Is the narrative the most fundamental aspect of human consciousness?

I've been listening to Philip K Dick's **"Valis"** and **"Ubik"** recently, and I have a few thoughts I want to discuss.<br><br>My fundamental question is **what if narratives are the basic building blocks of our reality?**<br><br>I know that the narrative is important in human consciousness - without it, we just wouldn't be what we are today. We've developed really complex systems of thought that have been assembled and passed down through generations as stories.<br><br>The Bible tells us that the first humans were born of a creator and how the universe came to be. The Greeks showed us the power of philosophical thought through the **"Dialogues of Plato"**.<br><br>The narrative shows us how to be good, how to live, what is good and what is evil. It tells us who we are and who are enemies are.<br><br>The problem is that **our reality is fragmented and complex**. We can't agree on a single narrative to rule our lives.<br><br>Imagine your entire experience of the world is like a novel written by a god. This god writes every word with malicious intent.<br><br>Imagine that the god is not so good at writing. They contradict themselves, and the universe falls apart at the seams. The writing is trash.<br><br>Seeing how malicious and ungovernable our reality is, it makes sense to think that the god is not so good at their job. They've managed to create a universe that is so consistent that we can derive laws of physics, but so inconsistent that we end up with things like **war and suffering**.<br><br>Or maybe the writing is trash because the god is evil, and they want us to suffer.<br><br>But what if our reality is a story not written by a god, but by our collective consciousness? Then the story is fragmented and contradictory and evil because our own collective consciousness is broken.<br><br>Take a look at society and the state of the world. Our collective narrative is not very good.<br><br>So **what are we to do?**<br><br>Imagine that reality is like a bad novel that we can edit.<br><br>But **whose narrative is the correct one?**<br><br>Maybe our narrative of reality is broken because of our own individual perception of reality.<br><br>In "Ubik", reality is broken because the malicious antagonist, Jory, has infiltrated the sychronic broadcast and altered the narrative of reality. The protagonist is able to fix reality with the power of a magical Ubik spray.<br><br>In reality, there is no magic spray. **But what if our reality is so narrative-driven that we can change it by fixing the narrative inside our own minds?**<br><br>Take a look at the world today. We have a collective narrative that is driving the world into the ground with war, corruption, greed and division.<br><br>Maybe the only way to change this reality is to fix the broken narratives inside our own minds.<br><br>Thats what philosophy is all about: **the search for truth**.<br><br>Or maybe it's something far more complicated than that.<br><br>Maybe we are trapped in a sychronic broadcast and we can't escape.<br><br>Or maybe it's even worse than that. Maybe we are trapped in a broken narrative and the author is dead.<br><br>Comments welcome.<br><br>**Edit:**<br><br>Some great comments here.<br><br>**There are many philosophical theories that describe the power of narrative and the effect it has on our reality.**<br><br>I'm reading the comments and here are my thoughts.<br><br>**Plato's Allegory of the Cave**<br><br>Plato described this effect around 380BC in the **"Allegory of the Cave"**. This is one of the most influential philosophical dialogues ever. It shows us that our reality is constructed of a system of false beliefs, and we must turn away from this system of false beliefs to see the truth.<br><br>**Postmodernism and Social Constructivism**<br><br>Postmodernism is another philosophical school that describes how our reality is constructed from language and social narratives.<br><br>**Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation"**<br><br>In **"Simulacra and Simulation"**, Jean Baudrillard describes how our narrative-driven reality is affected by technology and capitalism. This book is really interesting in the context of modern society. **Baudrillard is saying that our collective narrative is not the truth, but a simulation of the truth. The truth is fake, and the narrative is the only narrative we can rely on.**<br><br>So **what is the truth?**<br><br>So **what really is the truth?**<br><br>Maybe the truth is that **the narrative is both reality and a simulation of reality**.<br><br>Maybe the truth is that **the narrative is the narrative, and the truth is the truth**.<br><br>Maybe the truth is that **the reality is broken because the narrative is broken**.<br><br>I don't know.<br><br>**Peak Capitalism**<br><br>Thats why **social and economic systems work so well**. We all agree to participate in the system because we buy into the narrative.<br><br>Capitalism is another masterclass example of a powerful narrative. **The narrative that regenerates wealth and opportunity**.<br><br>Imagine if the collective narrative of society was really this simple: **regenerate wealth and opportunity**. But **it's not that simple**. Maybe capitalism is a broken narrative that generates poverty, inequality and division.<br><br>Maybe **capitalism is a broken reality**.<br><br>**The internet as a platform for externalising our minds**<br><br>The newest and most interesting aspect of this narrative-driven reality is the **internet and the digital externalisation of our minds**.<br><br>Imagine that the digital narrative is an externalisation of our collective consciousness. **Thats what it is**. Maybe the digital narrative will allow us to edit the narrative of our minds.<br><br>Maybe **the internet is the ultimate tool that will allow us to fix the narrative of our minds**.<br><br>**The existential crisis**<br><br>But **what if it's too late?**<br><br>Maybe **we are already trapped in the simulacrum**.<br><br>But maybe **it's not too late**.<br><br>Thats what **philosophy is all about: the search for truth**.<br><br>But maybe it's even worse than that. Maybe **the truth is not the truth, but a simulation of the truth**.<br><br>Or maybe it's even worse than that. **Maybe the reality is broken because the collective narrative is broken**.<br><br>I don't know.<br><br>Take a look at the world today. Maybe thats the reason why our world is in the state it is.<br><br>And then theres **AI**.<br><br>But thats the topic for another thread.<br><br>Thanks for reading.