Are We All Just Stories?

Life as a Storyline

Good storytelling can change your life and avail opportunities, in most cases, even if you don't truly know what you may be talking about or it's a made-up story. Storytelling is part of human nature; almost every tribe has stories and legends about the stars, wars, mythology, etc. I previously wrote about my take on life (Life Outlook) as a perspective and what we make of it. Remember, survival is not about how connected you are to reality but about fitness. Storytelling is a great fitness mechanism.

Life is like a movie with cameras that are always rolling; the only difference is they roll 24/7, and there are hardly multiple takes and cuts. Certain mistakes/bloopers can't be edited out. Meaning that the character continues living with the consequences of an altered storyline. Life is a storyline that you learn and move on when things happen. Imagine watching a soapie that keeps on playing the same storyline over and over again; this is depression. Hence, we must move on in life, write new storylines, and introduce new characters. Characters can make or break your storyline. Bad friends and relationships can mess up a storyline. However, those are thrilling to the spectators, it keeps us going as humanity.

We write our own history, that is, storylines. While reading history, it struck me that men in their 20s in the BCs into the middle-ages were concerned about their legacy. This is what led Alexandra of Macedon to be called  "Alexandra The Great" while still in his youth. Young men with great exploits. I wonder at what age men start thinking about legacy nowadays. I think you can look at history in two ways, one is the past, and the other is something you are part of. Looking at history as something that the past disconnects us from realising the many shoulders against our own tribes that we can stand on. It's hard to find an African person who knows his/her history. I find that looking at history as something I am part of is empowering and can help me write a better storyline and be more at the moment in connection with the past. Looking at what my forefathers went through, I am inspired by the lives of the former. Origin is forever; I might as well just gracefully embrace it as part of my storyline.

A storyline has a lot to do with identity and knowledge of self. I am the main character and am supposed to be my story's protagonist. The world, stars and galaxies revolve around me; Yes, that's boastful but true; I am at the centre of everything that happens to me. I always wonder, can I ever know myself as the main character of this storyline, given the new ideas I  absorb and discard daily? Sort of like the process that others call killing babies. I feel that I am a construction of self through experiences and observations as an agent moving in an environment. The people closest to me know a certain aspect of me as a person. They have qualities that they have attached to my face and actions (a.k.a character). What they know is not who I think I am, and who I am is actually who I really Am. This is a typical cybernetic loop that feeds on itself. I wonder if I am living in a simulation!?

Most of what I know about myself is a result of acquisitive mimesis (Rene Girard). A theory that we copy those around us, our parents, friends, teachers, etc. It's how we learn languages, behaviours, and ways of doing things. It's the reason why the people in your life envy you or you envy them. With this setup hidden since the foundations of the world, the process of self-discovery becomes very important for a character to be unique because acquisitive mimesis leads to extreme competition. It's hard to write a unique storyline because it's uncharted territory. You'll be much under the pressure of randomness or unforeseen things, which will get you ridiculed if the storyline flounders.

An example of a storyline is an organizational structure. It goes like this; Your career story as Musa, you be an Engineer-in-training, then Engineer 1, then Engineer 2, then Snr Engineer, then Lead Engineer or Area manager, then Snr Man. This story will take at least between 15 to 20yrs. It's a story I despise myself. Hence, I find involvement in non-work activities more fulfilling and worth doing. On this note, I don't like LinkedIn because the written stories provide some fugazi certainty about career progression. It's anti-innovation and anti-entrepreneurial. Humans are born entrepreneurs, but not all of us must start businesses. We are the entrepreneurs of our lives. Our careers and lives are our business (Reid Hoffman).

Aristotle mentioned that an unexamined life is not worth living. An unexamined life is a life that lives based on societal commands and norms. Always going with trends.  The world wants to assign you a role or character and take over your storyline. Once that happens, you'll lose your confidence and become a pull-around. Owning your storyline can make people uncomfortable, most especially those who have accepted their society-given roles with determinant behaviours. 

The brands we choose to wear. They say something about how we want people to perceive us and make us assume a certain identity. We use clothes to tell our storylines. Looking at your past photos, you can tell how much your life has changed. The hippies refused to conform to society's brands and, by so doing, created another brand for hippies. It's funny how one cannot run away from an adopted identity. Luke Silicon-valley geeks and their jeans, sneakers, and a plain t-shirt. Steve jobs started it, I guess. If you are not careful, your identity may be defined and assigned to you by politicians, organizations, movements and other society-related initiatives and activism. They will then decide how you behave. 

The people who are close to you and those that you love and love you back will hold you back and give you excuses for the change process you might be going through. I think this is why Abram (from the Bible)  had to leave his home to become a household name and a father of nations. To become Abraham. Our loved ones want us to be better but not t change our storyline morals. It angers me when a storyline is radically changed, like when Generations became Generations The Legacy.

With all this said, I know I have not discussed the main question, "Can I ever really know myself? This question extends to others, such as, can the people who are part of my life (storyline) ever know me for sure? And lastly, am I simply an agent in a simulation?

In summary, boldly own your story; every sentence of it. Also, feel free to change the storyline before external forces do it for you.

This post is largely inspired by Yuval Noah Harari's book The Sapiens and some of my philosophical thoughts on identity.