2,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: 22 Lions
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Stories shape how we see the world. They steer our choices and quietly build the rules we live by. From ancient marks on clay to the flicker of screens, stories have always been more than just things we listen to. They hold power—the power to light our hopes or hold us in place without us even knowing.
Hidden Hooks: How Stories Snare Our Minds and Move Our World shows how stories have been used by kings, priests, poets, and rebels. Sometimes to control, sometimes to free. It moves through time and across lands—from Gilgamesh’s epic to the Dreamtime songs of the Aboriginals, from the masked voices of Delphi to Sojourner Truth’s calls for change. It looks closely at stories like the Ramayana and Star Wars, where the lines between good and evil twist and turn. Through voices like Socrates, Sappho, and Rumi, we are invited to question what we’re told and to find the truths beneath the surface.
This book asks us to pay attention—to notice the strings that pull and to find the courage to break free. It opens the door to doubt, not as a weakness, but a tool to see clearly. It encourages us to take the pen ourselves, to tell our own stories that set us free.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
Ähnliche
Hidden Hooks
How Stories Snare Our Minds and Move Our World
Skye Alden
HiddenHooks:HowStories Snare Our Minds and Move Our World
Written by Skye Alden
Copyright © 2025 by Skye Alden. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.
Contents
Introduction
Storiesshapehowwe see the world. They steer our choices and quietly build the rules we live by. From ancient marks on clay to the flicker of screens, stories have always been more than just things we listen to. They hold power—the power to light our hopes or hold us in place without us even knowing.
Hidden Hooks: How Stories Snare Our Minds and Move Our World shows how stories have been used by kings, priests, poets, and rebels. Sometimes to control, sometimes to free. It moves through time and across lands—from Gilgamesh’s epic to the Dreamtime songs of the Aboriginals, from the masked voices of Delphi to Sojourner Truth’s calls for change. It looks closely at stories like the Ramayana and Star Wars, where the lines between good and evil twist and turn. Through voices like Socrates, Sappho, and Rumi, we are invited to question what we’re told and to find the truths beneath the surface.
This book asks us to pay attention—to notice the strings that pull and to find the courage to break free. It opens the door to doubt, not as a weakness, but a tool to see clearly. It encourages us to take the pen ourselves, to tell our own stories that set us free.
Chapter 1: How Stories Shape Us
Storieshavealwaysbeen with us, like shadows stretched out beside the firelight. They started in simple marks on clay, shifting through centuries, ending up flickering on screens in our hands. They move quietly beneath the noise of daily life, guiding us in small but steady ways. They show us what feels right or wrong, what counts as good or bad, and shape how we breathe through each day. Stories don’t just tell us who we are. They make us feel. They push us forward. They can hold us tight, or set us free. Sometimes, stories are the strings that pull the puppets—and sometimes they cut those strings loose.
Take Gilgamesh. An ancient king who wandered looking for the secret beyond death. His tale isn’t just a story about facing the unknown. It’s a mirror held up to human hope and fear. And it’s a tool kings used to say they were chosen by the gods. Then there are the Dreamtime stories told by the Aboriginal people. These are living songs, echoing who they are and where they come from. But under certain powers, stories turn into masks, hiding truths so only some get to speak. Kings have played with stories like chess pieces. Akhenaten of Egypt tried to push one god to the front to unite people—and maybe keep more power in his hands. After he died, old gods returned, and his memory slipped away, as if erased by time’s own hand. Sometimes what we are told depends more on who holds power than what is real.
Philosophers came to stir the pot. Socrates, asking questions that rattled the tired old beliefs—so much that he was punished for it. Nagarjuna thought in circles, breaking down ideas people thought were rock solid. Poets like Sappho sang of love and loss, and Langston Hughes gave voice to hope through struggle. Symbols changed their clothes through the years too. The ankh meant life once; the swastika carried good luck long before it turned into a symbol of hate. By listening closely to what’s hidden—fragments from the past, songs sung under open skies—we hear parts of stories that have been forgotten or hushed. The Dead Sea Scrolls whisper secrets, and the Yolngu people’s songs hold histories older than many understood.
Stories come from all corners of the earth, from the cold hands of winter nights to bright midday sun. They shape our sense of right and wrong and guide how we find our place in the world. But stories carry dangers. They can be twisted by those who know their magic, bending good and evil, light and dark, until the lines blur and we can’t tell true from trick. Confucius carved ways to live with kindness and order, weaving rules that could hold both care and control. In temples where the Oracle of Delphi spoke, voices came cloaked in mystery. But those running the show shaped her words, turning messages into tools for their own ends. Sacred words like those in the Bhagavad Gita shine light into hard choices. Yet they also echo the power of priests and kings who used these stories to shape society. Truth hides inside these tales like a puzzle.
The historian Thucydides wanted to strip away lies told by winners after war, pulling back the curtain to reveal what drives us deep inside. Norse stories show gods with blood and wounds, reminding us to hold questions tight, not swallow stories whole. To question stories takes guts. Socrates got punished for poking and probing too much. Yet by breaking open old tales, he helped carve new ways to see the world. There is a thread running through all stories—a quiet beat of freedom. It calls softly, asking us to look again, to take the stories in our own hands, and choose which ones shape who we become. Stories might be old as time, but we live them now.
