Oliver Banton Philosophy of Storytelling

Human beings are consumed by storytelling. We love stories and have since the earliest humans occupied this earth. In today’s society, people tell stories ranging from wild tales of fiction to the most important and relevant news. Millions of people have made it their profession and life goal to tell the public the most compelling stories they can find. Journalists sometimes spend years researching and reporting a story before crafting the final product. Stories matter, and they always have. But their importance has changed as human beings have progressed over time. They also serve a different purpose now. Today, we tell a wide variety of stories. We tell them both to inform the public and to entertain the public. But I believe that when human beings first started telling stories, there wasn’t much of an entertainment aspect involved. We used to tell stories to help make sense of the world. I believe the first human beings, devoid of any reason science or philosophy, would tell stories to explain everything that happened to them. When it rained, perhaps a story was crafted about where that rain came from. Even more fundamental questions, like how human beings arrived on earth, required stories to help people make sense of their surroundings. People often feel the need to understand what is going on at any given moment. Thus, religion was created. Stories crafted by people to make sense of the world. It goes to show just how much power stories can have. Some of the earliest documented stories have resulted in religious followings that stretch into the billions. It’s amazing how much power stories can have.