A story about reading important stories

Once, when I was taking notes for a disabled student at uni (maybe not so much like the recording angel), one of the professors was talking about the book 'Gulliver's Travels'. 

The psychology professor in question was a force of nature and not unlikable, spending bleak months reading Jung and interpreting his own dreams in deep secret diaries. Everything you would want a professor to be really. Not an unfriendly guy but not without faults.

He said (about the book Gullivers Travels and hating the Jack Black comedy film he had been forced to see) - "What kind of hermeneutic should we approach this text with?"

Hermeneutics remains just a turgid/jargon word for 'How you read a text' - usually it is applied to the Bible. It's jargon - a word which is meant to exclude, used by liberal elites and right wing academics (do they exist?). Or religious arses.

Now, you may, or may not have some dusty Bible app. An app with cobwebs all over it, or at least being put in the background to increase the performance of your phone. Maybe you even have some physical one. I don't know - I'm blind to your lives. And, by the way - colourblind.


I'll get to my point - I'm really convinced that because God created us as story-loving (and creating) humans that we should read the Bible in story or narrative terms, rather than mathematically, esoterically, linguistically, etc etc etc (although these things have their place within story).

Literally (!) we are created to form our lives and other lives through story - this, I'm 99% sure is how we are supposed to read the Bible.

By the way, I would extend this to psychology (and even the other disciplines) too. Rather than CBT or mindfulness etc, etc, etc, we should approach our own lives and mental health through a narrative lens. For example, in history/anthropology/sociology - what is the theory of evolution? It is a story. Whether it is a better one than creation or not is your decision. Metanarratives eh?

If the hermeneutic God wants was not through story then why did he speak in parables? So tell your stories. And even his. 

Let's go further so that I can really share my pearls of folly before lovely people....

God said something like, 'In your patience you possess your souls'.

One woman said to me after I said that... 'I think I mustn't have a soul then'. It was a witty response, but I replied, 'Yes, you do.' (That's a quick story too.)

We are interpreting our whole life stories through patience and a kind of wrapping up of periods of difficulty etc into a few words, despite our many thoughts and actions.

Let's go even further - so that my pearls of folly at least help whatever we are - if we are seeing our life stories through patience (along with the lives of others) then I ask this question -

To what extent are we patient with God (as he is with us)? By which I mean, we're pretty patient with God at times too you know? (Although, I guess, he wins in the patience/endurance competition.)

Why does he have to win everything?

Let's go one step further please - if we are supposed to approach the Bible narratively, then how the hell are we supposed to approach God (being as he is scary)? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, they say. (Errr... okay... makes him really approachable doesn't it?).

Tell your story. It's important. You are significant. (Unless you are an arrogant vocal arse, in which case please keep shtum for a while. Yes, government, I'm talking to you. With your banning of basic freedoms and the rumours of corruption).

Here's another rumour for you (rumours are stories) - God is going to help us.

Please tell your story.

 

Nine more days to Halloween (the harvest is coming)...

To anyone who is assuming that all 27 EU country leaders will agree to another extension before October 31st - have you ever watched how Britain does in the Eurovision song contest? And why is Operation Yellowhammer now in action?

Anyway, whatever happens, the new Halloween story is all ready to roll on this blog - and free to read (yes free). Please don't say I don't give back to the culture.

Think happy thoughts.

Bee-Man – Superheroes and Story

My parents told me a story about when I was a tiny baby. They said a huge bee, a bee bigger and fatter than they had ever seen before had somehow flown into my little bedroom and headed straight for me. The bee proceeded to sting me repeatedly. My parents found me bawling with a huge, dead bumblebee lying next to me, like some strange friend. They added (in that detailed way which gives stories a truth) that the bee was infested with mites. The bee had been so tormented that it must have flown into my room, stung me and died.

Ever since then I have had extraordinary powers. I grew up to become Bee-Man, able to fly, the ability to be impressed by flowers, able to bug people and sting my enemies (although only at the price of my life).

Obviously a costume was needed at some point. And every superhero (and supervillain) needs a lair of some kind to fight the forces of darkness (or light). And so the honeycomb was built.

Some of the above story is true but I do have a tenuous link with reality and so I have to admit that the superpowers have proved disappointing. They are as evasive as miracles.

The psychology of superheroes is a clever one.  From the Avengers through to Strontium Dog and Beowolf there is a draw to this kind of character. Partly this is because we instinctively realise that we can be better than we are. And that our stories are not over. Although there may be more shame than glory in this world there is still the potential of doing great deeds.

Superhero powers hint at a new level of existence beyond the humdrum. Every time a superhero is knocked down they get back up. (And every time they are silenced they are able to speak again.) Nothing can stop them.

That is why it is so healthy (and not childish at all) to read and watch superhero stories – they draw us that little bit closer to wanting to do great deeds (unless, obviously, you identify with the supervillain).

The hints and patterns which are found in the superhero stories are not necessarily the wild goose chases or delusions which fade like mobile phone screens after a story has been told. They are not necessarily the red herrings of butterfly minds which would like so much for them to be so. There is a kernel of truth in them. These stories are so engrained within cultures and time periods. They are a mirror and a remembering of the stories and myths of heroes. They are what we could be.

And how can such superhuman powers be attained? There are patterns to our lives, there are threads of gold which link the love within our life stories. There are still mysteries and there are still supernatural elements to this world. Not all things are as they seem.

But sadly one of the side-effects of becoming Bee-Man is that I cannot reveal the true source of my power.

Think happy thoughts.