This episode begins with a description of the youngest sisters and youngest brothers in fairy tales. They seem out of place and behind everyone else, yet they are the only ones able to break the collective spells of materialism, resentment and despair. They represent the genuine dreamer inside all of us and they are deeply connected to the dream of life and the wisdom of mythology. As agents of myth they have exactly what this troubled world most needs. However, it is the attitudes of the older brothers and sisters that prevail in the daily world. Only after all else has failed will people turn to the youngest sister or brother within who has been holding onto the true dream of life all along. Michael Meade then lays out the old idea of the Three Kinds of Thinking: the logical, the psychological and the mythological. Following the trail of the youngest aspects of the psyche, he shows how when all else makes no sense, mythic imagination makes the most sense. Myth is the deepest layer of life where grace and wisdom and even redemption can be found. Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of 700 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. Learn more and join this community of listeners at patreon.com/livingmyth. If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.
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Episode 445 - The Spirit of Life
This episode of Living Myth begins with the story of the Spirit in the Bottle in which a youth must confront a powerful and angry spirit in order to claim his own genius and natural gifts. One point of the tale is that we cannot become who we are intended to be unless our genius becomes conscious and is confirmed by someone other than our parents. If our inner spirit remains bottled up too long, it has no choice but to turn against us. Whereas the spirit in the old tale erupts with anger, in someone else's story it can collapse into an enduring depression. If, like the youth in the story, we accept whatever aspects of fate that befall us and face our fears, everything changes. Spells are broken, gifts are revealed and what was known as the “second adventure of life” begins. While many theorists and psychologists ascribe the soul’s adventure to the second half of life, Michael Meade suggests something different. When our mutual fate involves us in a time of worldwide upheaval, turning to the inside realm of the soul and awakening to the second adventure becomes a greater priority. When meaning and unity are lacking in the outside world, they must be sought and found in each person’s inner life. Since the world will not settle soon, undertaking the soul’s adventure becomes the best way to find a genuine sense of meaning and purpose, but also reveals how we can best contribute to the healing of both nature and human culture. Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of 700 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. Learn more and join this community of listeners at patreon.com/livingmyth. If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.
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Episode 444 - An Act of Truth
This episode of Living Myth addresses the rise of conspiracy theories and spread of falsehoods in conjunction with the phenomenon of a widespread loss of personal identity. Recent studies show that amidst radical social changes and growing levels of personal insecurity many people feel a greater need to feel part of a group. While being part of an in-group can relieve underlying feelings of insecurity, it can also involve a loss of true identity. As hostilities between polarized sides intensify, people can cling more tightly to social identities and partisan beliefs, which in turn can make false information and conspiracy theories not only more acceptable, but also more necessary. As the contemporary confusion between truth and lies intensifies, Michael Meade offers the age-old concept of a genuine “act of truth” that can restore the sense of personal integrity and also serve as an antidote that can reverse the spread of poisons in the collective body of society. Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his free online event “Finding Unity in a Divided World” on Thursday, July 17. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events. You can further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of over 700 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.
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Episode 443 - Facing Inner Fears
On this episode of Living Myth Michael Meade tells a fairy tale about a realm that is rapidly becoming a wasteland because its king has become seriously ill and there is no simple cure. The only way to heal the realm is to find the Water of Life. Doing that requires the seeker let go of all arrogance and accept the condition of not knowing. For only then will the mysterious dwarf provide the guidance and resources that are needed for the quest. Part of the essential guidance involves learning how to face our deepest fears. And that inevitably brings up each person’s abandonment issues as well as feelings of being inadequate and overwhelmed by what life requires of us. Ultimately, it is only the youngest part of each psyche, the eternal youth and inner initiate that is able to access the wisdom and resources needed to find the Water of Life and return the flow of life to the psychic realm. Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his free online event “Finding Unity in a Divided World” on Thursday, July 17. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events. You can further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of over 700 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.
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Episode 442 - Your Lot in Life
This episode of Living Myth begins with the ancient idea of each soul receiving a “lot in life.” Lot basically means “a chip of wood,” but in this case, the chip comes from the roots of the World Tree, that also used to be known as the Tree of Destiny. Thus, each of our souls secretly carries a “divine word” or living symbol drawn from the Tree of Life that makes each person a divine experiment in life. We are human by lot, but we are divine by origin. We must begin life with the hand that fate has dealt us; yet our fate can be seen as more of an oracle set within us than as an outcome predetermined for us. When so many aspects of modern life seem increasingly out of our control, turning to the adventure our souls would have us live can give us our best chance to find a sense of inner unity and live with meaning and purpose. The soul’s adventure involves stepping off the common pathways and going off the maps that others have given to us. This “second adventure of life” intends an unfolding of the meaningful story trying to unfold from within us. It is a path of awakening to who we already are at our core and how we can best contribute to life. The soul’s adventure aims at things beyond the concerns of the daily world, and yet the transformations it can produce are essential for renewing human culture and for determining the fate of life on Earth. Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his free online event “Finding Unity in a Divided World” on Thursday, July 17. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events. You can further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of over 700 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.
Mosaic presents Living Myth, a podcast with Michael Meade, renowned mythologist and storyteller. Meade presents mythic stories that offer uniquely insightful and wise ways of understanding the current dilemmas of the world we live in. Living Myth proposes that genuine solutions to the complex and intractable problems of our world require both transcendent imagination and cohering, transformative narratives.
Brasil