We all like stories, or sometimes, using posher language: narratives.
There is a good reason for that: “Narrative may be regarded as a primary act of mind,” said Professor Brian Cox in his introduction to the English National Curriculum that was being introduced into UK schools in 1988. More recently, Frank Wolcek in his book “A Beautiful Question” commented that “humans are especially adapted to think in story and narrative.”
It’s important, therefore, that we translate whatever is happening to us in our experience, especially when it is important, into a story form or analogue. The analogue is a story we all know, but which somehow surprisingly fits the circumstances; this process helps us see more clearly what it is we are dealing with and helps contextualize it….