Oct 11, 2014

The Power of Stories

By Mariavittoria Scala / filmsforaction.org

I am reading a book by Professor Yuval Noah Harari called Sapiens-A Brief History of Human Kind. 

A part from the fact that is terribly interesting in terms of knowing the past to understand the present, a thought came to mind.
Homo Sapiens reached the highest position in the food chain thanks to the Cognitive Revolution, the ability of create stories and passing informations through. But most important of all, to the ability of create and believe in something that doesn’t exist. Thanks to that we are able to function as a community, to collaborate with each other and work as a society. Up to today, things like money, religion, laws unite us and they move and change our behaviour. 
I like to say the stories change History and if so, we probably need stories that encourage positive change, that make us act for the better, by giving us ideas of infinite possibilities. Stories that change our anger and frustration in a positive and more proactive attitude.
In 1789, The French Revolution brought an entire population to stop believing in the divine right of the king and  to start believing in the myth of the sovereignty of the people, almost overnight.
Isn’t maybe those kind of stories that we need to bring forward?
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