story

I heard a perspective the other day that I found really compelling. Basically that this obsession we have with defining and theorizing about the universe based on its composition is essentially meaningless, bottomless and missing the point. That underneath all that, the "coding" of life plays out less like science and more like story. Lines of text in the form of characters and events all moving from and towards something.

It sounds obvious but I found it to be a fascinating shift in perspective. Experientially it's true. So what if we learn what everything is composed of? Atoms and electrons and neutrons and such. Okay great, we've named some things. We have found the pixels and the wireframes and such that compose the game world and delineated this from that. Is that worth so much attention? Does it really tell us anything meaningful?

For some, exploring the makings of the world, defining them and sharing their findings with others is their role in the story-driven game of life. But for most of us, this enforced obsession with scientific definition and theory holds very little meaning or play. Actually it more often strips them and reduces everything to endless series' of empty labels and processes. Names and theories delivered one after the other as if each was profound and necessary. As if it held as much meaning for everyone as it does for the explorers of these aspects.

For most of us, it doesn't and isn't worth so much attention and reverence. For most of us, the real juice of life is playing out within and in front of us. It's playing out right now and has been playing out and we're probably missing it because we're either caught up in identifying and labeling or paying more attention to stories lived and told by others. Labels and judgements, calling that something and this another thing. I'm this, you're that, that's that, that over there is that, that's what's happening over there, etc. Names and labels and arbitrary differentiations and plotlines, all of it removing us from the story that's waiting to be played out by us.

We're each a unique character that's part of a unique storyline that's part of a series of greater and greater storylines. My life and life as a whole is moving from and towards something. For what reason, I don't know and maybe never will. But along the way unlikely new characters and plotlines appear, events unfold and lessons are learned. In hindsight it all plays out almost like a series of scripted storylines. That's probably why it's so easy for us to recall the story of our life in a certain sense. It's because it is a story. One in which we can be both active participant and co-creator.