In this episode of The Power of Narratives, host Virginie Glaenzer leads a conversation with futurist Aditi Khorana and cultural commentator Jonathan Cook about how dominant linear narratives—especially the hero’s journey—shape our sense of self, security, and collective action. Aditi argues that the unknown equates to ego‑death and that a single heroic story is insufficient; we need a plurality of narratives that recognize non‑human protagonists (trees, pets) and view life as a web of interconnections. She links this shift to the COVID‑19 pandemic, describing it as a “pop‑quiz” that forces us to renegotiate individual versus collective identities and to develop new narratives for future crises like climate change. Jonathan expands on the missing story of loss, critiquing cultural scripts that glorify perpetual winning and acquisition. He cites Tim Leverett’s upcoming work on embracing loss, and contrasts it with dominant tales of endless success (e.g., Trump, romantic comedies). Both guests call for stories that acknowledge ego‑death, loss, and interdependence, proposing that such narratives can restore our connection to body, nature, tribe, and self, and better equip humanity for upcoming global challenges.
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So in your TED Talk, Aditi, you tell again this mythological story of Lily, a hero who goes on a quest to find her true self. And in this story, the hero faces the unknown. You also mentioned that we've been taught since we were children that the unknown is something to avoid at all costs. But it's so wired in our system that we have structured our lives in a way that outsmarts uncertainty, granting us a false sense of security. Feeling secure is an emotion, and in the first part of this discussion, we've explored how we're addicted to our emotion that leads to creating stories in our minds. So I'd love to ask you to help me wrap my head around this puzzle. If narratives shape our understanding and connection to the world, is there a story that could re-establish our lost connection to our body, to nature, to our tribe, and to ourselves, or the trust in ourselves? What is that story? How does it look like? And how would it feel?
I mean, I think this is— I mean, that's a big question. I think, first of all, the unknown is actually ego death. And I don't think there's a singular story that's going to— and I think that is part of the thing. The hero's journey is a singular story, and that's the problem with it. We need multiple stories. We need a plurality of stories. And we need to sort of take ourselves out of the equation a little bit. Richard Powers' book The Overstory is like a book about trees. You know, like, we have to sort of look around the world and sort of see protagonists everywhere we go. And not just in human beings. See, like, your pet dog or your cat as a protagonist. See the plants outside your house. See the trees as protagonists. And once you do that, I think you realize that we— this linear story is, again, something that has hijacked our minds. And we live in a much more— we live in a world of webs. And I think that is sort of the new story. And I think we need to place more of an emphasis on that. But I think the process of ego death, you know, you're killing off the hero's narrative, the individual journey. And this is something that we're experiencing right now too in the middle of pandemic where, first of all, the two polarities that we're dealing with, it's like we're rethinking our notions of safety because We're all locked in our houses. There's this pandemic, raging pandemic, especially in America. But also the opposite of safety on the other end of the spectrum is life. You know, so how do you exist between the two? How do you negotiate these two? And it's really hard to hold on to these dualistic ideas in our brain. We're having to juggle both for the first time in a really complex way. We're having to think about things in a really complex way. What is a good way to be a global citizen right now? It's not by going out into the world and going out for conquest, winning things, winning riches. It is more about like staying in makes you a good global citizen, staying in and staying inside your house and not going anywhere actually makes you a better— so it's again that story of individual versus collective that is shifting too. How are we operating as individuals? How do we play a role in that large collective structure? And this is, by the way, a story that we need to sort of get a handle on right now because COVID-19 is like a— it's like the pop quiz that comes before climate change and various other pandemics that are going to come up. So the skills that we're learning now, our ability to shape narrative in this moment, which if you don't have a set narrative, that's okay. This is going to take some time. We're still going through the process, but we need to be armed with a different kind of narrative that we're going to build over the course of this experience that is going to sort of allow us to survive as a species moving into the various other challenges that we're going to move into.
Yeah. DeeDee, I want to follow up on what you just said, because there is a kind of story that is implicit in what you're saying that has not been told, that in the dominant culture we have been busy avoiding, uh, and that is the story of loss. Tim Leverett, who is the co-founder of the House of Beautiful Business, is coming out with a book about how we all need to accept that we're going to be losers. Even Jeff Bezos is going to be a loser eventually. Some of us think more than others. Oh, it's true. He's going to lose his Prime membership in the end. But okay, what are the stories that we hear? They're the stories that Donald Trump tells about how he always wins the deals. Never mind if they're lies. It's a story. It's the story of acquisition. When I study commercial culture, it's always about getting and getting and taking, seizing, grabbing, holding on to, and keeping, keeping, keeping that thing. In the movies, a whole genre is there of romantic comedy, and it ends when they get married. And I want to say to my younger self, I just wish I could go back in time and say, sweetheart, That's just the beginning. That's the opening scene. Okay? There are stories that go beyond that, but we don't tell them. We don't tell the stories of loss. We don't tell the stories that go beyond youth, past the age of 30. And there's a reason for that. It's because those are the most important stories. And they're the most important stories because they rock us to our foundations. They take everything away and they challenge us to become something more. Instead, we have this story that you get married, you get the job of your dreams, and then the rest of your life is just a sort of denouement. And, you know, that's— there's more to it. And so I want to hear more of what Tim is saying. And I want us to find ways to stand up and say that you're a loser, that you've lost, but not have it be like Donald Trump's insult to say that that makes you somebody who is worthless. Instead, I think the loser is the person who has gained through amazing sacrifice, like Lilith, some real wisdom some insight into something more than just the happily ever after fairy story of our childhood.
