“I can’t see sitting in front of a piece of furniture all the time. You could just as well watch a chair for an evening.”

Seán Murphy

One of the last remaining storytellers in west Ireland, Seán was very concerned that television would be the ruin of both mind and community. For him, storytelling was a sacred art and it wasn’t just about the story. “Not the story really at all, but the idea you were passing your time with others. ‘Twas like mass, you see, because we went to the chapel for the same reason.”

Today, as stories fly at us through all manner of media, including blog posts, it seems we have abrogated our own storytelling. Seems we just pass stories around. But they are so often someone else’s story.

I readily admit to enjoying mindless entertainment. For there is story in it. And I do love a good story. But I wonder. What might be possible were we to engage less in mindless entertainment and more in mindful storytelling? Might we touch the sacred…in ourselves and each other?

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com