Why We Tell Stories with Gregg Hurwitz and Jonathan Pageau

In their conversation, Gregg Hurwitz and Jonathan Pageau—two accomplished professionals in the creative fields—share the valuable insights they’ve gained throughout their careers, offering thoughtful advice on how to pursue what is meaningful in a world shaped by the pressure to compromise and conform.

Their wide-ranging dialogue explores topics such as creative collaboration and the spirit of humility it can foster; artistic innovation and its connection to discipline; the responsibility to be interesting in a world of ready-made stances and predictable opinions; and the confidence needed to find a balance between seizing opportunities as they arise and allowing things to unfold at their own pace and in their own time.

If you enjoy this discussion, we encourage you to explore each of their individual podcasts from Ralston College: Gregg Hurwitz on Self and Story and Jonathan Pageau on Cosmic Symbolism and the Metaphor for Self-Discovery.

Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:

• Aristotle
• Dante Alighieri
• DC Comics’ Batman series
• The Book of Genesis
• Jordan B. Peterson
• Stephen King
• William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (1929)
• Rashomon (1950; dir. Akira Kurosawa)
• Marcel Duchamp, “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” (1912) 
• Sigmund Freud
• Carl Rogers
• Jackson Pollock
• Pablo Picasso
• Lucile Ball
• Groucho Marx
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• James Patterson
• John Grisham 
• Dr James Orr
• Dr Douglas Hedley
• Douglas Murray
• Ben Shapiro
• William Shakespeare
• Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code
• Hamilton: An American Musical 
• Harry Potter series 
• William Goldman