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Through the ages, we have used stories to entertain, to teach, and to persuade each other - but somewhere along the way, Story became more than a tool; it became who we are. Our Self is a cluster of stories: an explanation of where we came from, a definition of who we are, and an anticipation of where we are going. As the Gautama Buddha observed 25 centuries ago, this Self is an illusion and a source of suffering and dissatisfaction.
In ARROW, William Gadea weaves together insights from neuroscience, evolutionary studies, the Buddhist tradition, history, imagination, and memoir - to tell the story of Story. How many different faculties, each with their own independent adaptive utility - consciousness, self, emotions, episodic memory, mental modeling, theory of mind, language - converged to create the majestic power of storytelling. This new ability became not just a tool of communication and organization, but a mechanism of self-regulation and social connection: we became Story Animals. Our minds turned into hives where the narrative often seemed more real than our actual experience. This mode was powerful, but it also left us discontent and vulnerable.
Arrow: The Power and Poison of Story, William Gadea, Marrow Publishing, Paperback, 222 pages, $16.99
William Gadea is a Peruvian-American writer, filmmaker, and Zen practitioner with a passion for storytelling in all its forms. He was raised in Peru, Australia, and the Dominican Republic before coming to the United States to study film at NYU. He has worked in television news, Wall Street, and he has founded IdeaRocket, an international animation studio. Currently he lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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