Whispers Of The Heart

Reminding Myself Of What Storytelling Is

"These myths are the very fabric of our existence, woven from threads of memory, culture, and imagination."

In the labyrinth of our collective soul, myths and creation stories are the ancient maps, condensed in the marrow of our bones, guiding us through the intricacies of existence. These timeless narratives, birthed from the dreams of our forebears, are the primal blueprints that shape our worldview, offering profound insights into the mysteries of life. They are not mere fables and folk tales, (that are so often dismissed and ridiculed in the Western thinking) they are living, breathing entities that pulse with this rhythm of creation and animation, bringing forth to life.

In the hurried, urgent reaching for potential that is our modern lives, we've forgotten how to listen to these whispers from the past. We've lost the thread of our own story, wandering like exiles in a land that once felt like home in our ancient bodies. Yet even now, in this time of great unraveling, when nature trembles from degradation and culture frays at the seams of our faulty memory, that original genius calls to us, and pleads with us to come back to artistry. It beckons us to remember, to awaken, to step into the grand story that has been waiting for us since before we drew our first breath.

"In rediscovering our innate gifts, we not only restore ourselves, but we begin to restory the world."

Where is the intersection of ancient wisdom and imaginative storytelling? What do you do with the power to restore ourselves, when it lies in our ability to restory our lives and find our connection back to land and myth? What if you could unravel the tapestry of your life and reweave it with vibrant new threads, drawing on the wisdom of your ancestors and the inventions of future technology? These are all attempts to interrogate myths, to ask these questions, and to speak the creation stories again is a courting of the Spirit, the otherworldly, whether to speak of the Big Bang or a cosmic egg, or a tree of life, each is providing a framework for interpreting the cosmos and our place within it.

"They remind us that, despite the advances of science and technology, our need to make sense of the universe through storytelling remains as vital as ever."

In this fundamental way, myths and creation stories continue to bridge the gap between the ancient and the contemporary, like braiding a rope, twisting the fibers of meaning that connects us to our past and illuminates our path forward, into something useful, that has practicality and substance. They, these stories, are at times the silent guides, because they live within us too, deep in the unconscious where dreams and nightmares reside, the unseen weavers of our destiny, calling us to remember who we are and where we come from.

"Restorying is a journey that will challenge everything you thought you knew about who, what and where you are."

When we listen to the ancient stories that stir within us, we can hear the whispers of original wisdom, and we can step boldly into the grand narrative that awaits us. The lines of myth and reality are meant to be blurred, lines in the sand to be scattered to the wind with a quick brush of the hand. To find hard to reach places beyond certainty we must embrace mystery, not just the absence of knowing, but the ability to recognize unknown things for what they are, and how they are. In the telling of stories that have long been dormant, in need of a fresh voice, a quivering vocal chord of a heart string being plucked, that is when we reclaim the time-honored responsibility to shape the human world to fit the natural.

Ancestral Intelligence (A.I) is our original GPS, grounding us to the movements and rhythms of nature, applicable knowledge that had been passed down through oral tradition, which is much more than communicating information. Oral tradition is the fundament of our collective memories, non-human and more than human included, a multi-species recollection, not of the past as a place in a time long gone, but past as a destination that is happening again soon. Wisdom derived from millenniums of observation and interaction with the beautiful world around us, becomes the embodiment of our connection to the earth and the primal forces that shape our existence.

"We are always connected to our ancestors; our bodies hold the memories of those who came before us."

A way of being that defies rigid boundaries of written text, is to embrace the role of storytellers and story-listeners, creators and creations, ancient and modern all at once. The fine line of myth and reality, of pixels and primal knowledge, we find the true essence of our being. As we step into this era of storytelling, where the socials have all vied for the currency of our attentions, jockeying for large slices of the market, can we still be trusted to carry with us the wisdom of our ancestors, the connection to our lands, and the courage to restory ourselves and our world?

"Creation stories carry a transformative power, for people to see the world in a different way than they would have on their own, through story we experience and bring the world back to life, together."

With the insurmountable flood of influencers shackled to their screens as the commercializing machine commodifies every aspect of human interaction digital and analog, with those odds, in the end, in order for us to restore ourselves, we must, we must, RESTORY ourselves. When we reclaim, we also humble ourselves to the power of our narratives, infusing them with the depth of ancestral intelligence and the innovation of new technologies. This is about evolution and adaptation - I believe it requires a certain kind of genius, a bold reimagining of what it means to be human in a world that is both ancient and ever-new, a world in constant change and movement, a world meant to be ever-green and blue.

As we embrace new technologies and immersive experiences, we must not forget the power of these ancient ways of knowing. Instead, we are called to mill the grain, mix the flour and water again, to bake the bread of life, with all of our shortcomings and human frailties, we still must work towards this art of rembrance.

"Storytelling is an essential part of being human. It allows us to create emotional bonds and share information in a way that resonates deeply." Gary Green

Stories are not just entertainment; they are the lifeblood of human experience. Through stories, we gain a deeper understanding of each other and the world around us, when we embark upon a profound exploration of myths, we can reveal the spiritual dimensions of human life and highlight what is meaningful to us, to what gives us the energy to continue to live. The symbolic nature of myths helps us navigate the complexities of existence, offering insights into our deepest selves.

"Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life." Joseph Campbell explains, "Myths and dreams come from the same place. They come from realizations of some kind that have then to find expression in symbolic form." Myths and dreams, both rich in symbolic imagery, act as deep wells of self-knowledge. In a world that often feels disenchanted and disconnected, the action of restorying offers a path back to the sacred, the mysterious, and the interbeing.

It reminds us that we are part of a larger village of life, that our stories are intertwined with those of our ancestors, our communities, and the natural world. To bring all of this to a lived practice means for our unconquerable indigenous souls, to be re-enchanted, a reminder of our wayfinding and an invitation to engage with the world in different, meaningful and transformative ways.

"The story is told eye to eye, mind to mind and heart to heart."

Through stories, we forge connections that transcend our differences and promote understanding. This communal experience of storytelling extends beyond the event itself, as the empathy that stories create carries over into the community as a whole. Storytelling is just as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago, everything ancient was once new, and will continue to be relevant for as long as humans feel the depths of their emotions, and strive to remember. By embracing the storyteller within, we contribute to the growth and resilience of our communities, fostering a sense of unity and belonging, that can be shared with the global village. They, these stories, shape our identities, guide our actions, and connect us to lineage and legacy. Ancestral intelligence, primal knowledge, and the evolving landscape of immersive experiences, is how we can harness the divine and contribute to the sacred art of remembrance to restore and restory ourselves and our communities.