Yes, but not in an entirely obvious way.
Storytelling isn’t just making something up and sharing it. It’s a much broader topic that includes fiction, nonfiction, and general dissemination of information.
Storytelling has been part of every culture on the planet. From ancient times to today, there have always been storytellers. Long before hieroglyphs or the written word, information was shared via stories.
Over time, storytelling has become representative of campfire tales, bedtime stories, and mythology. It’s become increasingly common for storytelling to be equated almost exclusively with fiction.
This, too, has been broadened to include books, TV, streaming services, films, radio, podcasts, memes, and every form of media you can conceive of. But for the most part, it’s all fiction.
Yet, in truth, storytelling converges with both fiction and nonfiction. Thus, it’s part of mythology, philosophy, and even science.
How does that work?
Storytelling runs deep
Before written language, information of every kind was disseminated via storytelling.
To be fair, that meant some were probably pretty dry and largely uninteresting. Arguably, before language formed, stories were told via gestures and pantomime.
Today, we have evidence of early storytelling depicted in cave paintings that date back more than 30,000 years (and further back to the Neanderthals over 60,000 years ago). This is evidence that the need to tell stories has always been a part of the human experience.
What were the stories being told, then? Was it information about ample hunting grounds? A particularly memorable experience? Were the paintings created as a request to an unseen deity for safety, bounty, or something else? We can speculate and guess – but because we’re long past that time, we can’t truly know.
But the above is the perfect example of how storytelling can converge with mythology, philosophy, and science. Context – or lack thereof – leaves a lot of room for discussion and exploration.
Today it’s less obvious. But even now, storytelling, mythology, philosophy, and science converge from time to time.
Storytelling and mythology converge
The topic of mythology is huge. Every ancient culture has one form or another involving a pantheon of gods, and/or animal spirits, anthropomorphized elements, heroes, adventurers, and nearly everything in between.
An in-depth exploration of this by author and college professor Joseph Campbell is the quintessential study of the convergence of storytelling and myth. His work inspired tons of creations of modern myth, such as George Lucas’ Star Wars.
Professor Campbell’s concept centers on the repeated tropes of the Hero’s Journey, detailed in his seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is the exploration of mythology across diverse cultures and vast swaths of time showing recurrent themes, similar premises, and various elements that are largely unchanging – but for the names and focus.
Mythology is storytelling to its core. Lessons are taught and things are learned via the ideas represented in the myths.
Most are created to explain the inexplicable. Some were once held as truth but have long ago become just mythological notions.
And of course, some are still held as true. But that’s a whole other treatise.
Storytelling and philosophy
Mythology creates gods, spirits, and other divinities to explain the inexplicable. Said gods/spirits have created humans to do their bidding, to entertain themselves, or just because. And they test us in various ways both benign and malignant to see if we are worthy. Whatever that means.
Mythology explains the reason, values, and mindset of the human race through mystical, otherworldly forces manipulating or guiding us along the way.
Philosophy, however, explores the same fundamental ideals – but with a focus on finding answers within ourselves and our connection to the world and the cosmos beyond. There is a specific methodology to philosophy that ties it more to reason and logic than mythology.
Many philosophers have become near-mythic figures themselves. Most people are familiar with their names, like Socrates, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Rene Descartes, John-Paul Sartre, and more. Some of their ideas, like stoicism, Taoism, hedonism, and the like, are also familiar names (even if we don’t know the related principles).
But to get into the who and what behind philosophies requires storytelling.
It might be more direct and less colorful than what goes into mythology – but it’s still how the notions behind the philosophers and their philosophies are shared, argued, debated, intermingled, and so forth.
Some might even argue that like many elements of mythology, philosophy is equally made-up fiction. Maybe, maybe not. But storytelling and philosophy converge.
Storytelling and science converge
This might seem a tad more far-fetched, but bear with me for a moment.
Science, unlike mythology and philosophy, is the search for evidence-based, peer-reviewed truth in the workings of life, the Universe, and everything. Science is not based on opinion or some story, but on research, study, experimentation, and evidence both concrete and circumstantial.
One thing about science that’s quite different from myth and philosophy is how it’s always changing as new evidence proves and disproves theorems and laws. Myth and philosophy, on the other hand, tie to unchanging concepts.
For example, when I was a kid, we learned about 9 planets in orbit of our sun. Then, when science redefined planets and dwarf planets, kids today are taught about 8 planets and the dwarf planets Ceres, Pluto, and a few others.
And yet, even with the truth and evidence-based reality of science, storytelling is still a part of it. How? Because there’s more than one way to explain almost every theory and law of science and a multitude of examples to use for them.
How you explain a law of nature to a 7-year-old is likely quite different than how you’d explain it to an adult. The former probably involves storytelling to make the law of nature easier to understand.
Hence, science and storytelling converge, too. But there’s a key difference – the outcome is always the same, it’s just the approach that changes depending on the audience. Science is much more straightforward, and not open to variation due to opinion in the same way that myth and philosophy are.
Thus, science doesn’t care if you don’t believe in it because it simply is.
It all comes together
Whether the topic is mythology, philosophy, or science – storytelling is where they all converge.
So why does this matter? Because it’s all too easy to take stories we’re told as truth. You get an opinion that someone weaves into an amazing story tapestry that’s very convincing, even inviting. But is it true? Many people don’t care – so long as the story is good.
Lots of myths and philosophies have been upheld as truth, and the stories told about them emphasize and expand upon this. Then, people apply the same idea of storytelling and see science in a similar light as mythology and philosophy.
The difference is that science involves careful study, experimentation, and research. It also involves recognizing that new data from more comprehensive or advanced studies can alter the perspective and outcome.
Storytelling around science involves explaining not an opinion, but a proven law or theorem. Where everything about myth and philosophy is open to interpretation – science is not.
That’s not to say it’s rigid and unchanging – but that the hypothesis isn’t open to opinion.
For example – science proves evolution, climate change that’s influenced by humans, and a planet that’s round – not flat.
And your opinion on these topics has nothing to do with the science or the logic and reason behind it.
Recognizing how mythology, philosophy, and science converge via storytelling – but differ – can go a long way toward greater understanding. As a storyteller, my recognition and acknowledgment of this improve my overall knowledge and understanding of life, the Universe, and everything (and how much I don’t know, yet). That, in my opinion, is an utterly worthwhile endeavor.
Storyteller or otherwise – how are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
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