“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring The instant we step out of our homes and put our feet down onto the sidewalk, we...
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Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? So closes the final song of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critically acclaimed musical Hamilton.[1] One of its main themes is the idea of ‘the narrative.’ Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and other historical figures fight for their legacy and place in history, knowing that will be determined, in the end,...
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Being parents of young children, it was a rare occasion (even pre-pandemic!) when my wife and I were able to get out to dinner and a movie. Our last cinema outing had ended with us both falling asleep (an unfortunate reflection of our engagement with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug). On this occasion, however,...
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Words we live by— metanarrative and narrative. Most of us find it possible to get on with our lives without using those two words every day, if ever. But whether they make their way into our minds, we live with them from morning to night, as their realities are integrally woven into every heart. Everyone...
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We all live our life by some narrative, even if it’s only “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” The narrative frames the activity and gives it meaning. Of course, most of us have lived our lives without thinking carefully about the narrative that drives us. We go to work because everyone...
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