“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away.” No doubt, you have heard stories begin this way in one form or another. It is often followed by a story that neither happened at some point in time nor anywhere—far away or otherwise. But, despite the seeds of inherent dishonesty of this opening sentence, it’s likely you then heard a story that caught your attention; maybe even inspired you. Jack and the Beanstalk, the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, the list of childhood stories goes on and on, and no matter the version they have likely stuck with you even after all these years. Why? Because they persist; they’re iconic; they have stood the test of time over centuries and across the face of the globe. These stories did not just entertain, but were often used to teach an important moral to children. In fact, many stories around the globe have been shaped around the concept of teaching an inherent deeper truth to their audience. At the heart of any good story, is a kernel of truth, one that persists long after the story is told. This kernel of truth, no matter how small, is the proverbial engine that drives the story deep into our hearts and makes us come back to it again and again.
Stories, and by extension art as a whole, generally develop by one of two ways:
The artist is expressing something about themselves, such as their thoughts, emotions, or experiences.
The artist is focusing on and presenting something that can be observed in the world.
No matter how a story develops, once it begins to touch the lives of others, it naturally provokes a response. Whether that response is positive or negative, obsession or indifference, the audience comes to their conclusions eventually. Naturally, audiences will respond more positively to a story they can relate to, and thus, a story will often be much more powerful when it is conceived by something that can be observed. That is to say, a story carries more power when it is a reflection of reality; when it is grounded in truth. Does this mean that a good story needs the “Inspired by True Events” tagline? Not necessarily. Simply to have the spirit of truth be at its heart and in its logic. A story has this spirit of truth when it exhibits truisms, especially in regards to the nature of man. Families and estranged friends will bicker over petty things; men will risk life and limb for the women they love; nature must be protected, especially from abuse; evil, no matter how powerful, will eventually be vanquished; and if man is left with the means and opportunity to commit evil, he often will. These and other truisms penetrate deep in the heart of mankind. This may not be a universal constant, after all broken people with broken perceptions of reality can find accepting universal truths a hard task, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.
For people who have blurred reality with a warped lens, understanding why some stories are popular can be a mystery. Conversely, it makes it more difficult for them to tell stories that resonate with audiences except to niche groups. Sometimes this may be the goal; a narrowly defined perception to accommodate a narrowly defined audience that shares a similar vision. This can be especially true when someone has an untruth they are intentionally presenting to their audiences. By definition, this is propaganda, and propaganda may become popular, it may even become iconic, however, these are not stories that persist through the ages to be reinterpreted again and again. Some people, especially the supporters of propaganda, may see this as tragic, but it can be a very effective sorting mechanism. The stories that reflect reality, naturally filter out stories that lack that quality. Like water finding its way to the low ground, deepening the tried and proven routes, audiences find these stories that carry truth and follow them. A small stream may split off occasionally, but give the river of truth time and those small streams will inevitably dry up.
If this assumption of stories that contain truths are the stories that persist, grow, and sink deeply into the heart of man, it begs the question of what is truth? This is a question that comes up very often in the world, especially by those who want to pretend that truth does not exist. However, truth is ever apparent and inevitable. If an apple becomes disconnected from a tree, it will fall; if you have three apples and eat one of them, you have now have two apples; if an apple seed is planted in good soil with the appropriate amounts of sunlight and water, it will grow an apple tree. This may seem an over simplification, but truth—reality—is simply the acknowledgement of what is, with no attempts to make something that it is not. Truth is constant. The understanding of truth may change, but truth cannot; it is as ubiquitous and unyielding as gravity.
If it is true that the universe has constant truths, things that exist and persist despite opinion, perspective, and logic, then it stands to reason that working in congruence with such forces rather than against would be more effective. If such forces do not exist, then themes have developed accidentally as there are no truths to coexist with. Furthermore nothing can be reliable, as nothing is definite. However, this cannot be true, for even the belief that this theory is true betrays the premise that there are no truths. Now, ignoring the redundancy of the statement that truth does not exist, if that belief were applied to the exercise of writing, then it would leave audiences unsatisfied. For one simple reason: if truth does not exist, then everything is chaos and reason is irrelevant. Therefore, characters do not need motivations, events do not need to be incited, climaxes can never be reached, and conclusions can never be attained; all that is certain is what is, and even that is questionable. As anything in the world can just happen, and if art is a reflection of the world, then anything could happen in a story for any reason whatsoever. Making tried and true tools of writing unnecessary. But such stories are made, often by children or amateurs, and they very seldom last or make significant impact in a culture.
So, if truth exists, can there be an ultimate truth? A constant that is more constant than anything else? A premise that every conclusion is derived from? These aren’t foreign ideas, as they are explored in Plato’s Forms, and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways. I’m not going to pretend to be Plato, or St. Thomas Aquinas, however, as a Christian, saying yes to these questions is not hard. Additionally, if God is the greatest truth, that is to say, God is truth, then that would mean that all untruths would deviate further away from Him. Just as everything in a building ultimately relies and bears down into its foundations, everything that is truth ultimately sinks down to that underlying principle of God. Therefore, a story that is anti-truth, that is to say anti-God, is like trying to raise a building without supports or underlying structures. Sure, such a building may be interesting, it may even become iconic, but inevitably the building is doomed to collapse from the start. Conversely, the stronger a truth is, the closer it would be to a depiction of God.
Returning to the ways that art develops; if a creator uses art to describe something the artist observes—whether that is themselves or the world—so long as that observation and depiction is honest and accurate, it naturally reflects back to truths that govern reality; that is to say, God. Thankfully, God has a book on the subject that He has gone through quite the deal of effort to get to us. The Bible shows us major themes of God’s vision of the world, and these themes have been repeated in story after story. For example, the following list contains such truths that most audiences would recognize:
Good triumphs over evil.
Justice prevails, even if it is slow.
People are flawed and prone to failure.
It is tragic when the innocents suffer.
Evil is seductive and hard to overcome.
We want heroes to show mercy, no matter how evil the bad guy is.
It’s more satisfying to watch someone be redeemed rather than perish.
The noblest of heroes sacrifice themselves for the weak and vulnerable.
There is no such thing as coincidence, everything happens for a reason.
These are just some of the constant motifs seen in the Bible, and they make up some of the most satisfying—and perhaps cliché—themes in story telling. Admittedly, an argument can be made that these are just themes that are important to a western society, and thus we are more attracted to them. After all, other stories have truth to them and they do not do well, and other stories can have non truths and become popular. These statements can be true, however, at the heart of the matter is this: is there a central truth to the universe, and if so, do better stories tend to draw closer to that through line rather than away? If the best stories are those that contain a kernel of truth, would it not be profitable to make that kernel as big as possible?
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Hello, everybody! After a much delayed hiatus, I’ve come back to dust off the website and post my ramblings again. Since last time I’ve gotten married, moved, got a new job—lots of changes! My wife, Valorie Chadwick, can be found at her website where she offers writing coaching, her Patreon where she gives advice on writing, and at her Etsy where she offers beautiful crafts such as the ones she built for our wedding. I’m really happy and excited to be on this journey with her, and definitely expect to find me lurking around her various projects. Until next time!