The following podcast is excerpted from an article written by Steven Schlozman of Storytellers of New Mexico:Stories matter.That's not just an opinion. That's not an axiom or a homily or a saying or even a pithy bumper sticker slogan. That's a genuine biological imperative. There's a reason we've been trading stories with each other since the time when we could trade anything at all. Our stories—those we share over dinner, the narratives we put down on paper, the arcs in movies and plays we scrutinize—these stories literally keep us whole.Stories are our brains' opposable thumbs. Without stories, we could not grasp the importance of an idea. We could not empathize with a friend. We'd even have trouble making plans for our future. If we ignore the importance of stories, then we ignore ourselves.Storytelling is at the very core of our identities. As is often the case with fictional narratives, the truth of what we say comes not from the facts of the stories themselves, but from the feelings that these facts engender. …If all we had were what the historians dryly tell us, can you imagine ever venturing anywhere new? Would we have ever gone to the moon if all we knew were the barest of facts? This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at tellmeastory.substack.com/subscribe