OUR BRAINS ARE LESS TETHERED TO REALITY BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE STORY ADDICTION
There’s a new book that came out today, Arrow: The Power and Poison of Story, by William Gadea. It’s clear that I will need to read it, and I can’t help but wonder if it be food for thought, or fraught. The author Gadea has practiced Zen for the last 17 years. Part of his journey has led him to the realization that storytelling is no longer just about how people communicate; it now involves how technology has undermined and essentially pre-empted our consciousness. This is poignant to me as I’m a voracious reader of fiction and, inevitably, a consumer of all sorts of media. The thoughtful idea that our brains aren’t as tethered to reality because of story addiction is…. interesting.
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But I must say that it’s not surprising. Gadea in his new book explores how we’ve all become “story animals,” in that the linear path of our life experiences are filtered through a never ending current of internal narratives. Gadea incorporated neuroscience, evolutionary biology and his own understanding of Buddhist thought to consider how consciousness, memory and language have combined into a single framework that allows everyone to both create and inhabit a story. And an endless number of perpetual stories. This has in turn given us all the ability and inclination to live inside linear tales of origin. But this story addiction he explores could also mean that our storied imaginations can feel more real than… reality.
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STORY ADDICTION MAY SEEM SHOCKING AT FIRST, AND THEN SEEM LIKE COMMON SENSE
While all of that sounds somewhat alarming and disturbing, I suspect social psychologists won’t be surprised. Nor, for that matter, will anyone who’s good at marketing schemes or politics. Especially political poll makers. But I’m more than a little curious to learn more about story addiction myself. And hopefully delving into this analytic bid exploring the intersecting combination of consciousness, memory and language will give me some insight into my own patters as well as the rest of my fellow Man, Woman and everyone non-binary. But I’m most especially interested in how technology impacts this behavioral tautology.
I think it’s worth the read.
