The Narrative Need

What's the Story?

Ever had somebody ask you “What’s the story?” Of course, they are asking what has been happening to you, as if you were a character in a narrative. And in fact you are. I agree with James Fowler that all meaning is narrative, not conceptual. Not only are you and I characters in the novel called “Life;” each of us is at the same time the author, the writer, of our life story. It is we who have chosen the genre, we who have authored our dialogue and plotted our responses to this and that situation. Schopenhauer remarked how we look back upon the course of our lives (at least when enough of it has transpired) and observe certain patterns, currents, high and low points, significant “coincidences.” And we ask who was responsible for these? Well, it had to be you. Who else? If you want to answer “God,” that doesn’t change the answer, for if there was a God manipulating things, that just makes him another character in the story, your story.