Stories: Not just entertainment

I'm reading Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony now. Here's a relevant quote from the beginning:

Ceremony

I will tell you something about stories,
[he said]
They aren't just for entertainment.
Don't be fooled
They are all we have, you see,
all we have to fight off illness and death.

You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories.
See Why Write Fiction:  The Power of Storytelling for more on the subject.