Storytelling as a Spaceship
Spaceships are used to leave the planet. So let's go!
We, as a human civilization, have built some spaceships.
Like most advancements, we started with getting off the ground and tinkering with contraptions that might take us higher and higher. We created all sorts of wild and woolly mechanisms that gave us a few seconds and then a few minutes off the ground and into the air like birds or butterflies.
Then we studied the atmosphere, we learned about gravity and propulsion, and eventually we vaulted out of the atmosphere and entered “space”. I am taken with the word we chose to describe everything outside our atmosphere. Out there is “space.” It is, apparently, the final frontier. We also notably contain space. The Earth takes up space as well. And the rest of everything is simply space. This all lines up for me. The substance we travel through is space. And space has dimensions.
We also take up time.
The Earth moves within time, and the rest of the universe experiences time as well. There was a before, there is a right now, and there is what happens after, though most of us are unable to consciously experience what happens after until it becomes right now. There is a growing consensus, however, that the past and future are actually all a part of right now. All of it is a part of the eternal now. In the same way that Earth is a part of the universe, the past and present are a part of the now. In this model, time isn’t sequential—there is a wholeness to it. The universe is, by definition, a unity. It is a singularity. And we, as a civilization, are coming to the same conclusion with time—that it is happening all at once. There is a wholeness to time, in a similar way that there is a wholeness to the universe and all the stuff in it
What does this have to do with storytelling? Hang in there.
If space and time are both a singularity, then space travel would work very differently from what is happening at NASA and SpaceX. If the whole universe exists as one thing, and time exists as one eternal moment, then sequential travel through 3-dimensional space might not be necessary, right? If we exist within the fullness of time and space, then we would have access to all of time and all of space, like how one strand of a spider web is a part of the entire spider web, and all of it vibrates together when one strand is disrupted. Another way of seeing this is if we are the unique wave in the entirety of the ocean, then we are the entire ocean as well as the unique wave. We are ourselves, and we are the universe. If we are made of animated star dust, then we are both the stars and the experience of animation.
Now we arrive at storytelling.
Stories are how human beings experience the entirety of time and space. We access other places and other times by way of describing images. We don’t need a beginning, middle, and end of a sequential narrative, we need only a single transformative image to be transported. When I say “the rings of Saturn sing a celestial song,” you don’t need to know why I said this or what this even means; you simply hear the song. You use your imagination in the same way you use your ears. You listen to the song of Saturn’s rings. And whether or not the idea of a celestial song has been scientifically proven, you probably the statement. My guess is that you now believe that Saturn’s rings sing a celestial song simply because I have given you this image. It sounds true, so it is true. That kind of storytelling is real power, and we have seen it exercised a lot lately.
Therefore, I’d like to propose that we need not understand how 3-dimensional space travel works to leave the planet and explore the universe. To be able to travel through space and time in an interdimensional spaceship does not require that we understand the math of multiple dimensions. We don’t have to figure it out to go places, in the same way we don’t have to understand how an airplane works to go to San Diego. We just trust it works, we purchase a ticket, and then we arrive in San Diego. This is how we will travel in our interdimensional spaceship. Instead of depending on mathematical algorithms and precise scientific data, we will use a combination of storytelling and intuitive practice.
Storytelling works multi-dimensionally.
We all know this because we have experienced it. We want to dismiss storytelling as fancy that delights our children or uses metaphor in a keynote, but if you take a moment to notice, you’ll see the conscious and intentional use of storytelling in politics, governance, entrepreneurship, marketing (obviously), religion (more obviously), and anything that seeks meaning, change and transformation. It is also intrinsically entangled with science, though some wish to put the two at odds. But without storytelling, we have no science. Storytelling is how we make sense of the data and then communicate it to others so that it has relevance to our lives. And like emergent physics, storytelling is inviting us into a new reality where we can do the impossible. We are, as a species, waking up to multiple dimensions, like we are learning a new form of perception.
I propose that we don’t have to spend billions on a heavy-lift launch vehicle to get off the planet and explore the cosmos. In fact, I am comfortable saying those vehicles won’t actually get us very far. Instead, I am suggesting we use the same vehicle that more advanced beings use: multidimensional storytelling and intuitive practices.
These two terms are exceedingly soft and vague. I recognize this. But it's my best attempt at offering a dense description of a practice that works. I have traveled to galaxies far far away without the use of shuttles or other launch vehicles, and learned more about the 5th dimension and the true nature of time. I have interacted with a variety of aliens without the use of psychedelics or breathwork, and had amusing conversations as well as comprehensive downloads of information. To do this, I used storytelling and intuition. The method is not hard, but it does require focused practice. It does ask that I take the process seriously and dedicate at least an hour of my morning to strengthening a unique set of intuitive muscles. I am committed, and this commitment has attracted some influential and powerful folk. These days, I’m collaborating with other people as well as a host of nonphysical entities that have a great deal to teach us. The work is impressive, compelling, and loads of fun, and if you want to join or know more, click this button, add your name to the list, and receive an introduction to this new opportunity.