Why Stories Tell the Highest Truths
Stories can tell higher truths than facts can.
Why? Because the highest truths are beyond words.
Like Lao Tzu said in the Tao Te Ching, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”
You see, words aren't the thing, just hints at the thing.
Just like the menu isn’t the food. Just like the map isn’t the territory.
Words are signposts pointing toward… Well, you’ll see.
The highest expression of words points to phenomena beyond words. The divine mystery. The great unknown.
And this pointing is best done using words as art. Why? Because creativity allows you to break free from patterns, from mental loops, and explore something greater.
Pure analysis is circular. Analysis can only explain what is already known. So it creates a loop until creative imagination breaks the loop. You need the dance of structure and flow, of analysis and creativity, for greater insights to emerge.
This is why the creative use of words is necessary to point towards higher truths.
It can be story. It can also be poetry. For example, a poem about love can help you understand love in a way that a fact-driven article about love just can't. Because it conveys such a deep truth. It conveys such a transcendent phenomenon that exists far beyond the realm of logical analysis.
Poetry and fiction are how you do this, because it's using the logic of language to point beyond the limitations of language.
With stories, you can convey ideas that are too big to be held within rigid analytical structures.
This is why all religions are based on stories. They use stories to convey deep spiritual truths and deep principles about humanity and existence.
The same goes for mythology, history, and even why we share stories to bond with other people in our lives.
Stories allow us to wrap deep archetypes in a package of words.
Stories allow us to convey spiritual truths whose mysteries are elusive to the analytical mind.
A great story isn't just the plot points or the themes.
A great story gives you a feeling.
A great story moves you emotionally.
A great story transforms you in ways that are hard to even wrap your head around.
Have you ever read a great story, and you were just like, “Wow,” and left speechless? It's an indescribable feeling. Then if someone asks, “How was that book?” You try to explain the plot of the book and it's it just doesn't do it justice. So you end up saying something like, “You have to read it. You have to experience it.”
That is the transcendent power of story.
Again, wisdom traditions figured this out long ago. The best package for the deepest wisdom is story.
In the spirit of this, I wrote Sozwik (a metaphysical novel). I had this calling within, and the way to deliver it was this story.
This year, I gave it an update and I’m re-releasing it! (btw a sequel is in the works too)
The plot is an interesting one. It's about an extraterrestrial sasquatch shaman who visits Earth. Well, he doesn't visit Earth willingly. Sozwik is actually from a race that is enslaved on his home planet. He gets sent to Earth as kind of an open-air prison and experiment.
Sozwik — being curious — he gets himself into some unexpected situations, and finds himself in over his head among cosmic-level spiritual warfare.
Check out the introduction video I made below.
And here’s the link to buy Sozwik on Amazon: Sozwik by Stephen Parato
Sozwik (Re-Release) Video
Get the book here: Sozwik by Stephen Parato
Cheers to the power of story.
Much Love,
Stephen Parato
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