So much of the essence of human life was initially handed
down through the generations by way of oral traditions. It is a fact that many stories in The Bible,
as well as other knowledge, were not written down for generations. The invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press
is heralded as a major positive event in the evolution of knowledge management
and I agree; but, there may have been a negative impact as well. Is it possible that the printed word
triggered the death of Oral Traditions? The
magic of the oral tradition is that the stories spoke to the moment and situation
at hand. Books may in fact act to
separated us from that important point!
Look at what happens when a story is finally written down. First,
the writer has to decide what the story means.
They then have to decide on how they are going to say what it
means. The filtering that takes place at
this point of the process acts much like an optical lens. The story is interpreted to focus on a
particular meaning. Once written, each eventual
reader must do a reverse process to extract meaning from the written word with
the risk that the original range of possible meaning be lost Just
look at the amount of time and effort that has been expended just discussing, arguing
and translating the written documents discovered and preserved over the years. E.g. At the extreme wars have been fought
over what the Bible means to say.
When we apply oral traditions directly the ideas and lessons
in a particular story event come to the surface as the stories are told. Even in cultures where formal language skills
are almost nonexistent, deep and complex meanings survive.
Story telling is an art that is difficult to explain. The most effective communicators and teachers
are masters of this art; Jesus was a master of it. Just study the parables that he used. Use caution, they have been written down.
In summary we must never lose sight of the fact that
knowledge cannot live in a book and many times it is not expressible. Until it is understood by a human mind and
usable it is not knowledge. As you develop
your communication and teaching skills remember that the best communications
are done on the fly. Learn to understand
the other. Learn how to help the other
understand you. Remember that the truth
is not found until you find it together.
