Newminimalists invent new stories about themselves.
Storytelling is a human process that usually involves the technology of the day [see photo].
I remember sitting under a tree in a blazing hot sun in the Northern reaches of the blistered continent of Australia watching an Aboriginal elder whittle away a stick. What I observed was the modern version of an ancient storytelling process. With every cut this tribal elder lay down a strong story onto a piece of wood. His tribal story was to be transferred to the world via a wooden message stick. And. Until this century most stories within Western Civilisations were also recorded on some form of parchment which is essentially processed wood.
But. In 2020 our human stories are being replicated and distributed through electronic means and thus appear on a screen long before they are committed to some form of pulverised wood called paper. The point I seek to make here is that a story is a human process. This fact has not changed, in essence, over the 40,000 years that Australian Aboriginal tribes have survived on Earth.
Over those 40,000 the human process has had three focal points for content. First, there are the stories you tell about yourself. Second, there are stories that other people tell about you. Third, there are stories that you "buy into" no matter the nature of their content.
In this digital age of storytelling the shocking thing for me is that the first two types of stories are the most widely consumed. This is a sharp reversal in the history of storytelling. In the past, human stories have been told about facts, inventions, innovations, cultures, discoveries, research, exploration, history, etc. Millions of stories that all addd to our stock of knowledge even if most people did not know about them or care about their existence. However. Today most of our stories are related directly to YOU. When you come across those that are not related directly, or indirectly, towards YOU the chances are good that YOU presume these stories should no longer exist. In effect, that they should all be cancelled.
The truth is the Australian Aboriginal culture would have been cancelled long ago if their stories about "the dreamtime" were not plastered on cave walls, carved on message sticks, exhibited on special occasions in dance, and perpetually retold in oral histories of the land. Aboriginal knowledge has survived because it has been passed on from generation to generation to generation through the human processes of storytelling.
Western civilisation is about to be cancelled. Perhaps you are glad about that because you sense that it is not about YOU. Be that as it may. But. Gone with it will be a carefully curated set of human stories that has recorded the great breakthroughs, achievements, discoveries, etc that have brought us to this point in the history of planet Earth. One part of me says that this means that an entirely new chapter of human stories [including those told by Earthlings living on Mars] can now be written down, spoken about, sung about, fantasied about, as we all head into the unknown unknowns of this C21st. And. One part of me is sad because when we get to Mars [and even beyond that destination] we will not know much about Earthlings other than stories they curate about themselves or those that they prompt others to record about them.
Richard.
Please tell me a story. You can be in touch with me via direct messaging or email at minimal-you.com
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