A mind must seem divided to its owner (since we&#x27;re parallel processors and consider many things at once) but unified to most observers (so they can model us and our behavior without immense time and effort).  Stories about ourselves, that we believe, give us a self-knowledge that can be imparted.  The quality of these knowledge-nuggets varies wildly, as does our belief in them.<p>Anyway, saying that we&#x27;re natural story tellers isn&#x27;t saying much.  What&#x27;s a story?  Wikipedia:
&quot;A narrative or story is any report of connected events&quot;<p>i.e. a story (in this context) is some carefully curated data about the past, featuring us, and a pattern imposed on that data.<p>Obviously life isn&#x27;t (just) a story.  I imagine though, that someone who thinks they&#x27;re very good at curating and connecting data about themselves, would place a high value on their stories, and those stories&#x27; predictive power.  In the limit, the storyteller might disregard the gestalt data of their senses once the narrative is formed, which might give the impression that life is a story.  This may work very well for the storyteller, but it&#x27;s not the whole... story...  the raw material remains in our minds, and has its own value.  The best story misses much, adds much.  Life is a process, stories are one product.<p>Another thing to notice:  many of us here are assuming that &#x27;story&#x27; means &#x27;..like in a book or movie!&#x27; I submit to y&#x27;all that the vast majority of told stories are vastly vastly different from such, to the point that we can often tell when someone&#x27;s fictionalizing even when they&#x27;re trying hard to disguise it.  Stories about real life often have a meaningless or fractal bent that reveals the structure of their basis-memories, which is beautiful, I think.