Nature Stories

The narrative pull of the universe

Dan Sumption

Apr 18, 2024

Transcript

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Nature Stories

Two years ago, in an interview with Apiary Studios, Daisy Campbell made a statement which resounded with me:

Nature stories.

She goes on to explain that

Nature has a story force that powerfully takes us to the next stage of whatever this human project is all about. And we meddle with the story at our peril. Because once we impose a mythology of capitalism or a mythology of Christianity or any great overarching theory of everything; rationalism or scientism or materialism, we actually start to kill the mycelium that is building stories that need to be told, the stories that the deepest, deepest forces need to tell.

David Judah Temple, in their book Forty-two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, says something similar:

Story is a core structure of Cosmos itself.

Younger, skeptical me would deride this idea. But with every passing day, it seems more plausible.

Marc Gaffni, speaking for Temple in an interview for the Metagame podcast, explains further. He says that there is always some dimension of freedom in the story. He says that:

Love is real

Love is eternal

Love is evolving

and that

Hope is a memory of the future.

Religious narratives usually put humanity at the centre of nature’s story, as its hero, or as God’s chosen sidekick. But this seems unlikely.

In nature’s story, who do we get to be? Are we supporting actors? Or are we the bad guys? Or that obvious no-hoper who gets wiped out early in the second act?

To play our part, we must evolve, consciously: from Home Sapiens into Homo Amor.

Nature stories. Find your role. Grow love.

🙏🤲😘

🔥🌬️🌊🪨