How Narrative Shapes Culture
We live in a fictional world — a world constructed out of fictions, based on fictions, and immersed in fictions. How, then, can we determine what reality is?
Perception and Narrative
The human brain constructs narratives as a means to understand the “reality” it perceives through the senses. The assumption underlying the creation of any narrative, though, is that sensory perception is reliable. But how reliable are the senses?
We are all aware of perceptual flaws, such as color blindness, deafness, anosmia, and ageusia. Furthermore, there are inherent limitations on the extent and scope of human perception — being limited to the visible light spectrum, the auditory range, etc. Additionally, however, there are cases of extra-sensory perception and intuition for which we, as yet, lack sufficient understanding and vocabulary. All of which leads one to conclude that our senses are not necessarily entirely reliable.
Our brains construct narratives to establish causal links among the things and events we perceive. We do this to make sense of our environment — to develop some understanding of our sensory perceptions. A narrative gives one a sense of understanding of perceived reality — of security and comfort, of closure, of understanding, and the ability to find meaning in and make sense of things as we perceive them.
But are these narratives accurate? Or are they flawed or incomplete?
In the human mind, a narrative functions as a kind of operating system, similar to the operating system of a computer, e.g., MacOS, Windows, Linux, etc. Once “installed,” the narrative acts as a perceptual filter over perceived reality. It filters out and dismisses, out of hand, any sensory stimuli it encounters that do not jibe with the narrative or belief system currently installed in the brain, so that they never even reach perceptual awareness in many cases.
Narrative, and its accompanying vocabulary, become like blinkers over reality for an individual, shaping and controlling one’s thoughts, once accepted and “installed.” It works like confirmation bias, but at a deeper, more fundamental level — i.e., at a sensory, perceptual level — indeed, a subconscious, subliminal level. Our very perception of reality is shaped by the narratives we accept or believe. Language, vocabulary, words, and narratives have been demonstrated to have a hypnotic effect on us, shaping and directing our concept of reality.
Narrative and Culture
Education, in a sense, is about experiencing a progression in one’s understanding of reality through the narratives that we accept and “install” in our subconscious minds. We can see this progression play out in history. In archaic civilizations, the prevailing narratives were, primarily, myths and legends. In medieval times, the prevailing narratives shifted to religious doctrine and dogma. With the onset of modernity, the prevailing narrative shifted towards scientific and technological discourse.
The civilizations that human beings construct emerge out of the prevailing narratives in society. Architecture, art, sculpture, music, theater, and other facets of culture are all influenced and shaped by the prevailing narrative in a society. For instance, in the ancient world, a world of myths and legends, the culture was one of temple architecture, mythical sculpture, hieroglyphs, etc. In medieval times, which were driven primarily by narratives of religious doctrine and dogma, we witnessed the creation of churches and mosques, as well as religious art, music, and sculpture. In modern times, with a prevailing narrative rooted in science and technology, we see an architecture of skyscrapers, cityscapes, and urban skylines, and a culture of modern art and music, etc.
As such, the prevailing narrative shapes all aspects of our culture, which, in turn, reinforces our acceptance of and submission to it.
Furthermore, the media is another means of constructing, disseminating, and reinforcing the prevailing narrative. In archaic times, dissemination of information was limited to word of mouth and oral traditions, and subsequently to carved clay and stone tablets, parchment scrolls, and handwritten documents such as illuminated manuscripts and sealed letters. In the modern media landscape, information is conveyed through print media, such as books, newspapers, and magazines; through visual media, such as films and television; and through digital media, such as the internet, social media, and online videos. In essence, media delivery of information may be thought of as the dissemination of progressive “upgrades” to the prevailing narrative in a society, in that they rarely constitute a radical shift in narrative, but, rather, distribute modified versions of an existing narrative, similar to how computer operating systems periodically distribute upgrades or updates.
An important point to consider, however, is that the prevailing narrative at any given time is usually the baseline assumption in one’s thinking and, as such, in one’s perception of reality. One simply accepts it as fact without questioning it, without thinking about it too much. This was true of the myths and legends of the ancient world as well as of religious doctrine and dogma in medieval times. In modern times, it is true of scientific discourse — in what is often referred to as “the science.” In other words, “science,” in modern lingo, refers to a set of myths that most modern urban people believe in as the prevailing narrative or baseline assumptions underlying their perception of reality — myths that really only differ from ancient myths of the past in their degree of accuracy and in their “scientific” jargon or vocabulary.
