The Stories We Tell Ourselves
Posted June 21, 2019 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan
Most animals communicate only about things that are happening in the present, in settings bounded by the range of their senses. Their vocal or “call” systems allow them to indicate when they are hungry, disgruntled, fearful, or desirous of sex. They tell their comrades to “stay back,” “look out,” or “step aside.” In such ways, they coordinate their movements, arrange their hierarchies, feed and protect themselves.
People use vocal commands more expansively. Using systems of arbitrary learned symbols, we talk about occurrences from the past and future as well as from the present. We discuss things that are happening outside the range of our perceptual surround. We ruminate on matters that have never happened, and never will, and then communicate these dreams to our fellows. To that degree, a world of ideas and images parallels the thicket of perceptions that is the context of animal life. Talk stabilizes the behavior of human groups. It coordinates our schemes.
