Story and Belief

This book is about story, and our dependence as human beings on belief in stories. Science tells us that every direct experience becomes stored in our brains in the form of story. The moment when a direct experience becomes a thought, it is already part of a story. We build our individual stories throughout our lives within the context of cultural stories; then we cling to our stories as if they were truth itself. We lose sense of our stories as perception. Perception is just another way of saying, "the story I believe in." We reject the stories of others when they conflict with our own, and we cling to our stories even when they cause us pain. Story and Belief examines the cultural and religious stories that frame our lives, and the ways in which we can reach beyond the layers of story to our inner selves, where it is possible to create new stories that are happier and healthier ones.