can organise their own experience, which is a description of their activity, and fill all this activity with meaning. The way a person builds and organises their narratives gives an idea of what behaviour they prefer and how they see this world and their life.
It is easier for us to perceive our own life according to the laws of the plot. Because life ‘by itself’ does not exist. Since childhood, we form ideas of the world based on the stories told by people who are important to us. Step by step, we imitate, learn, and build our world view, our library of narratives. And this is a very important ability – by retelling narratives, to determine the goals and meanings behind events, as well as another one – to change them and create new ones.
Our children readily forget their parents’ moralising, but without hesitation they quote fictional characters from numerous Disney and Marvel stories. A person is brought up and trained on narratives. It is more convenient and familiar for our brain to perceive knowledge processed in stories than to memorise regulations, forms, and lists that lack the qualities of a narrative.
Adults have their own forms of narratives. The methods of relaying narratives may differ depending on the occupation. They are different for consultants, politicians, directors, journalists, and coaches… You can continue this list yourself.
Narratives, meanings, and goals are all tied in one powerful, tight knot. The more often we examine them, the more accurately and correctly we define our goals as well as those of our surroundings. Narratives ultimately determine the reality we want to have. And people prefer the reality in which their narratives take place. It does not matter how real this reality is. We believe that there are points of no return in life. There is always a choice, there are no situations without a choice. Even when there is no choice, there really is one: just NOT to choose. But we choose all the time. Fortunately, our choice is not determined solely by our instincts. It is defined by our narratives. The choice of narrative is the choice of behaviour, and therefore the choice of one’s present and future.
Graduates of an American university, who were on average no more than 25 years old, were asked the question: ‘How do you imagine yourself at 40?’ The vast majority told what they wanted to have when they were 40. A few told who they wanted to be at this age. Which of them do you think will do better?
Intelligence is a rational assessment of the world, a judgement, a concept. Emotional intelligence (EI) is an irrational and subjective assessment of the world. Separately, they are the cause and formal grounds for a person’s actions. Narrative intelligence is the place where rational intelligence and irrational emotional intelligence combine to form a dualistic matter, i.e. human behaviour. It, like many compilations, fits into scenarios that are understandable for the person involved, but sometimes inexplicable in general.
Overall, our effectiveness does not lie in taking tests, doing mental calculations, and staying cool. It is about what we do and how we do it – our behaviour. This is the end product of our brain activity.
Narrative intelligence is a set of such abilities to determine behaviour, create new narratives and use them to solve problems and exercise influence. Narrative intelligence is the ‘assemblage point’ of our behaviour. By and large, a person is a moving collection of all their narratives in space and time. Although this movement itself is also a narrative.
Monopoly on Narratives
How societies create a monopoly on meanings and narratives and how people voluntarily choose them.
People believe what they believe and see what they believe.
In the last century, when films featuring cowboys and Indians were shown in cinemas, there was an increase in injuries caused by arrows shot from DIY bows. A well-made film is an example of a spectacular passive narrative.
A narrative can serve two purposes. Passive – when narratives act as role models to follow. And active – when they influence behaviour through their semantic realisation.
A correctly structured conversation with a parent or spiritual shepherd, after which a person changes his or her life, is an example of an active narrative. We accept any stories in which we find something useful for ourselves, something that we can gain from or avoid. We learn from those who tell us such stories and, in fact, shape our behaviour. But the lesson that can be learned from human history in a broad sense is that humanity does not learn from history. Every hundred years or less it repeats some dramatic episodes of its history. Maybe these are not the right stories… Or maybe not the right lessons…
The vast majority of stories are told to us by amateurs. But professionals have a greater and more targeted influence on us.
For centuries, directly or indirectly, governments have created and disseminated narratives facilitating continuous monitoring of citizens’ behaviour. The system of narratives is a powerful tool through which institutions are able to predict and guide people’s thinking, decisions, and actions. The process maintains consistency and continuity by featuring different groups of narratives for each age. Step by step, starting with the family, parents, kindergarten, with the established order at school and the curriculum at college or university. Then everything is much easier.
People are taught behavioural patterns that carry various meanings and concepts within themselves: about guilt, about punishment for the slightest deviation from the existing system, about rewards, and even about social behaviour scoring systems.
If following the parents’ narrative gives the child an appropriate reward, then he or she will readily accept it. The adult world has its own universal system for controlling and regulating behaviour – money. Its essence lies in the initially created shortage and limited purchasing power. This imbalance becomes the primary mechanism for the functioning of any survival model that a person chooses.
The system should have a tool to measure a person’s position in relation to the imbalance between their needs and capabilities. This form of measurement, which we can call a social convention, is money.
Money allows you to exchange your work, time, and even life for the satisfaction of your most diverse fantasies. To consolidate this dependence, hundreds of different instruments have been invented – loans, obligations, mortgages. Therefore, people cling to work and endure humiliation and pressure. Money is a universal and unique narrative. It is not a natural resource essential for life, like air, sun, flora and fauna. However, it is considered by people as an indispensable means of survival, for which they can sacrifice air, flora, fauna, and the planet itself.
The narratives that dominate a society do not come from the society, although they may convincingly appear to do so. They always, to one extent or another, represent the views of those in power, whether political parties, banks, corporations, the ruling elite or the armed forces. One can observe any combination of the above-mentioned organisations that, by creating temporary alliances, control the public narratives and shape the societal agenda.
Content meanings in narratives regularly create illusory social beliefs. For example, 'War stimulates scientific and creative potential.' There is no real reason for this, other than the fact that increased funding for the defence industry leads to more inventions and technical breakthroughs. Invest in another industry to that extent, and you will see what you get. What you water and care for grows.
Most people tend to exaggerate the fact that free enterprise and competition create motivation. This is only partially true. If the world is based on competition, then what is the competition
