Dr. Miller’s talk is called “The Wisdom of Scheherazade: The Power of Narrative to Heal the Heart and Mind”
As her childhood friend, Sultan Shahryār, grows more and more unstable and deadly, Scheherazade knows that she alone has the knowledge of how to heal him. As a storyteller, she courageously embarks on a “fool’s journey” to employ her considerable narrative skills as she attempts to restore sanity and peace to his heart and mind. Scheherazade aims for the heart of his core stories, and each night in their marital bed, instead of lecturing him directly on the harmful and delusional ramifications of his current state of mind, she engages him mythically, slowly unraveling and addressing his pain through masterful storytelling, provoking a profound healing. This presentation will look at how Scheherazade the Storyteller from “One Thousand and One Nights” demonstrates a mythic understanding of the power of stories to heal. This faith in mythic narrative as healing device has implications in our modern world as well, as it has become more vividly evident how the potent use of narratives can be used to confuse, misdirect, and incite to violence, but can also be used to bring clarity of mind, healing of heart, empathy, and personal awareness.
About Dr. Miller
For the past 20 years, Dr. Miller has taught K-8 classes in the humanities, the performing arts, and social emotional learning, and classical and world mythology and general humanities at the university level. She has also presented papers and workshops on mythology, depth psychology, narrative thinking, mindfulness, and the arts at conferences nationally and internationally. Dr. Miller is the founder of The Unstoried Self, offering a systems-thinking, narrative-based process for personal and organizational transformational change aimed at breaking out of dysfunctional patterning in order to cultivate more meaningful and authentic interpersonal relationships and dynamics in groups, schools, and other organizations. Using a combination of influences, from mythological motifs, archetypal psychology, mindfulness, non-dual philosophy, systems-thinking, and storytelling, a Ph.D. in Mythology and Depth Psychology, and a Masters in Education, Dr. Miller strives to combine her love of teaching with her passion for the power of narratives.
To hear Nicole’s talk and many others, join us at the Mythologium!
The Mythologium is a conference and retreat for mythologists and friends of myth, held July 30 – Aug 1 via Zoom. Register here!