Based on the reflections of philosophers such as Will and Ariel Durant we might imagine that human understanding unfolds across three levels, and that the arts belong primarily to the first two. The first level is mythology. At this stage, human beings personify and idolize the forces of the universe, creating gods and stories to explain what they do not yet understand. These narratives, built from character, conflict, and emotional logic, are as compelling as any play or screenplay. They...

I recently came across a workshop titled “Creation, Collaboration, and Community in Writing,” which promised to explore essential questions: What responsibility do playwrights, directors, and actors have to move beyond the idea of the “individual genius” in favor of collaboration, community, and social justice? How do we create work that genuinely values the lived experience of everyone in our communities? These are thoughtful and meaningful questions. Admirable ones. Yet as I read further, I...

For thousands of years, people believed that an unseen, higher power directed all growth and change—a rational or spiritual force that gave existence a final cause, an ultimate end in mind. It was assumed to be omniscient. In that view, nothing existed in vain. The universe was purposeful, and that sense of purpose justified humanity’s search for fixed truths—truths grounded less in physics than in metaphysics, truths that encouraged meditation, moral reasoning, and speculation about the...