the importance of storytelling and why we should never stop reading novels
Although there is not a consensus on what empathy actually is, there is a generally agreement about how to develope and increase empathy; both in oneself and others. Storytelling. Being the social creatures that we are, storytelling is an innate part of human nature which has been going on for centuries. Developments in technology, and i'm not talking about digital technology, has played an important role in enabling it. The invention of the written language allowed for recording and storage of stories and the invention of the printing press allowed for the dispersal of these stories as well as, arguable, the one of the most important invention for storytelling and empathy : The novel
Empathy, Neurochemistry, and the Dramatic Arc
"People learn from fiction about the human psychology, and gain knowledge about how to react to other people in social situations... When an individual reads a story, he/she predicts the actions and reactions of the characters, by inferring what they are thinking, feeling, and intending. In order to do this, the reader sympathizes with the characters in the story, through taking the perspective of the characters and to experience the events as if it is the reader’s own experience."
"Those who don't read novels are condemned to repeat the oldest mistakes in literature – the mistake of hubris, a Greek mistake, and the mistake of attributing one's own emotions to God, a Judeo-Christian-Islamic mistake. Pride, arrogance, moral blindness and narcissism are endemic among humans, especially humans who occupy positions of power, either in society or in the family... In a world where weapons of mass destruction are permanent features of the landscape, I cannot help believing that a lively sense of the reality of other consciousnesses on the part of those whose fingers are on the trigger is essential to human survival. The novel has made a world in which people are fairly adept at both feeling and thinking, and at thinking about feeling... When we talk about the death of the novel, what we are really talking about is the possibility that empathy, however minimal, would no longer be attainable by those for whom the novel has died. If the novel has died for the bureaucrats who run our country, then they are more likely not to pause before engaging in arrogant, narcissistic and foolish policies. If the novel has died for men (and some publishers and critics say that men read fewer novels than they used to), then the inner lives of their friends and family members are a degree more closed to them than before. If the novel dies, or never lives, for children and teenagers who spend their time watching TV or playing video games, then they will always be somewhat mystified by others, and by themselves as well. If the novel should die, what is to replace it?" (Smiley, 2005)
Keep reading novels