Writing in an Empty Forest

Why do we write?
(We're gonna ramble today.)
Stories originally told verbally were used to either educate or inspire. Storytellers of the tribe were honored with their people's traditions and lessons.
It became more.
Speaking became writing, the stories and lessons multiplied, and people (eventually) became empowered with control over their educations and imaginations.
Two thousand years later...why do we write?
As a society, why does any individual person write?
What is an unexamined life, as a worst case scenario? What is an unrecorded thought? It is thought, and then it is gone. When it is forgotten, did it ever exist? As they say, when a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?
If a person lives their entire life thinking thoughts that they never write down, and then dies, what happens to all of those thoughts? Did they ever exist?
Of course the tree makes a sound; of course those thoughts existed. The mind bending nature of those questions seeks to gaslight the subject. Why wouldn't the tree make a sound? The existence of sounds does not depend on whether or not they are heard. The existence of thoughts does not depend on whether or not they are remembered. There's a darker, more sinister side to the implications of the questions, as well. The frailty and mortality of humanity lurks within. We have finite senses and finite lives. We cannot experience everything, and everything ends. Oblivion is terrifying. "I think, therefore I am." What are we without our thoughts? What are we if we cannot think?
Why do we write?
Is it the validation? Is it the permanence?
Let's turn this circle of thought into a sphere.
God created us in His image. As a reflection, we might emulate the act of creating. God spoke, and so we speak. "So it was written..." And so we write. That, of course, could lead to the next question, and it is for each of us to answer.
Do we write to glorify God or to glorify ourselves?
Why do we write? Is the need to affirm our existence and staple down a form of immortality just the beginning? Is the next step to proverbially complete the Tower of Babel and reach the heavens to face God - even surpass Him?
Are we serving God or are we trying to become a god?

Why do you write?