article is about the ways in which the macro can oversimplify the micro, and why this can have a real influence on how we think and behave towards others. One device that helps us unpack and interrogate this is story - and its big sister, narrative. We’ll look at narratives at the macro level; stories at the micro level; and how, while the former serves essentially to compress reality, working with the latter can help us expand it. The bigger implication of all this is that examining the micro could be useful for change at a personal, interpersonal and cultural level.
Tag: narrative
Invisible Threads Part 1: Casting On
Author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once wrote: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” I have come to notice that this is the case with some of the most important things in life: you only notice them when they are missing. What makes story almost invisible is its effectiveness - it is so effective because it is so effortless. In this series of articles to follow, I explore the pervasiveness of story, how to use it effectively on purpose, the potential pitfalls of story, and how we can use it to make sense of our lives and the way we think and behave. I surface and examine the aspects of story that can either derail us if we don’t notice them, or can be used to our advantage in various ways.
All & None of the Above 