I am not afraid of dying. I have lived longer than most people in the world. What scares me is to have a body that works but a brain that is waving goodbye. If that happens, I hope I die quickly.
Henning MankellRead
It struck me as I listened to those two men that a truer nomination (name) for our species than Homo sapiens might be Homo narrans, the storytelling person. What differentiates us from animals is the fact that we can listen to other people’s dreams, fears, joys, sorrows, desires and defeats–and they in turn can listen to ours.
Interpretation
The essence of humanity lies in our ability to share and understand stories.
This quote highlights the unique human capacity for storytelling and empathy, suggesting that the ability to share and listen to each other's experiences is what truly defines humanity. Unlike animals, we connect through the narratives of our lives, creating a shared understanding of our collective struggles and triumphs, thereby fostering deeper relationships and community.
In practice
In a speech about community building, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of sharing personal stories.
I am not afraid of dying. I have lived longer than most people in the world. What scares me is to have a body that works but a brain that is waving goodbye. If that happens, I hope I die quickly.
It's all about time, dimwit time, inferior time, people checking watches and other devices, other reminders. This is time draining out of our lives. Cities were built to measure time, to remove time from nature. There's an endless counting down, he said. When you strip away surfaces, when you see into it, what's left is terror. This is the thing that literature was meant to cure. The epic poem, the bedtime story.
In fact, it is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason.
Hours later the blank sheet still stared at me, and I beat my fist against the desk in fury and fustration, striking it so hard my hand bled. That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink.
Evolution is gaining the psychic zones of the world... life, being and ascent of consciousness, could not continue to advance indefinitely along its line without transforming itself in depth. The being who is the object of his own reflection, in consequence, of that very doubling back upon himself becomes in a flash able to raise himself to a new sphere.
The more freedom is extended to business, the more prisons have to be built for those who suffer from that business.
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
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