205. The Uniting Power of Story | Angus Fletcher

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Nov 29, 2021

Angus Fletcher, Professor of Story Science at Ohio State's Project Narrative and author of Wonderworks, dives into the transformative power of storytelling. He argues that stories not only enhance creativity but are tools for resilience and personal growth. Fletcher explores the connection between literature and spirituality, emphasizing how heroic narratives inspire collective identity. He also discusses how narratives help articulate complex human behavior, highlighting their therapeutic potential in coping with trauma and fostering emotional resilience.

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INSIGHT

Stories' Power

Stories are the most powerful tool humans possess because they can change how our minds work.
They make us more resilient, creative, and scientific, coupling with the brain's power.

INSIGHT

Focus of Literary Studies

Literary studies should focus on how stories empower us and improve human performance, like science does.
Stories were created to help humans cope with life's challenges and become better versions of themselves.

ANECDOTE

The Iliad and Courage

Homer's Iliad makes readers feel braver by mimicking the effect of soldiers' songs.
It uses techniques to make the brain believe it's part of a larger chorus, increasing courage.

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The great mother

An Analysis of the Archetype

Erich Neumann

In this book, Erich Neumann delves into the archetype of the Great Mother, tracing its evolution from prehistoric times to modern society. He analyzes the feminine archetype through various cultural and historical representations, such as goddesses, monsters, and natural symbols. Neumann's work highlights the dialectical relationship between growing consciousness and the unconscious, symbolized by the child and the Great Mother, respectively. The book is considered a profound and enduring contribution to archetypal studies and Jungian psychology[3][4][5].

The hero with a thousand faces

Joseph Campbell

In this book, Joseph Campbell explores his theory of the 'monomyth', a universal pattern found in the mythological narratives of various cultures. He details the stages of the 'hero's journey', which include departure from the ordinary world, initiation into a supernatural world, and return with a boon. Campbell draws on a wide range of mythological sources and integrates insights from psychology, particularly from Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, to illustrate the common elements of heroic myths across different cultures.

The Neuropsychology of Anxiety

An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-Hippocampal System

Jeffrey Alan Gray

Neil McNaughton

This book presents an innovative theory of anxiety, emphasizing the role of the septo-hippocampal system in the brain. It has been updated to include new insights into anxiety and its relationship with brain function, making it a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians in psychology and neuroscience.

The Origins and History of Consciousness

Erich Neumann

In this influential book, Erich Neumann outlines the archetypal stages in the development of consciousness, using depth psychology and analytical psychology. He discusses how individual consciousness undergoes the same stages of development as human consciousness as a whole, tracing these stages through various myths and archetypes such as the Great Mother, the separation of the World Parents, the Birth of the Hero, and the Slaying of the Dragon. The book emphasizes the role of the collective unconscious and the evolving ego consciousness, and it includes a foreword by C.G. Jung. Neumann's work connects these psychological concepts to therapy, aiming to help individuals and society by exploring the deep parts of the mind and understanding myths and their impact on human development.

Wonderworks, the 25 most powerful inventions in the history of literature

Angus Fletcher

This episode was recorded on September 7, 2021.

Angus Fletcher and I discuss creativity, the link between literature and resilience, what makes for compelling narratives, the different kinds of stories, and much more.

Angus Fletcher is a Professor of Story Science at Ohio State's Project Narrative, the world's leading academic think-tank for narrative theory. He is also the author of Wonderworks: The 25 Most Important Inventions in the History of Literature.

Find more Angus Fletcher on his website: https://AngusFletcher.co

[00:00] Intro

[01:21] What is Project Narrative?

[02:27] "Stories are the most powerful things ever invented. They're the most powerful tool we possess" Angus Fletcher

[03:04] "When you realize stories have the power to change how our mind works, to troubleshoot it, to make it more resilient, more creative, more scientific—to do all these things... When you couple the power of stories with the human brain, you throw open the doors to anything" AF

[03:53] The problem with literary studies. How stories empower us and improve performance

[07:06] Wonderworks and the story of courage in Homer's Iliad

[12:40] "Literature and scripture are synonyms. They mean 'that which is written.' So [something] more fundamental than any technology... Is simply that sense of spiritual experience" AF

[13:18] The Neuropsychology of Anxiety by J. Grey

[14:44] What are the 2 kinds of stories?

[19:12] Story thinking

[19:22] "Human cognition is largely narrative. We process the world narratively" AF

[22:12] "The wonder of being on this earth... is to build stories and [empower people] to tell their own" AF "And to unite us in a collective story so we can work towards the same ends" JP

[23:00] Why are certain stories so compelling?

[24:48] The zone of proximal development

[25:44] "Being enthralled is a manifestation of the instinct that specifies the zone of proximal development" JP

[31:24] The ideal spirit transcending the individual; Jung's Pleroma

[32:14] "The flip side of anxiety is creativity—they're both about restless energy" AF

[33:31] What's the source of dreams?

[33:55] "We have this vast knowledge in embodied action." A great storyteller takes "images that reflect a compelling pattern of behavior [and verbalizes them]” JP

[34:56] Abstract representation of patterns as a dream-source

[38:43] Computational power, stories, and the differences between the abstract and particular

[38:48] "Much of what drives the demand for higher computational resources is... producing artificial realities for fantasy simulation" JP

[45:51] Christianity and Star Wars

[46:35] "Star Wars is Christianity for atheist nerds" JP

[46:56] "We are most happy when we don't perceive ourselves as inheriting an archetypal story" AF

[48:16] "We see in stories, and this is partly why our eyes are adapted... so that people can see [the white in] our eyes. It's really important because [our eyes point at] what they're interested in. We can see what they value [and] infer their motivation" JP

[50:36] Literature and psychedelic experiences

[51:27] "In psychotherapy... you're trying to hammer the person's narrative into a single... functional unit" JP

[55:31] Trauma, unconscious mapping, and dream analysis

[56:56] "Any territory you cannot perceive through the overlaid projection of a narrative map is traumatizing" JP

[59:59] Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Erich Neumann

[01:02:51] Jung vs Darwin on stories

[01:10:18] "Literature can build emotional and intellectual resilience" AF

[01:14:55] Being adaptive is “to be emotionally and intellectually resilient" AF

[01:15:54] Creative training; measuring creativity

#Creativity #Stories #Jung #Literature #Darwin