Narrative-- putting things into the form of stories-- is a basic way in which we come to understand and remember things. A good example is the Bible: One of the reasons it is the most widely read book of all time in the Western world is that much of it is composed of parables. One wonders if it would have the same universal appeal if it were made up mostly of abstract religious tracts. Narratives can be visual or verbal, spoken or read. Among the oldest professions (and with apologies to another for which that claim has often been made) have been the storyteller and what we would now call the psychotherapist. In early societies without widespread literacy, the storyteller was the means of passing along information important to the group, making a narrative of its origins, confirming its values, and allowing listeners to share in events and feelings outside their experience. As a modern psychotherapist, my work involves a person's internal narratives, sometimes suggesting that the way a person has put together the story of what happened to him may not be the only way of looking at it, and sometimes helping to put together a more useful story. Dreams, too, can be seen as the mind's attempt to put together a story that makes sense of often disturbing events. In later posts I'll talk about how modern dream research suggests a healing function of dreams, how they can help one absorb and master upsetting things which have happened. But for now, I just wanted to share with you some of the thoughts I have when reading literature, at the same time experiencing new places and events and feelings, and perhaps feeling a kind of healing process at work.
I'm viewing this blog as a dialog, and would enjoy hearing your thoughts.
