Hijacked by a Story

The power of hidden, implicit narratives (interpretive frameworks, worldviews, philosophical backdrops) to shape our lives, even unawares, has been a personal fascination all the way back to my dissertation on competing narratives of depression. The reality is that we download, embraced and live out different stories all the time, and yes, many times without even realizing it.

In so many instances, this is a good thing as new awareness and insight improve our lives for the better. But I’ve been especially curious about narratives that dramatically move our lives in a different, darker direction - especially narratives of five kinds:

(1) A culture war narrative of our socio-political differences - aka, where you must be Hitler or the Devil if you disagree with me!

(2) A despairing mental health narrative - what I’ve called the “depressing story of depression.”

(3) A feeling-centered narrative of identity. “What I’m feeling right now inside is the best test of who I really am.”

(4) An agency-denying narrative of sexuality and romance. “If I feel attracted to you, excited by you, aroused by you….why then, I guess I love you.”

(5) Faith-toxic narratives of spiritual and religious questions - popularized by many influencers currently or formerly believers themselves. You know, faith is “just about shame, control and power” - and the real happiness involves just doing whatever you want, without constraint.

Whenever and wherever any of these narratives show up, they leave devastation in their wake. They remove peace, ravage relationships and devastate faith.

For this reason, peace requires saying something about these narratives - directly, and without fear.

Scrutinizing sophistry. Raising any such concerns makes some people unhappy. And yet, public work invites public scrutiny - especially when that work leads to the hollowing out of faith, the estrangement of relationships and the deterioration of emotional health, all the more so.