Conversations are strange. I’m certain that everyone reading this has had a time in their life where they are in a conversation and they think back and are unable to remember how it started (my most recent example of this was about the differences between biscuits and cake). However, conversations are not only weird because they can stray and diverge with such ease but because they allow us to communicate. Through conversation we pass on ideas and feelings, opinions and facts, gossip and rumours, everything we think of can be passed through conversations. It is one of those things that if i think about too hard my brain begins to hurt, but if you were to ask me (and this is my blog so you sort of are), the most important of all these subjects of conversation are stories.
For a moment stop reading and try and think of the last story you told?
Thought of it?... unless you said sometime in the last day, you're wrong. When I say stories I do not simply refer to those that are written in great books such as Tolkien’s Hobbit or Dickens's A Christmas Carol, I mean every story that we tell. They are the only way that we can share our experiences with others; if you had a bad day at work you may tell your loved one the story of your day, if you had a strange time shopping during the pandemic then again here comes the story. People experience so much every single day and all of these can be stories to tell.
The word story has so many definitions and synonyms that it is of no use for me to go through each one of them just to emphasise my point that stories are so vast and common so instead I will offer to you an insight into why I am writing this. STORIES ARE IMPORTANT. But why?
Firstly, I'll begin by saying that stories present us with lots of opportunities. The stories we tell can make people smile or laugh, make people emotional and empathetic, but they can also make a point, they can teach a lesson, they can bring us together. Think of a time where a friend, family member, or whoever, told you about something that had happened to them and you were able to understand and feel how they were feeling as if you had experienced it through their eyes. That’s crazy, we can never normally have the exact same experience as someone else even if we are with them in the exact same place at the exact same time, our perspectives will be different, yet stories allow us this glimpse into the mind of others.
I’m not completely sure why stories have such a powerful effect on us in this way, why can we all but actually see what we are being told when we hear stories? One possible explanation may come from the writings of Philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in chapter two of his book Of Imagination. He says the following:
“So that imagination and memory are but one thing, which for divers (various) considerations hath divers (various) names…”
In this short quote, Hobbes expresses that imagination and memory are the same thing, even though we have given them different names when talking about specific types of memory/imagination (experience being memory and imagination being based on that which we could only contemplate). This idea of memory and imagination being the same may hold the reason why by stimulation our imagination through story we can share memories leading to all of these outcomes that come from our stories. Additionally, from the completely different field of Neuroscience, we are presented with the fact that both memory and imagination rely on the same area of the brain, the hippocampus (however they do each elicits its own pattern of neural function).
My second reason to believe that stories are so important is that I think people love to tell, hear and exchange stories. Even if you're not a nerd like me and don't like books or films, you most likely enjoy talking to friends, maybe about the night out you had, or the boy you've been talking to recently. They are all good stories. Personally, I remember stories shared over dinner with my Grandad about his time living in South Africa, or going skiing in Germany, all of them brought me such entertainment to hear even though they were just his words.
This now, with my two arguments for the importance of stories presented, comes to the point of this blog post. Why am I writing it and why am I so excited about stories? Well it's because of the pandemic. We are all currently (27th of May 2020) in a lockdown due to the coronavirus. Yes! I know you're sick of hearing about it, we all are, but this time has presented us with some weird problems. Namely that we are all separated, from family, friends, loved ones, so (at last) my point is that while we are all stuck away from each other, missing people, some of us very lonely, I urge you to remember the importance of stories and how magical they can be. None of us are doing much but stories don’t need much to start that swerving, twisting, warm conversation that we can so easily drift into. And maybe, you yourself will be able to share in an experience that you never saw coming.
The World is Weird people, but Life was made for Living!
See you when I’m looking at you,
with Love Tom
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