An Anecdote Is A Paradoxical Expression Of Integration
Dr. Anatoly Ulianov: You once said that you like verbal games in the form of anecdotes.
Dr. Michael Laitman: Yes, just not crude ones, but ones that are built upon the unexpected combination of opposite parts which in principle should not connect. The ability to connect things that are not connectable is a special mental quality.
Some people have souls consisting of two opposites and they aspire to connect these opposites into a single, integral form. These people are special, and if you hear them tell an anecdote, then it’s a real anecdote. All the others are crude surrogates.
Dr. Ulianov: Can we use this form in our method so children will make up good stories of their own and tell them to one another?
Dr. Laitman: Yes. But they shouldn’t be mundane stories about a husband, a wife, and their lovers. They should not include insults and widespread clichés. The challenge is to find two opposites and to unite them in spite of our routine notions.
Dr. Ulianov: From what age can these verbal games be used among children? When are they ready for this?
Dr. Laitman: I don’t think it should be done in early age because this requires very serious inner development and life experience, the ability to tell anecdotes apart from jokes or camouflaged insults, and from aggression and slander that play on man’s darkest instincts and therefore seem pleasant to him. But these are not anecdotes.
An anecdote is a story that combines opposites in a completely unexpected way, turning them around to reveal some special aspect, uncovering the interface, unity, and integration between them. An anecdote is an unexpected expression of integration.
The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).
