Why we write...
Story telling is one of the oldest forms of human connection. As well as fostering a sense of belonging, it enables us to learn from experience of others, and share our experiences with them. The format of this storytelling has taken a host of different forms throughout our evolution - all the way from rock art to social media. Even as the format changes, the objective for us remains the same. Connect to others. Feel heard. Learn from each other. Belong.
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of hiking for five days in the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. On our penultimate day, our guide, Sicelo Mbatha, took us to visit a tower of rocks that are home to a series of well preserved rock art. They tell the stories of daily life and activities of the communities who painted them, including women with their digging sticks and the livestock; they show us the infiltration of the European colonisers (depicted wearing hats and riding horses); and they give us visuals of the tribe dancing in spiritual ceremony as the Shaman transforms into his animal spirit.
Rock art across the Drakensberg has been dated back to over 5000 years ago, all the way up until the mid-18th century, as we saw depicting the white settlers in hats. The rock art tells the story of the people living in these mountains over the millennia. Whilst there is much research and theory into this format of story telling, it is clear that the instinctive human urge to tell our story is something that has been with our species as long as we have existed. The rock art preserved their story. It celebrated their way of life, their victories and their losses. It expressed their spiritual beliefs and practices. It marked territory. It taught lessons to future generations to come. Whilst we now consider rock art to be a primitive form of communication, at its essence its purpose is the same as any story-teller from our present time. Preserve and share our truth with others.
Another important lesson from this hike that we learned from the ancient ways, was the importance of the indaba. ‘Indaba’ in isiZulu is a meeting or discussion, but has a further meaning of a deep talk, a gathering of people to discuss and share on topics important to the group. Everyday on our hike, we would gather at the end of the day for our indaba, to share on the trials and celebrations of the day, anything we’d learned and anything we wanted to appreciate in each other.
On our final day, we stopped for lunch under a ‘rock’ which is undoubtedly the largest freestanding boulder I’ve ever seen. Adorned with its own rock art, this spot had been a meeting place for thousands of year. A clearly demarcated location where people could gather to talk, celebrate and connect. We held our final indaba in its shadow, continuing the tradition of this sacred space and connecting not only to each other, but to the thousands of years of humanity that had done the same before us.
Whilst our modern day lives feel a world apart from sitting under a rock in those majestic mountains, what became clear to me is that we, as humans, haven’t changed too much. We express visually on Instagram instead of on rocks. We chat over a glass of wine after work instead of a tribal indaba. We Whastapp instead of writing letters. Our means have changed but the end is the same: connect through story. Visual, written, verbal. We crave connection.
This is true now more than ever. Post-pandemic, technology-focussed, virtual life has left many people with a yearning for a deeper understanding of themselves through others. We want to feel a sense of human connectivity, of our place in the world, of belonging. Added to that, there are many forces and behaviours at play in the world that that need to be challenged. There are experiences that need to be shared and conversations that need to be held. There are beliefs that need to be disrupted.
And so this is why we write, or at least why I write. Because I believe that telling my stories helps me connect with others. I believe sharing our experiences helps us feel less alone, less isolated, less like we’re the oddity. I believe we need now more than ever to find belonging in a deeper sense of what it means to be human. I believe we raise awareness and challenge norms by sharing our deepest internal thoughts. I believe that we enrich our own lives be reading and hearing the truth of other’s. And, for me personally, because writing helps me make sense of my own experience.
This is why I write. I hope you enjoy reading.
The art in the Drakensberg is protected since the mountain range was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.
I’ll write about this hike more because it was LIFE CHANGING, but in the meantime, if you’re curious, please explore Sicelo’s page… he’s one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. https://www.umkhiwanesacredpathways.com