Storytelling is an Internet tool that can be used to entertain, attract customers and impart wisdom. Spinning yarns goes back centuries, where the Greeks were among the best.
Homer’s classic myth, Odyssey, focused on the importance of fatherhood. “Does any person know who his father is?” asked Odysseus at the beginning of Homer’s epic tale. This great story tells of a husband seeking his family, a wife longing for her husband and a child searching for his father. Everyone looks for direction on their personal journeys in life. In Care of the Soul, a New York Times best seller from the 1990s, Thomas Moore says that, “If my father is dead, or if he is absent or cold, or if he was a tyrant, or if he abused me, or if he was wonderful but is not there for me now, then who is my father now? Where do I get those feelings of protection, authority, confidence, know-how and wisdom that I need in order to live my life?“
Many people turn to the Internet and social media for that governance. Unfortunately, today’s communication revolution often lacks a “father’s soul.”
A “father’s soul” provides the spirit to give you the strength to be the author of your own life. Moore says that “Soul is not a thing, but a quality…that has to do with depth, value, relatedness, heart and personal substance.”
The Internet is a great tool that provides us with facts, opinion, ideology and reason. But it often lacks the qualities that Moore says creates soul. Storytelling helps bridge that gap. The spirit of soulful storytelling can be found in a man, woman, family, organization, nation or place. It can relay fathering principles that give people the authority and direction they need.
The monolithic nature of the Internet’s standards and practices can deter many from telling their soulful experiences to others. Companies and organizations need to embrace the image of the odyssey, opening themselves up to the possibility of storytelling, discovery and true spirit.
The Odyssey warns that all who profess to speak the father’s spirit are not true. During his travels in the Odyssey, Odysseus’s son is taught by another man named Mentor. The lesson is that there are two types of father figures in our lives, those who want us to be their followers and those who understand their limited role.
Many businesses, politicians and web sites try to embody the father spirit rather than instilling it in us. A true mentor understands we are on our own journeys and need to hear the stories of the past to help us as we travel. Those who simply want more followers for their own gain fail to be true mentors.
These phony mentors fill the Internet with empty promises based upon the shifting ground of ideology, opinion and deceit. Internet justice can be swift when they are exposed as frauds.
Successful storytelling is a powerful authentic tool that can provide direction and meaning to those on their own odysseys. Examine your Internet presence and ask yourself these questions:
Does your Internet presence have authentic storytelling?
Are you a true mentor or simply out for yourself?
If you are not a true mentor, what is the potential damage to you or your organization if this is exposed?
Do your web and social media sites have soul? We are all Odysseus, out to sea and seeking a way home. The true father spirit is one of guidance and trust. Your Internet presence should be no less.
John McGory is a partner with Webface, an original content firm. The team of four storytellers can help you tell your story through video, storytelling and other powerful tools.
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