In the introduction to Rav Chesed, a collection of explanations on Rebbe Nachman's stories based on shiurim of Rav Avraham Zvi Kluger, Rav Kluger explains why it is that Rebbe Nachman often told the stories while traveling. What follows is my adaptation of what he says.
When a person is following his daily routine at home and work he usually lacks the ability to step outside of himself and take a good look at how he is conducting his life. It is only when he travels and enters into a situation where things are out of the regular order that he finds himself in unanticipated situations, he discovers ideas that he never knew about and sometimes realizes that while he thought the trip was for one purpose, it was really for another. This was especially true in previous generations when travel was dangerous and a person had no idea what would happen to him until, if, he returned home. Because of the poor communication in the past he could travel long distances expecting to meet with someone and discover that the entire journey appears to be for naught. And even in today's word of instant communication, we still recite tefilas haderech, because traveling still contains an element of the frightening unknown.
Telling a story can be quite trippy as well. Story telling, and listening, is an opportunity to take our minds out of the rote and mundane lives we live and to go on a flight of fancy and view life and existence from a very different perspective. We may still be physically in the same space where we were to begin with, but our minds can now travel across the universe and experience new paradigms of thought that would remain locked to someone who doesn't travel in a coach or in his mind.
רב חסד א' ט"ו
When a person is following his daily routine at home and work he usually lacks the ability to step outside of himself and take a good look at how he is conducting his life. It is only when he travels and enters into a situation where things are out of the regular order that he finds himself in unanticipated situations, he discovers ideas that he never knew about and sometimes realizes that while he thought the trip was for one purpose, it was really for another. This was especially true in previous generations when travel was dangerous and a person had no idea what would happen to him until, if, he returned home. Because of the poor communication in the past he could travel long distances expecting to meet with someone and discover that the entire journey appears to be for naught. And even in today's word of instant communication, we still recite tefilas haderech, because traveling still contains an element of the frightening unknown.Telling a story can be quite trippy as well. Story telling, and listening, is an opportunity to take our minds out of the rote and mundane lives we live and to go on a flight of fancy and view life and existence from a very different perspective. We may still be physically in the same space where we were to begin with, but our minds can now travel across the universe and experience new paradigms of thought that would remain locked to someone who doesn't travel in a coach or in his mind.
רב חסד א' ט"ו
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