That we think in storylines is evidenced by the fact that the most enduring, well remembered pieces of spiritual literature are parables, teaching tales. They may often express their knowledge in terms that seem abstract, but their inner memory of the knowledge is recognized to be in the form of verses, lines in a story. We all know it's simply easier to remember stories than abstract facts and information. And memory is crucial. We are forgetful people.
Stories are at the heart of our practice.
Much human activity, almost anything that deals with keeping an organized pattern, education, law, science, is devoted to the keeping of memories. Before we had paper and computer disks, tribes spent much time passing down stories, rehearsing them constantly, keeping the rich wisdom of collective tribal memories intact. It is stories that give all kinds of human groups their distinctiveness, from ancient tribes to those modern tribes known as professions. Every culture and subculture is united and defined by its stories. Yet our story as a world tribe, our sense of the unfolding dynamic, is in trouble.