Master Narrative
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Master Narrative
A Master Narrative is a transhistorical, ideological storyline[1] that emerges within the boundaries of a Creation Template to direct and regulate social behavior, identity, and collective memory. Master Narratives provide cultural scripts that define who people are, how they should live, and what they should aspire to, often legitimizing existing power structures and social hierarchies.[2]
Concept Map
Key Terms
Syncretic Terms
Creation Template > Comprehensive Framework, Discourse, Existential Narrative, Existential Paradigm, Functional Narrative, Master Narrative, Master Story, Meaning Structure, Ruling Ideology
Related LP Terms
Master Narrative > Archetype Deck, Archetype System, Archetypes, Conceptual Framework, Symbol, System Architect
Non-LP Related Terms
Master Narrative > George Lucas, Hayao Miyazaki, Ideology, Indoctrination, Sacrilization
Narrative Types
Narrative > Elite Narrative, Existential Narrative, Functional Narrative, Master Narrative, Mundane Narrative, Sacred Narrative
Additional Exploration
Theoretical and Conceptual Distinction
Although both Creation Templates and Master Narratives are transhistorical and aimed at directing human thought and behavior, they serve **different theoretical functions** and operate at **different levels of abstraction**:
| Creation Template | Master Narrative |
|---|---|
| **Structural / Ontological**: Provides a cosmological or metaphysical framework explaining existence, human purpose, and the design of reality. | **Narrative / Ideological**: Provides a social-historical storyline that shapes collective identity, behavior, and meaning across time. |
| Acts as a **root framework**: foundational assumptions about the universe, humanity, and social order. | Acts as a **mythic storyline** deployed within and on top of the template to justify particular social relations, hierarchies, or behavior patterns. |
| Example: The Old Energy Creation Template that posits humanity as fallen, sinful, separate, and inferior. | Example: The Western Civilizational Narrative that says "Progress is achieved through competition and domination." |
| Typically **implicit** — it underlies multiple master narratives. | Typically **explicit** — it appears in media, religion, education, politics. |
| **Universalizing and transhistorical**: It provides the cosmic architecture in which master narratives arise. | **Localized and historical**: changes across time periods but anchored in the Creation Template. |
Why Keep Them Separate
The conceptual utility of keeping them distinct is:
- Analytical clarity: Allows analysis of how specific Master Narratives are rooted in Creation Templates.
- Intervention strategy: Enables dismantling or rewriting of Master Narratives without needing to deconstruct the entire Creation Template, though advanced praxis may target the Template itself.
- Historical specificity vs ontological universality: Creation Templates are typically stable across long periods; Master Narratives are flexible and historically dynamic.
Syncretic Utility
While it is possible to syncretize these concepts into a broader analysis of narrative control structures, maintaining the distinction enables multi-layered critique. This allows practitioners to differentiate between:
- Deep metaphysical programming (Creation Template)
- Social, historical, and ideological narratives (Master Narratives) that operationalize that programming in everyday life
Conceptual Map: Creation Template vs Master Narrative
Structural Relationship
- Creation Template (CT)
- Provides the metaphysical, ontological, and cosmological framework within which human identity, purpose, and social order are defined.
- Operates at a foundational level, shaping what is considered possible, acceptable, and meaningful.
- Typically implicit and stable over long historical periods.
- Master Narrative (MN)
- Emerges within the framework provided by the Creation Template.
- Provides ideological storylines that direct social behavior, identity, and collective memory.
- Typically explicit and contextually adaptive.
Flow of Influence
Creation Template → Provides cosmological/ontological assumptions → Conditions → Master Narratives → Direct social behavior and cultural meaning
Example
- Creation Template: Humanity is fallen, sinful, separate, and inferior.
- Master Narrative: Success requires domination and suffering; human value is earned through hard work and obedience.
