This is the Story of Gods and Humans

 

The story of Gods and humans has multiple versions. Each is a metaphoric container—a story—driven by a “truth,” aka “the moral of the story.” But that, too, is a fiction. To change the story then, you have to work at that deeper level.

Here Are Some Versions of the Story

Mathematicians believe the universe is a giant simulation. And when we discover a mathematical truth, we are unearthing aspects of the code the Master Programmer used, writes mathematics professor Edward Frenkel.   

Gaming industry social scientists translate the story into gaming language. They suggest we’re living in a giant game where Master Game Designers and Storytellers dictate our behavior. If that’s the case, we can’t win the game, but we can maneuver through it, or step out of it entirely once we see it. 

Religious and spiritual leaders translate the story into their language. Divine figures and sacred texts dictate our behavior, they tell us. They build holidays and holy days around such stories. We imbibe them and embed them in our psyches.

  • There is the story about the god impregnating a human (Christmas).

  • There is also the story of a human rising to the level of the gods (Easter). 

Scientists offer two versions of their story, one old and one new.

  • We live in a physical, mechanistic world (Newtonian science) you can know—and control—by taking its parts apart.

  • We live in a relational field (quantum physics) where what you look for is what you find and where you are, in fact, the Creator.

Every version of the story follows a similar design, an either/or hypothesis: there is us (powerless) and there is something outside ourselves (powerful).

Here’s How to Work at the Deeper Level and Change the Stories

Every story has an underlying design—the moral, aka “truth,” of the story—that drives all its versions. So to change the story, and all its versions, you have to work at a tectonic level. With the story of Gods and humans, what if we changed the underlying moral—the design— of the story to include both parts of the equation?

That is, what if we are both human and divine (as quantum physics hints at)? What if we are both parts and a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts? What if we are the gamed and the game designer, the Master Programmer and the programmed?  

Not only would this disrupt the current story and its versions. It would also offer something beyond our wildest comprehension: a greater truth, a deeper knowing, a more glorious mystery that we can do little more than fall into.


M. Carolyn Miller, MA, designs narrative- and game-based learning. She also writes and speaks about the power of story in our lives and world. www.cultureshape.com