Narrative Expectations

I am reading an interesting book by Richard J. Gerrig, Experiencing Narrative Worlds (1993), in which he cites research by Allbritton and Gerrig (1991) to suggest that our hopes and expectations of narratives often shape our experiences of these narratives. The authors note, regarding their study that they sought to demonstrate how "the mental expression of hopes and preferences could directly affect the representation  of textual information" and that "[O]ur intuitions were shaped by the experience of narrative worlds in which outcomes did not follow our preferences" (p.69). Allbritton and Gerrig's theory is intriguing because it suggests that narratives are often co-constructed based on the hopes, expectations and previous experiences of the reader, and are later shaped or potentially even thwarted through the narrative trajectory itself. Gerrig's text abounds with many examples where text contains material which evokes meaning without spelling it out. Readers use a combination of making inferences and participating in the text itself (that is, engaging emotionally in the text) to evoke meanings that might not be in the words themselves. According to this view, readers are active participants in the meaning of the text and how it actualizes for them in daily life.
   As I am reading Gerrig's examples, an intriguing possibility occurred to me that literature and text offer people interesting opportunities to explore disconnects between the narrative and our anticipations and expectations toward the narrative. From a contemplative learning perspective, I can see how one could explore the differences between reading a text "just as is" and using the text along with a contemplative practice like meditation. Would reading a text "as is" add layers of filtering and expectation that reading + meditation would not? According to contemporary thinkers and theorists on mindfulness and meditation, being "mindful" would open new or unexpected possibilities to explore a text in novel ways that render it more interesting or fascinating. That is, we would expect that meditating alongside reading a text would make learners drop expectations of what they hope the text could mean and be more open to its more subtle meanings.
   The case could also be made for how passages from spiritual traditions could be seen differently depending on the context and the way that they are being recited over time. Does reading a spiritual text "as is" have a different feel from reading it alongside meditative practice? Of course, spiritual narratives are a little bit different from narratives from literature or novels, but it would be interesting to compare how expectations are played out in a spiritual as opposed to a non-spiritual text.

Gerrig, Richard J. (1993). Experiencing Narrative Worlds: On the Psychological Activities of Reading. New York: Yale University Press.