Identities for Life and Death : Can We Save Us from Our Toxically Storied Selves?

by Pellegrini, Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9781452052090
• ISBN10: 1452052093
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-15
• Publisher: Authorhouse

Summary

This book is all about stories. The stories that shape our identities and how those identities shape our destinies for better or worse, For good or evil, In humanizing or dehumanizing ways. Working from the Shakespearian metaphor, "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players," Pellegrini argues that only by understanding how our storied selves develop can we acquire the tools to modify the roles they dictate for us to play on the stage in the theater of real life. The author deconstructs a wide variety of what he calls "toxic," dehumanizing, death-oriented self-scripts as well as "creative," humanizing, life-oriented narratives of both individuals and groups. Following the Native American folklore parable of two wolves engaged in mortal combat within us, one good the other evil, The fundamental premise here is that our identity determines which of our inner wolves we feed and thus, which of them will prevail. Pellegrini maintains that what's at stake in this battle between humanity's collective inner wolves is not just the quality but the very survival of life on earth. From this perspective, As individual and group selves are humanizingly or dehumanizingly narratized, So shall life be impacted throughout the world. To advance the cause of "detoxifying" identities in our globalized society, The author presents a rationale and program for an international grass roots social movement aimed at achieving a universal sense of belongingness to a "global life system."