What makes us “us”?
What do we mean by” us”? What social, racial, geographical, political, or any other group membership do we imply? “Us” is one of the most used words on any language. Citizens, customers, fans, family members etc. we are absolutely connected to a group of people. But I think that one of the greatest and most important associations we have today – and perhaps the first – is that we are involved because of our connection with the time we live in … We are all a product of the time we live. Our time is shaping us like a sculptor. Well … How can we define and understand our time? What is the spirit of time?

The spirit of time, according to Wikipedia, is a collection of beliefs and ideas that direct the members of society in a given time frame. The soul of the time is also a word used by philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment for the first time (Zeitgeist). Most of these philosophers are German. Okay… Can we observe that when we live, is a community of beliefs and ideas that directs and directs individuals belonging to societies? Probably yes. Perhaps what is called postmodernism is something that we cannot define the soul of time when we live.

Likewise, we can use the Spirit of Time for the first time it was mentioned. There was a spirit in the given age called Age of Enlightenment , yes. And again, for example, there was a soul of time of the so-called Victorian Age relative to the time when Queen Victoria of England had been on the throne. Okay… What comes to mind if we think about what is today’s predominant and apparent beliefs and ideas? I think the philosopher Alvin Toffler‘s concept was the most favorable and somewhat pessimistic depiction of our time: Future Shock.  This is the spirit of our time.

“I begin to understand the phenomenon that I see in my work during my studies that allow me to be in the different corners of the world. Even the modern technology that we cannot dream of is changing. But this technology is inevitable and there is also a heavy price. We live in age of anxiety and stress. Despite all this, we are victims of our own technological power. We are in some kind of shock. The shock of future… Future shock is a sickness which comes from too much change in too short a time; a feeling that nothing is permanent anymore. Computers bring things together to produce new information so fast that we cannot digest it.”

These words are from “Future Shock” documentary in 1972 by Orson Welles … The words above were written at a time when we did not even have the internet or personal computers in our homes or pockets. We live in a mosaic culture as the necessity of our own time’s soul, we know a lot but we lack wisdom and insight. It is very difficult for us to know ourselves in the middle of mobile technologies. What are we supposed to be? The Cure is Writing And fiction. Tell a story.

A fiction writer thinks, feels, and talks instead of character. The real sensation for writing is empathy. A writer thinks and feels like someone else. In this sense, empathy is one of the best ways we have to understand ourselves. Experiencing empathy makes you a good person and like writing, reading also improves empathy.

As Robert Sanchez and Robert Stolorow suggest philosophy as a therapy, Adrian Furnham says that writing in the journal in Psychology Today can be a therapy. You can also take a look at the Wikipedia article on writing therapy.

We need to understand what the real hunger and poverty in the world really is and what is the scope. We need to understand what the global climate change really is. Democracy, love, history … We know a lot about everything but do we really know these things? Wisdom? Unfortunately. Fragmented minds. It’s all we have.

Why fiction? It would be more accurate to say a story. Tell us why do we think that our zeitgeist which is story might be the cure for all the troubles? The answer is hidden behind another question: What is narrative? What is a story? With a little research you can see that there is a lot of answers to the question (as always). I highly recommend Robert Fulford’s wonderful book titled The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture You may also want to take a look at the book The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall. Both writers are journalists. This means that both authors have a functional point of view. It’s a good thing for our fragmented minds.

The narrative is an integral part of humanity. There is no human condition and no period without narration. The narrative is one of the things that made us. To develop a holistic view of narration and history, and even history of narration, is essential for a writer, anyone who needs empathy … The fictional writer is one of the most important gains of our human journey …