Single-story-thinking

The idea that everybody is religious basically says that each of us goes through life telling ourselves some kind of story. These stories can take the form of the religious myths as told by organized religions or they can be cultural stories like the one telling you that if you make enough money you'll be able to buy what you want and be happy.

Many people are so embedded in their story that they are unable to view "past it". They are so confident that their story is the true one, the one that accurately describes reality, that they don't even want to hear about other stories. A term that I heard a few weeks ago used by Nate Hagens and that could be applied for exactly this is single-story-thinking. Having a discussion with somebody who is single-story-thinking is difficult: to them, their story is like water to a fish - they are not even aware how fully immersed they are in it all the time. Challenging their story can seem like a threat to them and trigger certain defense mechanisms. They are not really interested in hearing a different perspective. When you encounter such a person, your first instinct might be to judge them - but this wouldn't be a wise thing to do. What makes you so sure that the other person is obviously "off"? Maybe it's you who has got the blinders on and can't see something the other person is seeing. Regularly reminding ourselves of this possibility goes a long way in cultivating wisdom.