Dear Chuck:
Interesting thesis .. here's the thing though .. we already spend more money and importantly time on Media as a religion(Cable, Internet, Communications/Cel-Tel Phones, books, gaming, etc) than we do on any religion. Media already allows individuals to self publish .. and if the idea is worthy enough it gains traction on a huge level. The religion you speak of is already here .. it's bigger than any 1 billion people under one house .. it's Media .. and like it or not .. it's a steam roller and leveler ..
Aloha,
Jonathan
--JP
04/27 |
"A Church of Stories" is like a build-up of repressed thought that finally releases from the tightly woven devises that keep the innocent meek and the killer illusive. I would have a difficult time holding it all inside, if it weren't for the art of my poetry. It is said, that even the inhuman ingestion of a computer, can only take in so much information, before it finally spews its waste. The human mind can also store a great deal of experiences, but what is one to do with experiences, if not for the ability to share them with others. Some of life's most dark and outrageous thoughts have also become its most beautiful, illustrated only by the countless manifestations of artistic expression. So, open your soul, and bear the taboos of your passion. And yes, there is a difference between painting ones thoughts and carrying them out.
Secretbard
--GBW
04/23 |
Chuck applies fantasy to every day living---the main reason for my adoration of his creativity.
--MSK
04/23 |
That'd be/is a great idea.
Personally, I've never cared for religion & am sickened by the continual flogging of that old horse Jesus('s story in its many guises); granted there are other religions, one which has become the vieweing of "It's a wonderful life" around the 'holidays' when they ought to be playing "Vertigo" instead, or something new, some new stories, but yes, which is why the rising popularity of poetry slams & other story-telling times for communal sharing at bars, clubs & church basements.
--d.
04/23 |
Funny, while reading this I immediately thought of bars/pubs and how they act as a kind of meeting house for the unofficial church of story. Everybody has their regular spots and when he or she isn't going out of their way to generate romantic interest it turns into story time with familiar friends or intriguing randoms. Is the experience cheapened by people being under the influence or is it no worse than, say, south american tribes using hallucinatory drugs to commune with the Gods?
--CBR
04/23 |
If nothing else, an interesting concept. Chuck infallibly tickles the cognition within our core. He certainly has a way with words.
"Church" should be extracted from the title of this new religious sect because it sends a mixed, unclear and conflicting message, I say.
-E.J. Mc Gee - N.Y, NY
--ELM
04/23 |
shit, someone else already said that
--jcz
04/22 |
thank you
--jcz
04/22 |
I work in a bookstore. And I love fiction. But every single day I find myself pulled, like I'm in a slow river, into the biography section. That is where I always find the most interesting stories.
--JC
04/21 |
FYI, Chuck lives in Washington now, might want to update the bio ;-)
--JWD
04/20 |
I have visited the Church of story frequently. Only when the congregation is a singular figure does it satisfy.A congregation consisting of more than the self reproduces the "to be seen " ethos transcending sanctuaries of religious worship.
Great writers are always quirky. I know this. I get the impression you are a fettishist in the most commonly applied sense. I wonder if I am right!
--LW
04/20 |
Chuck,
I've been a big fan of yours for a while. I've read all of your novels. You even sent me a power rhino for Christmas last year. I just wanted to say: What a great idea! Should this idea ever get off the ground, you can be sure that I'll be a member of the parish.
--JDS
04/19 |
Stories are dishonest: I'll stick with my "Fight Club." I kicked it up a notch, though, because punching doesn't have the same impact here in Iraq that it seems to in the Western world.
Naturally, I call it "Bomb, Shoot, and Decapitate Club." My chapter organizes combat catharsis in Baghdad. Anyone want to handle it down in Najaf?
--BKM
04/19 |
I went to Catholic mass almost every week for over 20 years. One of its biggest selling points for me, ever since I was very young, was the fact that I got to listen to roughly 3 stories in an hour. For free.
Nice article by the way. I thought it lost a little force in the delivery of the proposal, but maybe that's a length issue. I would like to read a longer piece by CP about this.
--SI
04/17 |
wonderful words.
I believe I was born into a church similar to the one he mentions. Every artist has probably exerienced something like it -
I have always danced stories, written stories, and listened to stories. My mother works with native american story telling traditions. We both work with community dance where we gather people and turn their stories into performance. People are really - I think - desperate for a Place to express themselves. Rather than a new religion, story telling could be the oldest religion of all. Everything is based in stories.
--AES
04/17 |
Thank you, CP.
--JAP
04/15 |
Churches are places people go just to look good? Not in my experinece.
--afd
04/15 |
This piece is beautiful. Palahniuk manages to describe the need for communication, confession and carthesis without using those sterile terms. Maybe frightening stories can make the world feel like a safe place.
--KO
04/14 |
Maybe what is envisioned here is something a bit more interactive than watching telly. Work with the man here, people, instead of just sourly pointing out that Oprah has already done this - i mean, how many people PARTICIPATE on Oprah or the like, versus how many that watches it? Besides, there is the commercial aspect. The internet is great, but not too physical. How about something a bit more communal in spirit, with no cameras, existing in the moment - how would one go about that?
--eva
04/14 |
The Church of Stories already exists--it's called daytime tv. Watch Oprah; "every story is worth telling." Telling a story well is another thing. I would definitely go to the church if there were a few good tellers.
Church, Christian or otherwise, works as you describe because most of the people there agree on the story, find it instructive, inspiring, comforting. - Justin
--JWM
04/14 |
I'm waiting for fiction to re-enter the realm of fiction- no autobiography expurgations, no dark fantasies fictionalized, no escapist fantasies turned into storylines. Why "fiction" authors believe that what happens in their lives and within their heads is so much more interesting than anyone else around them, I'll never know. It's as if they were never validated and write in order to be.
Sabra Wineteer
--SDW
04/14 |
As you say, people find what they need. The new Church of Story exists and it's on the internet (where else?) It's called fanfiction, and there are thousands of stories by people usiing characters they love to tell stories about what they're thinking and wanting to do that they could never do or tell in real life.
--ab
04/14 |
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