The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby is the story of  the chief editor of Elle magazine who suffered a massive stroke and became affected by what is known as “locked in” syndrome. Although his mental abilities, memories and senses remained intact he was unable to move his body except for the ability to shake his head slightly and blink his left eye. Despite all of this he managed to write a memoir about his experience and how he used the power of his own imagination to overcome his paralysis. Along with his descriptions of how his friends reacted, how he feels about the situation, he intersperses the story with vignettes where his mind creates an alternate, surreal reality and allows him to escape from his immobile body through memories and dreams.

Through the centuries, generations have passed on wisdoms about the mind. Recently cognitive and social psychology research has indicated that a lot of this wisdom was true. In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt discusses ten such wisdoms and how they can be applied to our lives today. Haidt also discusses the evolution of certain parts of the mind. In this commentary, I will be focusing on the origins of the storyteller and how it advises and explains our intuitive gut reactions.