The Art of Storytelling

“Our only hope, our only peace, is to understand it – to understand the Why.”

~ The Merovingian, The Matrix Reloaded

 

I wrote my last entry on what I believe, and I ended it by saying that what others believe is not my story to tell.  I want to make it clear that I am not implying that I don’t want to hear those stories; quite to the contrary, I want to hear all that you believe and why you believe it.  But therein lies the one caveat, the single stipulation that I place on anyone and everyone who would share the tale of their beliefs with me:  you must understand the Why.

 

There is a sharp distinction between faith and blind faith.  Blind faith cannot be discussed or debated; there is no sense of possibility or contingency, no willingness to consider a position that lies contrary to the creed; it is an unyielding and uncompromising stance that can only affirm itself and deny everything else in an eternal cycle of self-supporting closed-mindedness.  It is the attitude of the person who claims that the Bible is the unquestionable Word of God only because the Bible itself says that this is the case.

 

You can replace the Bible with any other religious text and still get the same idea.

 

My issue with blind faith is that there cannot be an atmosphere of mutual respect between two people searching for the Truth.  There is one person who believes that his dogma is absolutely true, whose intention is to simply tell you about it but is not open to hearing what the other has to say.  Contrast this with the person who has thought about their beliefs, whose faith is not dependent on what they have been told to believe by parents or preachers or popular culture, but is instead founded on clear thought and self-awareness.  Now that’s someone you can really get into a good conversation with.

 

In essence:  You can believe whatever you want to believe…  as long as you understand why you believe it.

 

Once that understanding is there, we can talk about our beliefs with the knowledge that we are both open to exploring different ideas, concepts that may make us uncomfortable or challenge what we take to be Truth.  This kind of open discourse holds the potential to shift a worldview, to unlock some of the mysteries of life and the universe, to change the very nature of a person.  But we can never be open-minded about a belief that we don’t understand.

 

Now that that’s out of the way…  let’s talk.  I want you to tell me your story.