Worshipping the Story

[Kuzcotopia]

Something's been percolating in my brain all week. I've been an atheist for a long time, but recently, it's been remarked by several that the act of storytelling, or the production and reverence of narratives, is essentially a religious idea.

I have been in love with storytelling my whole life, as an appreciator of the stories of others and as a teller of stories myself. I play tabletop role-playing games, which is like a collaborative story, and I have two degrees in Literature. It has never occurred to me that this love that I feel for these stories might actually be divine in nature.

Traditional western theistic religions hold nothing for me at all. These are obviously modes of social and cultural control that keep the poor satisfied with being poor, thinking about the next life instead of the one before them.

I struggle with the idea of revering nature or a pantheon of pagan gods that match my genealogy. While I respect the rhythms of the natural world and the echoes of cultures that help to shape me today, I feel like my role is to leave them behind or move forward, and not allow myself to be mediated by them. Pagan mythology is certainly filled with the kinds of stories I respect though.

I can never be a mystic, or seek any affirmations in mediation, because I love my stream of language. The turmoil of thoughts are like muses to me, and I love the conflicts and the pleasure and the pain that come from them. Language is the source of my narrative flow and without it there are no connections and no creativity.

So here's my challenge. How do I make my love of narratives into a religion? Are there any precedents for this? Is it possible I am not even religious about narratives at all and maybe I'm just using them as a form of cognitive self-therapy? What possible practices could I create for myself that produce my transcendent feelings, the kind that I only get from narrative creation?

 

[Aupmanyav]

We love stories and make the heroes in to Gods.

 

[Nicholas]

You are too late. Joseph Campbell and other lovers and students of mythology have be telling and retelling legends, myths etc. Long ago the dramatic presentation of myths or stories of gods & heroes was part of the Mystery Schools. The huge Iliad, Mahabharata, Ramayana etc. are all revered by far more people for the story, as any religious doctrine.

 

[ShivaFan]

When you enter into the tirtha or doorway called The Ramayana, you may enter into a different kind of Labyrinth which is like a hologram. In India, where The Ramayana moved, and Gods passed through, and the armies of Monkeys, and even the Demons, this Ramayana then was written in every stone and tree, like grooves on a 33 and one third record, it takes on a life of It's own when that record plays. You become also a small part of the Big Story. There are many Ramayanas. You might be interested. But you need that spirit of adventure.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Something's been percolating in my brain all week. I've been an atheist for a long time, but recently, it's been remarked by several that the act of storytelling, or the production and reverence of narratives, is essentially a religious idea.

I have been in love with storytelling my whole life, as an appreciator of the stories of others and as a teller of stories myself. I play tabletop role-playing games, which is like a collaborative story, and I have two degrees in Literature. It has never occurred to me that this love that I feel for these stories might actually be divine in nature.

Traditional western theistic religions hold nothing for me at all. These are obviously modes of social and cultural control that keep the poor satisfied with being poor, thinking about the next life instead of the one before them.

I struggle with the idea of revering nature or a pantheon of pagan gods that match my genealogy. While I respect the rhythms of the natural world and the echoes of cultures that help to shape me today, I feel like my role is to leave them behind or move forward, and not allow myself to be mediated by them. Pagan mythology is certainly filled with the kinds of stories I respect though.

I can never be a mystic, or seek any affirmations in mediation, because I love my stream of language. The turmoil of thoughts are like muses to me, and I love the conflicts and the pleasure and the pain that come from them. Language is the source of my narrative flow and without it there are no connections and no creativity.

So here's my challenge. How do I make my love of narratives into a religion? Are there any precedents for this? Is it possible I am not even religious about narratives at all and maybe I'm just using them as a form of cognitive self-therapy? What possible practices could I create for myself that produce my transcendent feelings, the kind that I only get from narrative creation?

Funny you should mention that; it was just this week on another thread here that I ran into that concept for the first time--at least the first time it registered. While I get that most/all religions are largely wrapped up with stories, I'm not sure that just any story qualifies as "religion."

Certainly, humans are story-telling and story-learning creatures, and "Big Stories" that explain who we are, where and when we came from, what we do and how we do it, and why for all the above I would think could qualify as religious stories. But there are lots of other stories that I'm not sure how they would fit. That said, in indigenous and perhaps many nonWestern cultures, "religion" is not some separate category of thought and belief; it suffuses the society in which it is located, and is part of what everyone does, every day, so EVERYTHING in the society is part of the Big Story for that culture. But would stories from outside that culture constitute religion then? Hmmm. Just thinking out loud here.

 

[Aupmanyav]

But would stories from outside that culture constitute religion then?

I will accept all stories other than those from Christianity, Islam and their derivatives (Bahai, for example). They are predators. Cousins like Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism are accepted.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I will accept all stories other than those from Christianity, Islam and their derivatives (Bahai, for example). They are predators. Cousins like Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism are accepted.

I see what you're saying! So we're not looking at EVERY story, just the ones that are culturally relevant for the individual.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Oh, our own stories and great fun and full of wise advice. Sometimes hilarious, as when Shiva tries to escape Bhasmasura whom he gave the boon that whatever he puts his hand on, will burn down.

 

[Quagmire]

Something's been percolating in my brain all week. I've been an atheist for a long time, but recently, it's been remarked by several that the act of storytelling, or the production and reverence of narratives, is essentially a religious idea.

I have been in love with storytelling my whole life, as an appreciator of the stories of others and as a teller of stories myself. I play tabletop role-playing games, which is like a collaborative story, and I have two degrees in Literature. It has never occurred to me that this love that I feel for these stories might actually be divine in nature.

Traditional western theistic religions hold nothing for me at all. These are obviously modes of social and cultural control that keep the poor satisfied with being poor, thinking about the next life instead of the one before them.

To whatever extent that's true, I would say they've become so rather than they are. And even then, only a few.

I struggle with the idea of revering nature or a pantheon of pagan gods that match my genealogy. While I respect the rhythms of the natural world and the echoes of cultures that help to shape me today, I feel like my role is to leave them behind or move forward, and not allow myself to be mediated by them. Pagan mythology is certainly filled with the kinds of stories I respect though.

I can never be a mystic, or seek any affirmations in mediation, because I love my stream of language. The turmoil of thoughts are like muses to me, and I love the conflicts and the pleasure and the pain that come from them. Language is the source of my narrative flow and without it there are no connections and no creativity.

So here's my challenge. How do I make my love of narratives into a religion? Are there any precedents for this? Is it possible I am not even religious about narratives at all and maybe I'm just using them as a form of cognitive self-therapy? What possible practices could I create for myself that produce my transcendent feelings, the kind that I only get from narrative creation?

Write a story based on a story that you've already read to demonstrate what you think it means.

 

[Quagmire]

I'm going to write a story about trying to communicate in a forum where the edit function doesn't work the way it should.

I may even make it a musical.

Just as soon as I figure out what rhymes with !@%@%!!!