Learning How to See with Brian McLaren

“Becoming conscious of the stories we’re telling can be lifesaving to individuals and entire cultures.”—Gareth Higgins  How do you recount life’s biggest triumphs and failures? What about your deepest loves and biggest betrayals? In this season, we'll be exploring the power of storytelling to help create a more just and loving world.  This season, Brian McLaren dives into conversation with the co-host for this season, Gareth Higgins...

“Stories shape our reality, whether they are true or not.” —Gareth Higgins  What if you told the story of your life differently? Explore the powerful influence of stories in shaping our experiences in the newest season of Learning How to See with Brian McLaren and Gareth Higgins.  In this episode, we explore the Domination Story, a way of understanding our world that distorts our relationships with others and the Earth...

“If you want a better world, tell a better story — especially one that centers justice without vengeance.” –Gareth Higgins  How do we tell stories that offer us the best chance of creating a more peaceful and loving reality? In this episode of Learning How to See, we're exploring stories of revolution. Although these tales often contain values of heroism and liberty, they are more likely to feed into the cycle of violence rather than end it...

“Almost everybody who does evil has convinced themselves that they are doing good.” —Brian McLaren   Have you ever convinced yourself that an unloving act was justified? In this episode, we're asking ourselves the tough questions and peeling back the layers of the Purification Story — a narrative with complex dynamics that can lead us to harmful interactions with others and ourselves.   Resources: The transcript for this episode can be found here. To learn more about Gareth Higgins, click here...

“To be fully in the world is to believe that we can love other people and places more than we fear them.” –Gareth Higgins   Have you convinced yourself that you are better off alone? Today we're exploring the dynamics of the Isolation Story — the belief that we can avoid pain by avoiding others. As Gareth Higgins explains, “While it may not be physically violent, the Isolation Story is more than harmful, because it does two things...

How do you tell the story of a time you have been wronged or betrayed?  Many of us experience victimization. But when does "victim" become an outdated part of our identity? Brian McLaren offers us: “If victims allow themselves to take an offramp from their victimizing stories, they embrace another way to define their lives.”   We're continuing forward with powerful explorations of storytelling as resilience and transformation. Resources: The transcript for this episode can be found here...

How do you embrace the wisdom of letting go? In this episode, Brian and Gareth explore the power of sharing to explore the Accumulation Story, a justification of our human need to hold onto things, people, and circumstances.  Gareth explains: “This is a story about money and fear. It's a story about being possessed by things rather than enjoying and sharing them. And it's a story nested within a bigger story about how sometimes when we think we have more, we actually have less...

What if we could reimagine the future of storytelling? In the last episode of Season 5 of Learning How to See, join in the conversation about how to create a new kind of space in which we can all participate in shifting our world towards greater Love and justice.   Resources: The transcript for this episode can be found here. To learn more about Gareth Higgins, click here. To learn more about Brian McLaren, click here. To explore the seven stories in more depth, visit the website here...