Welcome to
All Stories Matter!

This site is dedicated to the stories that shape and define our lives.

In the context of this site, stories can emerge from fact or fiction. The important characteristic of all stories related here is that they mold who we are, what we
believe -- and how we act. Importantly, they also determine how we relate not
only to other humans, but to all things that exist around us.

Whether stories are good or bad does not depend on the evaluation of literary critics, but the impact the stories have on the way we actually live. In practice, stories that work for some people can produce disasters for others!

Much of the inspiration for this site comes from Daniel Quinn's 1992 novel, ISHMAEL.

In case you have not read this wonderful book, I highly recommend it to you. It makes the case that we live and act according to stories we create about our place in nature and our relationship to all things around us. Unfortunately, some of the stories we have created are so egocentric, ethnocentric and anthropocentric (basically selfish and arrogant) that their enactment may destroy us and much of life on our planet. But our stories do not have to lead us to such a tragic end! There is hope!

Since we can be at least "co-authors" of most of the stories by which we live, there is still the opportunity to write new chapters to our life stories that can produce better outcomes. Transformation of bad stories into good stories is possible -- it just takes some willingness and wisdom to recognize the difference between the two!

In ISHMAEL, better stories can emerge only if we respect, protect and sustain the diversity of all creation around us -- and resist the urge to usurpt the main role of the gods -- determining who and what should live or die. Not exactly the most appropriate role for those of us who are merely short term residents of this planet!

Like Quinn, I believe we live by stories (or myths) created mostly by others -- and in many cases, we live by too many stories that we have not examined closely enough. In part I attribute this situation to an unwillingness (or lack of perceived need) -- on the part of much of mankind -- to develop a more complex epistemology.

I understand many of the reasons for this tendency to be somewhat docile in terms of taking control of our life stories. It is difficult to do so -- as most cultures often do not reward such initiatives -- preferring to teach us to defer to authority, power, tradition and the status quo -- not challenge it. Historically, deferrence to the accepted and tested stories had merits -- such as survival -- and in some cases -- some temporary prosperity and control of our environment.

Put simply, epistemology refers to how we know what we know. My belief is that too much of our modern epistemology is based on a combination of many unexamined, outdated, selfish, arrogant, often exclusionary myths or stories that remove humankind too far from essential knowledge of our dependence on finding balance and means to coexist with the rest of creation -- and in many cases -- with fellow humans.

So this site sets out to examine some of the stories that define the personal, community and more universal lives we live -- hopefully offering a gateway to a broader epistemology -- or sense of who we really are and can be!

Enjoy your investigation of my site -- and visit often -- as the various links are still under construction and will change often!