By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

THE role of stories in the evolution of human societies had been a subject of voluminous study. Among the writers who had expounded on this subject is historian Yuval Noah Harari whose work focuses on how civilizations are shaped by their stories and “how these stories influence both individual human behavior and social organization.” He claims that humans have always been a “post-truth species”, avid creators and consumers of fiction, including “fake news”.

In a conversation with award-winning actress Natalie Portman, Harari talked about the creation of stories, poems, and fiction, in literature and the movies, and how they impact on lives, and how truth becomes a creation/ composition of those who write and produce movies. He also talks about the “horror of metaphors” which has no glimpse of reality, and over time, get solidified and rarified, evolving a life of its own, and the inclination of people to repeat them over generations, forgetting where the metaphors originated, their original context, meaning and intent. The interpretation of these stories had been the cause of chaos and misunderstanding perpetrating wars among nations and organized religion.

Portman noted that this is the case in most religions, in their selective metaphors to advance their objectives, both in the spiritual dimension and in achieving the social organization they desire. Harari agreed saying that historical documents and archeological diggings reveal the fact that rabbis prayed with women, and images of women can be found on walls and floors, which is totally negated by the religious today, espousing a metaphor that advances patriarchy. He added, that in these layers of metaphors, it is difficult to arrive at truth, as the layers have solidified and ingrained themselves to be “true”.

What is then a true story when even an event or scene is composed and told from the vantage point of a storyteller? All stories are subjective, “real” or imagined. Even photographers looking at the same view, will angle the lenses to fit their “own story”. And so is history. And so are the concepts of multiverse, alien life, and the gods.

To liberate people then, especially women, from their oppression, they have to create their own stories. Repeat these stories over time, strengthen the layers until it becomes alive, having a breath of their own, creating the space for new narratives, and digging “truths” in places that can still be excavated from the solidity of the rocks that had formed.

 

Her story

You are a snake, she said

and that I should never trust you

even if you have songs to sing

or can walk in the darkness of clouds

or dig a tongue that can grow flowers

on the arid craters of the moon

 

But to me, you are the rain

the thunderstorm

whose negative ions

had fallen on my face

and made it glow

with a new skin

with the flash of a lightning.

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