The spiritual literature of Planet Earth is full of stories that track the trials and tribulations of earnest souls on the path of God. Like Jonah in the belly of the whale, for example. And Moses in the desert. And Jesus on the Cross. Every culture has their own, just like they have their own creation myths. Indeed, the heroes and heroines of these soul-shaping stories have, in time, become a kind of code for the hard-to-describe qualities that define what it means to be a highly resilient human being.

Good. We need stories. We need memorable examples of what's possible.

What we don't, need, however is the assumption that the stories that have made it to the scriptures are the only ones worth remembering. They're not. Each of us, in our own way, has had similar experiences -- modern-day versions of the archetypal challenges that stretch a human being to the point of breaking. Like the time, as a cross-country hitchhiker in Toledo, Ohio, I stood on the on ramp to I-70 for ten hours without a ride. No matter what I did or didn't do, no matter how much I prayed, meditated, or surrendered, where I stood, how I stood, or what sudden deals I made with God, no one would pick me up. No one...

To be continued... excerpted from my forthcoming book, Storytelling for the Revolution.

MitchDitkoff.com

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