Episode 19: Watering Wholesome Seeds

“In the stories we tell let the spoken word be...of a compelling and imaginative nature. Let it...charm the ear and arrest the mind, to build with perfection and delight…[to be] in itself...worth remembering. But let there be substance equally good.” - Ruth Sawyer, The Way of the Storyteller, p. 156-157. Ruth Sawyer says that our stories should be substantive. The Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “Seeing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope.” Are we committed to sharing or ingesting wholesome, substantive stories that speak truthfully and inspire confidence, joy, and hope? How many films have we seen that expose us and our loved ones to more horrific violence in the first fifteen minutes than anyone should be exposed to in an entire lifetime? Do we ever speak of the value of stories that are “wholesome”? Do we even utter the word “wholesome” except when speaking with irony