Fiction Instinct
Movies are fantastic.
Books are fantastic.
Stories are fantastic.
Ever since the dawn of time, we’ve been telling each other stories.
This clearly is a instinct.
Whenever you can find something that exists in all cultures now, and has existed in all cultures before, chances are it’s an instinct.
Joseph Campbell famously came up with the idea of the “monomyth,” or more commonly known as the Hero’s Journey.
A story structure perfectly suited for cave people.
So when they went to “work” every day, they had a collection of archetypical helpers.
Archetypes
Heroes to help give them motivation when they had to do very dangerous yet very necessary things.
But consider a critical component of that.
The heroes in those stories, their epic character arcs, absolutely MUST be believable.
Imagine a weird kind of split test.
Two different cave dudes from two different tribes out hunting.
They each are by themselves.
They each see the same animal.
An animal that could kill them.
An animal that if they cave dude killed, he’d be the hero.
And he might even get laid.
So here’s the test.
One difference between the two, in this goofy imagination.
One guy had a very, very, very strong belief in the hero’s of his tribe’s stories.
A very STRONG belief that they were actually true.
So true he might even be able to imagine a conversation with one.
So when he goes in for the kill (and his potential death) he actually FEELS as though his heroes are with him.
What about the other guy?
Two Dimensional Man
He might remember being told the stories.
The same stories with the same characters.
But for him, they aren’t real.
His belief is much, much weaker.
Maybe he thinks they’re kid stories to pass the time around the campfire.
So when HE goes in for the kill, and his potential death, it’s ONLY him vs. the animal.
The first guy?
He might even imagine his heroes giving him moment to moment advice.
Exactly WHEN and WHERE to throw his spear.
The first guy, with a much stronger belief in something that IS NOT REAL would have a better chance of surviving.
So here we are today.
Belief Power
With a very powerful, instinctively necessary, evolutionarily filtered “belief power” in imaginary things.
Just like our hunger instinct, this can help us or hurt us.
If you understand your hunger instinct, and manage it, you can get a very fine, very attractive, head-turning body.
Or a big blob of laziness that lives on the couch.
Same with your belief instinct.
You can let it run on autopilot, keeping you stuck inside a cage of IMAGINARY fear that you believe is real.
Or you can understand it, manage it and create a life of unstoppable ambition and conquest.
Learn More:
Belief Change
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