ABSTRACT
Drawing from only 15 seconds of “real time,” Mantz uses a portion of his combat experience to sharply differentiate among life-threat, loss, and moral injury. He discusses how the intensity of an experience challenges our capacity to express it and argues that creativity is the pathway through trauma, particularly in the form of narrative, story, and myth. Then, through The Story of Harper, Mantz demonstrates how the meaning-making process and philosophical inquiry can lead to the rediscovery of values and a reconstitution of the self.
