Re: Storytelling LO1012

George J. Takacs (takacs@europa.umuc.edu)
Tue, 02 May 1995 07:45:29 EST

Replying to LO1010 (...a guess by your host) --

One aspect of storytelling that has not been touched upon is
how the unconscious informs the stories we tell. The emphasis so far
has been on the conscious selection of stories and the conscious
formulation of stories.

I would like to pose the question "Just how conscious
is our selection?" If a story pops into your head when talking about
a certain project or topic, that may be the unconscious giving
you some more information. As long as we think is all conscious
we may miss the information the unconscious is sending us.

Also when telling stories, maybe it is our unconscious
speaking to the audience's unconscious that really makes the
impact; not the content of the conscious story, but the meaning
of the unconscious story.

A good exercise is to examine the stories we tell and see
what themes keep occuring, what symbols do we keep using? Then
ask what myths do our stories resemble? What archtype are we
conveying in our stories? Do our stories change the archtype?
If so, what does that mean?

When people get excited from a story, it is more than
their consciousness that is getting excited. It is their
unconsciousness that is also being spoken to. We may be delivering
a story to our generation that has been transmitted in one form
or another from generation to generation.

Something to think about the next time you tell a story
and watch the audience's reaction.

George Takacs
Takacs Techniques
Largo, MD
Takacs@europa.umuc.edu