From a writing perspective, and I know you're talking about deeper stuff here, I have written stories to express myself and to hopefully connect with others.

Eckhard Tolle describes the mind as a tool. There is something much deeper about us than just our minds; there is spiritual essence. Maybe the explanation of the bigger picture is not so complicated, after all. Or possibly, that's my story.

Spiritual essence, and everything Tolle wrote, qualifies as a "story", in the way I intend it. There's no implication that stories are false; just that there are probably many stories that all fit the facts equally well. That's why there are so many points of view available.

I too feel something I describe as spiritual, when I look beyond ego, beyond mind. But it's completely wordless and self-sufficient. As soon as I try to use words, in any way related to it, anything I can find to say is still just another story ...

I guess I like to tell stories then because I always want to share (and likely also be heard). Sometime I'll have to talk about my feelings about the concept of essence. I'm a bit brain depleted at the moment, though, and should probably save that for my blog. You're right that there are different stories. I think if it fits for you, that's what matters.

Well, again, I see two facets: internal stories, that we're telling ourselves continuously to organize our world, and stories for sharing. Certainly, I don't try to tell in words all the stories I use in a day.

And many stories (the ones SPS guys tell themselves come to mind, but also addicts, people with low self-esteem, etc.) aren't so much told as they are lived. It's really those stories that I would like to get a handle on, not to mention trying to get a different part of the brain to work on them. It's way too easy to get lost in one's thinker. {For a thinking type like me, at least.}

Oh, I see now. I got caught up in the emotional stuff and missed the point you were making. Figures.

J would talk about seeds that were planted in the past. How to learn to stop feeding the distortions? Change a word first and then a page and then a chapter. Or better yet, write the story as you live it with an openness to change and new experience. All easier said than done, though, too.

Oh, there's no wrong point; maybe for you the emotional stuff is the point. That's okay.

I think the starting point is just that we all have stories. Awareness is the first baby step.

We especially have stories when it comes to fear or pain. The story maker jumps to life immediately.

I found Tolle's approach with the "pain body" to be almost helpful, but really kind of harsh.

Maybe we need stories at that point. And taking special care with our stories in times of fear and pain can make all the difference.

Just sending photos of care to my friends tonight.

I find it interesting that we are searching for alien life by searching for planets like our own. I think that finding alien life that isn't like us has a far greater probability, but it is difficult to go past the realm of what we know. I guess projection and bias is inevitable.

It is unsettling in a way, though. It almost comes down to the thought that many things in our world are our own perceptions. Science has hypothesized, and done the math, that things might exist only when a conscious mind notices it. It is in its infancy, but it is a real consideration. I think we need our stories to protect against that possibility, maybe. I also think that maybe our right brains are more at work when we are listening to another's story, as in visualizing it? But I guess we still visualize it through our own lens.

As far as building one's self esteem, you really hit the nail on the head! People can tell me this or that to raise my self esteem, but I never believe them because it doesn't come from within.

Malign, thanks so much for your insightful post, it really has me thinking . . .

Well, I'm sure the searchers would be the first to acknowledge that searching for life that's "like our own" is biased. What's difficult is defining the criteria for "signs of life that's not like our own." We have quite a difficult time defining what "life" is, even on Earth; it's practically impossible to imagine a wide enough array of possibilities for extraterrestrial life. I doubt that they're limiting their searches out of projection bias, but rather from the simple inability to guess what else to look for.

Now, that's different from things not existing unless we're aware of them. I don't picture entire alien civilizations springing up and vanishing again based on the current scientific thought on our planet; what comes and goes is how much effort we expend on them, one could say the number of stories we tell about them.

Okay, so given that self-esteem comes from within, what sort of looking-within can we do to find it? In many ways, this is similar to the search for life in the universe ... So, are we similarly limiting our view of the world within, based on what we expect to find?