Goodreads
Goodreads asked Mitchell Stokely:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Mitchell Stokely Thank you for the question.
I see no mystery in my own life. There is nothing even close to mystery that is worthy of a book. My life is very bland. I see only the Mystery of Life, in general, and the search for it as having any worth as far as a plot.

Mythology is where story comes from, and it derives from universal truths that derive from things that exist beyond the individual or Human experience. They are things all Humans share, however. If you build meaning upon your personal experience, it is just a causal loop...a replay of a movie already enacted. You build a monument to yourself no one will ever visit, worship, or cherish. But living your life towards a higher goal does have mystery and meaning.

Looking for personal mystery to me implies a search for one's identity, something hollow and unfinished, a journey for young people to initiate and complete in their old age. Of course, you will discover at the end of that journey, there is no real meaning or mystery in one's life. There is vast meaning and mystery in the search for it...which is the Hero's Journey and the Great Adventure that is Life.

Many inspired people spend their whole lives searching for the source of the outer mystery that is truth in science and truth in God. There are real stories and plot lines there. For example, I read about the life of Thomas Aquinas and learned something important about his discoveries. You can believe in both science and God at the same time. His life and teachings dissolved that mystery for me. A great story lives there.

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more