Key Distinctions Table
| Creation Template | Master Narrative |
|---|---|
| Implicit, foundational, metaphysical | Explicit, ideological, cultural-historical |
| Stable over long periods | Adaptive and flexible over time |
| Universalizing and transhistorical | Localized and historically specific |
| Underlies multiple Master Narratives | Operationalizes the Creation Template |
Intervention Strategy
- Contest or rewrite specific Master Narratives.
- Advanced praxis: Expose, critique, and rewrite the underlying Creation Template.
Syncretic Utility
While Creation Templates and Master Narratives can be collapsed into a single analysis of narrative control structures, maintaining their distinction enables multi-layered critique and provides greater conceptual precision.
Conceptual Map (Tree Chart)
Example Structure
- Creation Template: Humanity is fallen, separate, inferior.
- Master Narrative A: Success is earned through suffering and obedience.
- Master Narrative B: Competition and domination lead to progress.
- Master Narrative C: The strong are entitled to rule over the weak.
Analytical Note
Each Master Narrative operationalizes and localizes the existential assumptions embedded in the Creation Template, shaping behavior, identity, and power relations in specific historical contexts.
Notes
On the LP, we call master narratives Creation Templates to emphasize their creative/formative intent. That is, they are constructed to facilitate the creation of a certain reality.
Master narratives contain "powerful persuasive messages that not only resonate or “ring true,” but also compel a certain level of ideological identifi cation, behaviour, and actions."[3]
Master narratives are broadly accepted, readily understood, but rarely questioned.
Master narratives provide humans with meaning. They 'spring...from the nature of human beings to interpret the world around them through stories, ranging from the most abstract ideas of good and evil, to the use of those ideas to structure relations between humans, to the use of communication to conduct those relationships.'[4]
Master narratives do not emerge out of the primordial muck of consciousness. Neither are they epiphenomenal outgrowths of humanity's propensity to find meaning. Master narratives are deliberately created by elites who co-opt, colonize, control, and reshape the work of mystics and creatives into narratives that support their economic and political agendas. For example, a master narrative that casts God as a genocidal bully enables colonial violence, war, and control.[5]
On the LP, a master narrative is known as a Creation Template, a term that better highlights the intentional nature of master narratives. Creation templates are created to shape thinking, which in turn shapes behaviour, which in turn shapes reality.[6]
This planet is currently dominated by a colonial narrative that enables violence (violence in this system if justified, so long as it is aimed at "bad" people) and justifies accumulation. The dominant narrative, which appears in all western religions esoteric and exoteric, is rooted in Zoroastrian Frame. The Zoroastrian frame is an ancient system of Archetypes created by high priest Tanser at the behest of his Emperor master, Aradashir.[7]
Hayao Miyazaki criticizes the Western European master narrative, saying, quite correctly, that it enables violence, war, and genocide.[8]
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Footnotes
- ↑ Halverson, Jeffry R., H. L. Goodall, and Steven R. Corman. Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. p. 15.
- ↑ Mike Sosteric and Gina Ratkovic, Lightning Path Workbook Two - Healing (St. Albert, Alberta, Manuscript), https://www.lightningpath.org/lp-workbooks/.
- ↑ Halverson, Jeffry R., H. L. Goodall, and Steven R. Corman. Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. p. 13.
- ↑ Halverson, Jeffry R., H. L. Goodall, and Steven R. Corman. Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. p. 15.
- ↑ Sosteric, Mike. “From Zoroaster to Star Wars, Jesus to Marx: The Art, Science, and Technology of Human Manipulation,” Unpublished. https://www.academia.edu/34504691.
- ↑ Sosteric, Mike. “A Short Sociology of Archetypes,” 2020. https://www.academia.edu/44254363/
- ↑ For the full story, read Iranian historian Mary Boyce's excellent Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge, 2001 and Sosteric, Mike. “From Zoroaster to Star Wars, Jesus to Marx.” https://www.academia.edu/34504691.
- ↑ Nosa. “Why Hayao Miyazaki Hates Lord of the Rings and Other Hollywood Movies.” Fansided, 2022. https://hiddenremote.com/2022/04/18/hayao-miyazaki-hates-lord-of-the-rings/.