Narrative and Reality
In actual fact, all of our narratives are flawed and incomplete — but we can only really recognize these flaws from an external perspective. As long as a given narrative is currently “installed” in one’s consciousness or awareness, its flaws are invisible to us, and we accept it as fact. This was true, in archaic times, of ancient myths and legends, whose limitations were perceived and understood only in a religious context. Similarly, it was true of religious doctrine and dogma, which were understood to have limitations only when viewed through a scientific lens. Similarly, it is true of modern science, though we do not currently have the vocabulary, thought constructs, belief systems, or narrative structures adequate to challenge the scientific view of reality. However, what we can see, even now, are cracks in the scientific firmament and the emergence of a new narrative that may challenge the established scientific understanding of reality. Perhaps the key to such a post-scientific understanding of reality lies in quantum theory and its convergence with ancient mysticism. But it is too early to say for certain.
Reality is infinitely more complex and detailed than any narrative framework can adequately describe. One way to understand this is to study the evolution of maps and cartography — how maps steadily became increasingly accurate and detailed over time, to the point that we now have satellite imagery of geographical terrain. But even the best maps and satellite images are nowhere near the actual detail and complexity of the terrain they describe. In the same way, not even our best, most detailed and complex narratives come close to describing the actual complexity of reality, of the observable universe.
Narratives, however, have a tendency to obscure reality — to filter our perception and understanding of it once accepted and installed in our awareness. There is an inertia to our acceptance of new narratives that contradict our currently held beliefs, which are often cherished and sanctified in our imaginations. As a result, we find ourselves immersed in worlds of fiction to varying degrees. An example of this trend is the veneration of Hollywood screen idols, especially in the previous century, mere mortals who ascended to mythical, iconic status for their portrayals of fictional characters on the silver screen.
Shifting the Narrative
Can we ever achieve a complete understanding of reality as it truly is? Perhaps never. Perhaps it is a process of the growth and expansion of one’s consciousness, of education and discovery. The process cannot be forced or coerced, but it must be allowed to happen. Otherwise, we experience stagnation and blockages that may manifest as dogma, extremism, and conflict on religious or ideological grounds.
If we do see the emergence of a new, more accurate, more detailed narrative, compared to the prevailing one — perhaps a narrative based on a convergence of quantum physics, mysticism, extra-sensory perception, etc. — the new narrative would be marginalized and dismissed by the established culture, which has been created around the prevailing societal narrative, in this case, the narrative of scientific materialism. This would mean that the new narrative would have to endure a period of struggle in its emergence, when it would stand at odds with and challenge the prevailing narrative.
Ultimately, if the new narrative does, indeed, win out over the legacy narrative structure, it would reshape the prevailing culture and attitudes of our society at a deep level. This kind of emergence can be witnessed historically, for example, in the rise of Christianity from the ashes of Greco-Roman paganism in the Roman Empire, resulting in Medieval society and culture. Subsequently, it can be seen in the emergence of the Scientific Enlightenment culture, which prevailed over Medieval religious dogma during the Renaissance and Enlightenment.
We are at a new crossroads now. Do we proceed down the path of relentless technological expansion, leading, ultimately, to technological dehumanization and “transhumanism,” namely the merger of the human with technology? Or do we opt, instead, to reclaim our humanity and rediscover the human potential and aspects of ourselves?
Do we rekindle and re-ignite the suppressed, nascent, organic capabilities or even “superpowers” that we, as human beings, actually possess in our beings? Do we resurrect the marginalized mystical, spiritual, and extrasensory aspects of ourselves and restore and grow our true humanity to achieve true balance in our lives and in society? A true balance between the analytical and the aesthetic, between the left and right cerebral hemispheres of the brain, between the technological and the human, organic, spiritual aspects of ourselves?
Perhaps the outcome has already been determined, as inevitably and inexorably as the progression from archaic to medieval times, and from the Middle Ages to modernism has been. Perhaps it is really only up to us to decide which side of history we ultimately want to find ourselves on!
