Truth puts the weight of reality behind you.....you must seek it to realise your potential

The Magic of the Truth Chart: First Clarity, then Character…….

As a coach, as a mentor as a human, it seems pretty clear to me that when at our best we are all on a journey of self actualisation, a path to knowing ourselves just well enough that we know where we fit into the bigger picture, on some small level at least. This demands growth, exploration and courage to keep moving forward and stretching our understanding of ourselves. If we deny this instinct it can lead to a life of dissatisfaction and have us miss out on a key part of the human experience.

Within this process, this journey; an area of focus and study that has long piqued my interest is the fabled 'blindspot'. A part of our character or persona that we just can't 'know' without someone else pointing out, making it explicit. One of the benefits of great coaching, mentoring or a great and honest friend is that they can unlock deeply internalised dialogues and awareness. When made explicit, this can provide access to roads, revelations and realities that could go unseen by most and unappreciated within the frame of our self awareness.

One of my jobs as a coach is to think of new ways to search within, to ‘interocept’ new knowledge about ourselves and thus open up new pathways to self-actualisation, or perhaps lesser trodden pathways that deserve their day. This is not mere navel gazing, this is a focused intention, to 'know thyself' and the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities within!

Oddly enough in a search for techniques to share with people to just that end, I discovered a process used in fiction to develop characters....

Immediately my mind latched on to the idea of - Character development, which is such a key part of any personal development journey. Combining this with a growing understanding of how we actually see the world (counter to our layman's assumptions), I saw an opportunity for a new approach to coaching. The motivation being that often persona is active over character and here in lies a deception, created by parental mishaps, projection, oppressive elements within culture, trauma, developmental faux pas that have inspired us to 'miss the trick' when it comes to self awareness or maturation.

Cue - The Truth Chart

But first let's establish some grounding in the way we see the world, because of course we are the world and as such we apply our perceptual filters onto the self as we do any bias. In fact this bias is likely precisely where a good ratio of our blindspots hide.

'Theory of Mind': A Philosophy

Communication theorist Walter Fisher developed the Narrative Paradigm as a counterpoint to the Rational World Paradigm, which had been grounded in the sciences and posited that humans are fundamentally rational beings. It outlined and asserted that our primary mode of decision making is driven by arguments and reason.?

Fisher had other ideas.......

Conversely in his Narrative Paradigm, Fisher declared that humans are fundamentally storytellers (psychologically speaking) and as a result their predisposition is not explicitly rational, that is to say they don't focus on proofs so much as reasons. In his terms, reasons were a blend of arguments and feelings about the arguments with an added to dose of sixth sense (intuitions.) The implications of this departure from the rational paradigm are far- reaching but I won't cover them all here, the article is pretty lengthy as is!

However, what Fisher captured in his Narrative Paradigm theory was the weighting we hold toward symbolic action (that encompassed words and deeds within sequences of interpretive meaning) would take precedent in terms of decision making. Specifically for those involved in their creation, interpretation, or experience. In other words we observe patterns (that represent as stories) in the world and they have greater influence on us than stand alone arguments and data. Perhaps most importantly the 'Pathos' (greek for evoking emotion) was coaxing us toward action. Fisher goes on to argue we can apply the narrative paradigm to our lives to understand the patterns and themes that reoccur and therefore, ways of understanding our place in our world more comprehensively. Perhaps ways we could shift narratives to shift our role or even destiny. The truth chart could simply be a precise narrative identification tool.

Having introduced these concepts to a handful of clients, they often felt something a shade too wistful and philosophical had entered our coaching domain, but my riposte was simple:?

• The truth chart helps us understand a baseline theme in your personal story.
• And as the brain IS designed to receive information more adeptly via a story than hard data alone,?this could be a novel but effective way to approach YOUR OWN character development.

Why the above is the case is a tricky subject to understand, but put simply there is so much information/data, that to rely decisively on that as the only or even primary means of moving forward would be simply debilitating (we cannot process all the info in the world/cosmos, so we would freeze in analysis.)?So patterns can provide allegorical insight - that is to say, we can apply complex schemas to what we do rather than deal in single bits of information, we run programs, just like a PC..........

Those programs are structured just like a story or they are stories.

