Читать книгу Homo narrare. Narrative Intelligence 3.0: Managing Reality and Influencing People - Арсен Аветисов - Страница 4

In my youth, despite all my courage and determination, I lacked wisdom and observation. Every age has its advantages. Now, after several decades, I have come to understand – it is pointless to feel impatience; everything has its time. The time has come to throw the stones. To throw a stone, you need courage and determination. To make it hit the target, you need wisdom and sharp observation.

I wrote this book with the goal of ensuring that everyone blessed with life does not miss its most important aspects – observing events from the back row and mistaking the play being performed for life itself. Even more tragically, mistaking someone else’s life for their own. This is especially true now that there is knowledge, methods, and an entire system for developing narrative intelligence. We can now explain why and how the system has evolved, the theories that have come together to support it, and showcase examples of its application around the world.

This book is not intended as a reference manual; rather, it is a journey into a parallel world that we often mistake for reality – a world through which we are subtly yet effectively governed.

With that in mind, you might ask, why read this book? Perhaps because you have a persistent feeling of being manipulated, influenced, and unable to do anything about it. Meanwhile, you may sense you are not fully realizing the potential and abilities you were born with.

Perhaps you have watched children and wondered how their genuine ability to influence their surroundings could be applied to the adult world. Or maybe you believe that creativity holds the power to transform processes within families, businesses, societies, and nations, and you want to discover how to harness that power. Perhaps you have marveled at how educated people repeatedly choose to be deceived, failing to learn from their mistakes. Or you might simply be curious about how the minds and lives of millions are controlled. Any of these reasons is a compelling one to read this book.

It is difficult to assert confidently what in life has been good or bad. The past serves as a textbook for understanding the present and envisioning the future. It helps us navigate the system of meanings and goals constructed by our minds and environment – or at least orient ourselves within the stories we are told.

We tend to overestimate the importance of our consciousness. We want to appear far more rational, spiritual, and elevated than we truly are. But the truth is, our behavior and thinking are fundamentally driven by the simple desire to live long and happily. Everything else – the narrative we tell ourselves to give our lives coherence – is built on top of this foundation.

Our continuous self-justifying stream of consciousness sweeps aside the logical structures of cause and effect that could explain our actions and mistakes, replacing them with its own constructs. Anything that remains unexplained or threatens our self-perception is attributed to the external world’s unfairness, spawning conjectures, theories, and other uncontrollable, ambiguous forces we label as destiny.

How and why do narratives influence our worldview, and how can they be used to modify or entirely change individual and collective behavior? Today, the battleground lies within our thinking, attention, perceptions, and intellect.

Humanity has traversed a complex path – one far more challenging than that of its neighbors in the evolutionary tree. Yet perhaps the greatest challenge has been, and remains, understanding what governs our behavior, thinking, and intelligence. Ultimately, this understanding has become so expansive and scientific that it allows us to systematically define narrative intelligence, comprehend its functions, and recognize its potential to shape our environment.

The system we know today is the result of a journey that began more than 15 years ago. This was not a deliberate, long-term strategy to expand a method’s reach into a new market segment. Nor was it the brainchild of a marketing department responding to demand or inventing a flashy new idea. What we now call the development of narrative intelligence began without even having a name – a concept for internal use, a desire for more creative ways to develop strategic directions, plans, and visions to unlock human potential within organizations and businesses.

The ideas presented in this book are not abstract concepts; they are the result of systematic scientific discoveries and explorations of meaning throughout human history. At this stage, the concept has reached a balance of methods within the system. The synergy of facilitation, combining cognitive skill development, coaching, storytelling, mentoring, and other approaches, has proven effective as the foundation for cultivating narrative intelligence. The system has demonstrated its efficacy, appeal, and ability to engage participants across various business domains.

Over the years, I have conducted workshops, seminars, and training programs for teams and organizations. Working as a consultant, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with professionals from diverse fields, constantly enriching the system with new methods. Reflecting on this journey, it is clear that there were moments when something special was needed – when the approach required practices, allies, messengers, and the persistence of dedicated individuals to sustain and expand the system’s potential.

Now, everyone can participate in this journey and master the system for managing their environment through the development of narrative intelligence. Simply put, the time has come to share this story with a broader audience.

People often tell me that I withhold something in each book. That is not entirely true. Dessert cannot be served before the main course, and I have often been tempted to publish all the materials I have accumulated in one book. But I convinced myself that the time was not yet ripe to reveal the full scope of how narratives influence our lives.

Those who have read my previous book, The Power of Narrative Intelligence, will find new supporting research here, as well as the principles, methods, and techniques for how narratives influence individuals and their environment.

The book comprises five parts. Part One, Neurophysiology, focuses on research and discoveries that have opened new perspectives on understanding behavior, providing fertile ground for improving methods of influence.

Part Two delves into Narratology, exploring the structure of narratives, their construction, and the critical elements of their impact.

Part Three, Modeling, outlines techniques for creating and transforming narratives to align with an author’s goals and intentions. It addresses how altering a narrative’s architecture can unlock unparalleled energy for influence.

Part Four, Monopolies, offers examples of how societal institutions historically monopolize narratives to shape the lives and destinies of individuals.

Finally, Part Five, Motivation, examines the energetic doctrine of narratives – what motivation truly is, how to create spaces for motivating narratives, and how to sustain them.

As optimists, we have endured two world wars and seven seasons of Game of Thrones, eagerly awaiting their sequels and prequels as if they were arrivals of the Messiah. Despite the uncertainty brought by pandemics, crises, and conflicts, we continue to envision a hopeful future.

The task of the artist, at times, is not to obstruct the viewer’s vision. The task of each individual is not to hinder their own life – or at the very least, to live a life that is authentically their own. In a space confined by desires, imagination, and fears, people often replicate the fading emptiness of others’ meanings. The shadows of our consciousness are darker than we realize. Let yourself invite light into that space.

I wish you delight and success on this journey. And may you be spared from the narratives of enemies and adversaries.