Spencer Sims, The Life in Writing

"Human intellect is incurably abstract. Pure mathematics is the type of successful thought. Yet the only realities we experience are concrete-this pain, this pleasure, this dog, this man. While we are loving the man, bearing the pain, enjoying the pleasure, we are not intellectually apprehending Pleasure, Pain or Personality. When we begin to do so, on the other hand, the concrete realities sink to the level of mere instances or examples: we are no longer dealing with them, but with that which they exemplify. "

This course has reaffirmed something that I've always believed. Myth & stories alike enrich our lives. Not solely from the fact that they are creative outlets or even that they act as means of escape. But because they address aspects of our humanity that can be universally understood, or rather felt. Sure stories all have their own interpretations persons to person, but stories seem to be able to argue the unarguable, prove things that lack empirical description. Stories are often a means to convey the thoughts and feelings all humans come across in their existence. I've written quite a bit on lewis' thoughts on how the myth can better connect us to what he calls the primary world, what I'm focusing on is the profound effect on the thoughts of the secondary world stories have. Look at Gandhi and how the sermon on the mount influence his belief of Satyagraha or Vladimir Lenin with his passionate adherence to the writings of Karl Marx.religious texts and writings of the ideal world, whether it be in the form of a myth or political pamphlet, have lead people to seek great change. I've seen literature have a great impact on many people, I'm willing to speculate this desire for story is innate and powerful. This aspect of our humanity seems to be nestled in out language itself, someone doesn't often just say they like a book but rather that it "spoke to them" or that it "resonated" with them.