The Narrative

    I love books.  I haven’t read many recently, but I assure you it isn’t from a sudden lack of interest in literature.  Anyway, I tend to read fiction faster than non-fiction, and I think it’s because fiction contains stories.  I realize that different kinds of things are significant to different people.  Every now and then I see beauty in mathematics and biology and paintings, but usually beauty is most apparent in those things when they fit appropriately into some kind of story.  For example, I have been experimenting with different artists and styles of music lately.  I have also been thinking about why I like certain songs and not others.  One observation is that I do not tend to like songs that I find.  I like songs that I have heard before at a concert, on the radio or especially if it was used in the soundtrack of a movie or a t.v. show.  Production teams often have members whose primary task is to select music for individual scenes.  I’m not talking about orchestral soundtracks here, I mean the pop, rock and melancholy acoustic genres that play in the background of the fun or dramatic sequences.  These songs fit better into our likings because they play a part in a story.  The notes and timbres themselves connect to certain moods, but they are particularly effective when they remind us of a time when the events that build the song’s context also formed our emotions into a corresponding mood.  If I know some of you, you’ve already started listening to KEZ, and if I know KEZ they probably started playing Christmas music around what?  Halloween?  Anyway, some of my friends have started listening to Christmas music on the radio, and I started thinking, what stations play Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Burl Ives, the Carpenters except at Christmas time?  Why is it that these artists have staying power for just one month of the year every year.  It isn’t as if they only performed Christmas music, but for some reason people still listen to them at Christmas time even though they are almost entirely forgotten the rest of the year.  Why?  I think it is because Christmas music tends to be associated with Christmas memories, and considering the cultural and familial significance we give to the holiday season it shouldn’t be surprising that we tend to have very fond memories of Christmas.  Our brains connect the memories with the patterns and shape of the song.  When we rehear those songs, our brains recall the pieces of our story that connected to that song.
    Dorothy Sayers and C. S. Lewis used analogies of stories to help visualize the way God works in the world.  They said God is like an author, and we are like characters in the story that he is writing.  I first heard that a few years ago.  It keeps growing on me.  If you take all the things that happen in day to day life and put them in the context of a story, it takes on a new significance.  Think about all the random events that happen in stories.  I can think of three types right now, the events that are clearly and immediately significant, events that seem insignificant initially but as a reader you later realize the event was key because of its connection to another event.  The third type depends a lot on the author.  Some authors do this well and others don’t.  These events are like scenery.  It really has no significance to the plot or story line, but it changes the tone or the pace of the story in a way that affects the reader.  I think Charles Dickens spends a lot of words setting scenes.  I think he does a great job, but I know people who love literature who simply cannot stand his pacing.  I don’t mind the fact that he spends words on scenery though because I think it adds emotional significance to the events that are inherently meaningful, even if they only force you to be patient.
    Significance is probably the most desired thing in today’s culture.  Everyone wants to be involved in significant charities, hold significant opinions, have significant friends.  The fear of an insignificant life followed by an insignificant death is probably responsible for a significant number of suicides.  If our lives are stories in progress being written and developed by an omnipotent, loving God, we should be fearless.  All this fear of insignificance must stem from our metanarrative about the world.  Are we worried that life is a roulette wheel and you just hope you throw your chips in the right cause or belief system?  Are we concerned that if we don’t find our identity and realize our full potential, we will have lost the game we call life?  I like the idea of the story because it strongly implies a sense of purpose behind everything.  Think about yourself as a character. Some characters react well to the events that occur to them and they find ways to improve the story.  Some characters are angered by the story they have found themselves in, so they make the story miserable for everyone else.  Some characters are just interesting and unusual so their antics and quirkiness make the story enjoyable.  Which kind of character are you?  Which kind do you want to be?




P.S. I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while, I guess a story post is a good time to act on it.  If you can think of any stories about my dad, could you send them to me?  I guess you could post a comment, or you could e-mail me.  I've just been thinking about how many memories and stories there are that I don't want to forget, and I know you have them too, so I'd really like to compile some, and hang on to them.  Anyway, I think you all know my e-mail address.  It would really mean a lot to me if you did this and maybe helped to spread the word.  Thank you.