So in summary, the key tenet of the viability of the truth chart as a tool for sorting the psyche is this: all human actions can be viewed within the context of a story. Fisher contends that nearly everything we undertake inherently follows a narrative structure. According to Fisher, it is impossible to engage in any activity without it assuming some form of narrative organization. The central points of the Narrative Paradigm include:

• Humans are essentially storytellers.
• Human decisions are rooted in "good reasons" rather than proofs.
• Actions and thoughts are influenced by history, biography, culture, and character i.e. other stories, other patterns.
• Our rationality is shaped by narrative probability (the coherence of the narrative) and narrative fidelity (the alignment of the story with established truths).
• We continually select the stories we engage with, and these choices evolve over time.

In essence, narratives function as selective reality patterns; as individuals we choose what to believe based on external influences and how they align with the patterns. Journalism and the media serve as prominent examples of the Narrative Paradigm's role in shaping a pseudo selective reality. Journalists, striving for objectivity, present information from diverse perspectives, allowing the public to form their own opinions. Nevertheless, despite efforts to maintain objectivity, inherent biases may lead to omissions or the overlooking of certain perspectives. Additionally, readers interpret news stories through the lens of their existing beliefs, employing narrative fidelity to accept or reject elements based on their alignment with preconceived notions.

There may be nothing more insidious than inaccurate preconceived notions within our self concept. These are so often limiting through the presence of arrogance or hyperactive humilities, i.e. we think too much or too little of what we are capable of.

In summary so far, Fisher's Narrative Paradigm posits that human communication and decision-making are inherently narrative in nature, with individuals selectively engaging with and interpreting stories based on their experiences, beliefs, and external influences.?

Kantian psychology explored?

To further understand the mind and its natural tendency towards the architecture of stories in the mapping of our perspective, we can look to a 18th Century philosopher Immanuel Kant, who categorised our functions and left a deep mark on our understanding of the psyche.

My truth chart story.....

I was drawn to this literary mechanic in a search for more understanding as to ‘how we see the world.’ This has been key to my study of human motivation, goal setting and vision building with clients, colleagues and friends. My favoured explanation of this concept of primacy is the Kantian psychological philosophy that the mind has two over arching functions:

“Receptivity” and “Spontaneity”?

This is key moment in our understanding of the psyche, as most imperialists (the evidence over experience types) believed that the mind had one singular function. While Kant supposed that within the mind was a capacity for essentially - chaos and order. By deciphering the nature of the lesser understood chaos element of our executive and subordinate functions, he devised an insight that was incredibly useful. He uncovered we could essentially create a thought, concept or idea independent of an explicit experience or even pre-informed data. In simple terms our minds are agents in the world and not just receptive calculators, builders of constructs between what is and what could be. This at least didn't look the same as inherent rationality. This chaos concept or function is simply referred to as .... insight, in psychology, and has become a widely accepted function of the psyche.?To see within, without the without intervening.

Crazily enough, insight happens when the brain falls slightly towards chaos, set patterns break the river bed and new eddy's ensue. Interestingly (to me at least) anxiety is the same basic neurological mechanism but with a specific negative emotional bias attached.

In?my quest for better understanding of how to help clients navigate the vision and creative process when it comes to their own story, I continued to investigate Kant, who was writing these insights in 1724. It's dumbfounding to acknowledge the intellect that could think of a theory of mind that required virtually ZERO previous knowledge of psychology than that he experienced first hand, impressive to say the least.

But why does this matter? This sidebar is mainly to understand there is some 'Prima facie' source within us that can and should influence our decision making, goal setting and attentional management. Put simply, we have intuitions and they are valuable to forming and informing our motivational frameworks and perhaps behind them is something more intangible but wise. These intuitions could manifest as 'a priori' truths.

So in the truth chart process I am alluding to the idea of unearthing implicit knowledge of the 'self' (Jungian), which was considered to be a-temporal or outside of time. A fantastical idea maybe, but he supposed that the whole self was within and therefore available, as anything you could become was already built into your potential both physical and psychic. This is true epigenetically so it's strangely and strongly backed up by science in some truly rational sense.

Now hopefully I haven't lost you, but in case we've got too esoteric, let's bring ourselves back to the practical. Within the framework of the 'Growth mindset' that fixed beliefs are avoided, what if we could add further force to our growth efforts if we could discover the ingrained fixed beliefs that were the most deceitful, most untrue and therefore our greatest opportunity for self development and

Self actualisation......with reality backing us all the way!

Growth mindset - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/growth-mindset-new-frontier-chris-white-pctxc/?trackingId=pSD9UK7lTKql8SR9cJWtew%3D%3D

On with the technique

So for simplicity's sake, I will approach the truth table from a novice authors perspective to make it accessible and grounded, even if the value of running it on the self maybe anchors in something entirely more abstract.

