What stories have you invented for yourself?

At their most basic level, stories are a form of intellectual alchemy — transforming the way we interact with others, think about our own lives and engage the world.

Stories don’t need to be true to be powerful.

In fact, they don’t even really need to be relevant. They merely need to incite a connection or inspire an emotion to have a massive impact on those who hear it.

Undoubtedly, this is the reason there is so much fear over “fake news” in the information era — an era in which telling stories (true or not) has become easier than ever. Those stories can drive entire cultural shifts, inspire dramatic social movements, or even disrupt the happenings of Wall Street.

However, as scary as that thought might be, this isn’t exactly a new concern. A well-produced radio play by Orson Welles, for example, once resulted in widespread panic and chaos as families huddled around their radios believing the world had just been invaded by Martians. Clearly, gullibility is pretty hardwired into our collective DNA — and we’re all suckers for a good narrative that feeds it.  

However, as powerful as telling stories might be, understanding the stories we choose to believe — and why we choose them — is a powerful tool for maintaining intellectual and ideological honesty about our biases and prejudices.

At their most basic level, stories are a form of intellectual alchemy — transforming the way we interact with others, think about our own lives and engage the world around us. Indeed, the power they have over the way our brains work is truly magical…