The Storytelling Animal

The human condition, said seventeenth-century French polymath Blaise Pascal, is defined by the greatness and wretchedness of man. As there is duality to our nature as human beings, there is duality to our stories. Great stories lay bare a culture’s values and expose truth where we might otherwise not wish to see it. As we explore the duality of stories and our human nature, we see the way that stories have been used to nurture what is best in each of us and diminish what is bad—all for the purpose of leading richer, more joyful, and more meaningful lives.