?? How do I figure out my character’s arc??(How do I figure out my arc?)

When constructing characters this is a key question for authors at any level. Your character's arc is not just a quiet subplot; it's the heartbeat of your story. This powerful tool is designed to illuminate the intricate dance between a characters depth and development. So turning this inward could have profound impact.

?? The Crucial Intersection: Character Arc and Theme

"Character arc isn't a detached element; it's intricately woven into the fabric of your narrative. Your character's journey is not only a personal evolution but also a reflection of the overarching theme. Neglecting this relationship can render a story feeling disjointed and inauthentic."

This is the assessment of professional writer and writing coach KM Weiland who has a great site for would-be authors that can add more detail to the truth chart process and tool. But once again it's important to note the deep weaving of this thematic construct. Stories echoing real life in some sense are more truthful as they echo multiple lived and re-lived realities. So your journey is a personal evolution and the truth seeking is a key element in anyones journey, or should be. We are all living this journey, or avoiding it.

What's your arc of truth??

As we've discussed, the character's arc is influenced by the central thematic Truth, and also the character-specific Lie. This duo shapes the character's growth, providing a roadmap for their transformative journey.

?? Decoding the Truth Chart: Line by Line

• Story’s Big Truth (Main Theme): Define your story's thematic premise, a universal principle that transcends your character's specific practical or physical journey. Whats happening in the psyche, whats being uncovered that has a meta component.
• Story’s Big Lie: Identify the overarching falsehood standing in opposition to the central truth, influencing every facet of your narrative.
• Character’s Specific Truth: Pin down your character's unique perspective on the overarching truth, tailored to the circumstances of your story.
• Character’s Specific Lie: Unearth the root of conflict—what your character mistakenly believes about themselves or the world, driving the plot problems.
• The Thing the Character Wants: Explore the character's immediate, often misguided, desires, fueled by their Lie-based motivations.
• The Thing the Character Needs: Delve into the character's deeper understanding, the ultimate need aligned with the Truth, often manifesting as a concrete, outer-world objective.
• Ghost: Illuminate the motivating event in your character's past—the Ghost—a pivotal moment that planted the seeds of the Lie.

What we can ask ourselves?

What are you good at that others denied or disparaged in you?

What do we know that doesn't conform to family, community culture? (self, work, cosmos)

What do we regret in terms of pursuit of a skill, or path we suppressed?

What do we long for but deny?

What events shaped us, for good or for ill?

What has seemingly served us for a long time but now does not, yet we hold on....?

What do we project (negate or positive) onto others? Traits, skills, habits, behaviours, values, desires...

These are some example questions we could use to uncover blindspots we hold. Below is a well known example from fiction that was quite powerful in its symbolism.

Example

In Harry Potter, we see the main heel has many superficial similarities to the hero.

They are both orphans, their wands are linked (twins in fact), both speak parsel-tongue, their minds are melded (making them psychically connected) and they are both extremely powerful.

This leads Harry to question if he is ostensibly evil and bound to wind up the next Voldemort (I said it!)

It turned out Harry was actually holding a slither of his nemesis's soul, leading to some of the overlaps in power and the mental connection. This is one of many Ghosts, lies and half truths Harry has to work through to fulfil his destiny as a hero. I'll resist the temptation to geek out on this further! The main point is that a poorly interrogated internal narrative can hold us back, and create ongoing doubt. Anything we can do to weaken this oppositional voice that is trying to stop us moving forward can add force to our endeavours.

If we could see the untruth there, could we be released to more conviction and more self actualisation? That's my gambit with this article, to take truth charts from their status as a literary device, to fulfil their destiny as a Coaching one.

?? The Truth Chart: A New Perspective

Each element in the Truth Chart plays a vital role when creating stories, but could the Truth Chart be more? Could it create a lens through which you can refine or even re-define your own narrative, ensuring that your next steps align you with your overarching theme? As you embark on any developmental journey, let the Truth Chart be another tool for accurate orientation and effective character development.

If you enjoyed this article and you're a coach looking for new ideas, reach out. If you are an everyday person looking to add more coherence to your life reach out. If you didn't grasp a word perhaps visit the webpage in the comments and explore the idea for yourself.

Thanks so much for reading the world is deep and so are you, that is the truth. I make no apologies for diving in.

????? #Narrativepsychology #selfactualisation #Selfdevelopment #TruthCharts #LinkedInLearning