There is a lot to say about our relationships to stories, mainly because how stories are taken is what gives rise to our human drama in the first place, and then what flavors it takes.
Our human drama all starts with taking a story as true, which then gives rise to a sense of I and Other, which then allows it all to unfold from there.
For a while, and especially with some stories, we may not even notice it. We are caught up in stories, without being much aware of what is going on. Our attention goes to the effects, to the sense of drama and struggle itself.
When we start seeing the dynamic more clearly, maybe through a glimpse, or inquiry, or even by believing the story mentioned above, there may be a sense of being trapped. We may get caught up in another story, saying that this dynamic is undesirable. We may get caught up in resistance to it, which is just getting caught in another story.
This resistance can be invisible to us for a while. For instance, it can take the form of being bored with others when they are caught up in stories. Or more obvious, through seeing it as wrong or undesirable.
Finally, as we work through beliefs and identities, there is more peace with stories. We see them as just stories. To the extent we are clear about a particular story, attachment falls away and with it identification with resistance and aversion.
I notice this for myself in different ways.
For instance, I see how it is the same stories playing themselves out over and over, in my own life, in the lives of others, in stories told in dreams, visions, myths, fairy tales, books, movies, songs, in magazines, in the news.
And I notice the tendency to wanting to not engage, to be bored, to get slightly fed up, and how all of that too comes from just a story. A story temporarily taken as true.
When there is more clarity about what is happening, when a story is just a story arising within awakeness as anything else, there is full freedom to allow it to go, or to fully engage, or anything in between. Life unfolds. Naturally. With ease.