Inviting Complexities

A standard feature of most stories is that the characters and the rules of the world are simplified. This is a necessity resulting from the constraints of the need for a cohesive narrative, a desire not to confuse the audience, and time limitations on the telling.

Over the course of our lifetimes, we take in hundreds if not thousands of stories like this.

We are entertained and comforted by these stories due in no small part to their simplified, understandable structures.

In stark contrast, the world is complex, unpredictable, and does not follow a linear narrative. This can cause discomfort, confusion, anxiety.

It is, also, reality.

When we refuse to see the complexity of the world, when we reduce people to being fully “good” or “bad” (or, even worse, “hero” and “evil”), we are denying reality.

When we fight to force the world to comply with the rules of fiction, we will always lose in the end.