Story Bias
Even True Stories are Fairy Tales
We try on stories as we try on clothes - Max Frisch
We do the same with world history, shaping the details into a consistent story.
Stories attract us, abstract details repel us.
We simply build the meaning into stories afterward. Stories are dubiious entitites. They simplify and distort reality, and filter things that dont’ fit.
From our own life stories to global events, we shape everything into meaningful stories. Doing so distorts reality and affects the quality of our decisions, but there is a remedy.
Pick the stories apart. Ask yourself: what are they trying to hide?
Your life has not followed a straight arrow leading to today, but has been a series of unplanned, unconnected events and experiences.