Telling stories has long been recognized as an important part of healing, self-knowledge, and personal and spiritual vehicle for connecting us to other people and to God. . . . We tell stories in order to live. We use stories to construct meaning and communicate ourselves to another. Stories help us organize and make sense of the experiences of a life. Stories are mighty, however, not only because we shape our lives through them but also because they have the power to unsettle the lives we have comfortably shaped by them. . . .
Stories have the potential to build authentic communities of shared meaning and values.
It performs the task of mediating irreducible opposites. Myths allow us to dream and believe in a future better than the present. Parables show the fault lines beneath the comfortable surfaces of the worlds we build for ourselves. Myths may give stability to our story, but parables are agents of change and sometimes disruption. Parables are often unsettling.