Living Myth

This episode of begins with the idea that the world we used to know is gone and we have not found a footing in the world that is trying to emerge. That leaves us in a state of uncertainty and in the midst of multiple levels of tragedy. In that sense, we are in a collective rite of passage that seeks to awaken the spirit of humanity and stir the creative depths of our souls. However, if we cannot s...

This episode of Living Myth begins with the idea that we keep finding ourselves in uncharted waters in terms of the future of the planet and in unmapped territories in terms of human culture. The increasing pressures and uncertainties in the outer world create an inner tension that can only be relieved through a change of awareness coming from within us.     In order to avoid overwhelm and find me...

Clearly, we are living in radical times when almost everything can be taken to the extreme. We find ourselves in uncharted waters when it comes to the future of the planet and in unmapped territories in terms of human culture. In the midst of great uncertainty any moment can lead us to feel anxious, isolated and abandoned.     Life must be lived forward, but often can only be understood in looking...

On this excerpt from a Living Myth Premium episode, Michael Meade discusses the inherent longing for redemption and how it can be experienced as a life-seeking process rather than an end-of-life event. He explores the archetypes of creation and apocalypse, reframing the latter as an expression of the dynamic of collapse and renewal. Part of renewal involves connecting to vertical imagination, that...

In this episode, Michael Meade tells an old story of someone who follows a dream that leads to being stripped down and stuck, before it unfolds a path to healing and wholeness. Bringing a dream to life means changing everything and change is most often accompanied by fear and resistance. Meade suggests that living a dream requires the courage to cross not only where others fear to go, but also to...

This episode begins with the contemporary psychological theory of a "reminiscence bump" which attempts to explain why we remember certain songs and events from our youth, while forgetting most other things. The theory includes the idea that our sense of identity comes from an internalized story that we construct to make sense of our life. Michael Meade contrasts this kind of mainstream psychology...

This episode of Living Myth focuses upon the extreme emotions generated by the war in Iran and the many other conflicts and divisions in the current world. Michael Meade addresses the increasing flood of raw emotions that we are all subjected to and what psychologists are now calling "political depression." Although political depression can present the same sense of hopelessness and despair as tra...

In this episode, Michael Meade examines how collective fear and overwhelm can knock the ego off balance and lead to stress and despair. Since the world will not settle soon, the unity and wholeness so sorely missing in the outer world must be found within us. As things fall apart the "knowing self" within moves closer to the surface, seeking to become more conscious to us.     Despite the troubles...

In this episode of Living Myth, Michael Meade considers the current global challenges and emphasizes the importance of living from a place of wholeheartedness. He reflects on the symbolism of an open heart and how facing personal fears contributes to living a life of meaning and purpose. Woven through this episode are poems from Rumi and William Stafford about the need for transformation and the u...

This episode considers the problem of resistance to change from psychological and mythological viewpoints. While we are facing radical changes that threaten both nature and culture, we are also challenged by the dilemma of human resistance to change at both personal and collective levels. The issue is not simply a lack of commitment to change. Rather, resistance arises precisely where we have the...

Michael Meade explores how stories enable us to understand the world and our place in it. Mythic narratives weave the divine and natural realms together in ways that become antidotes for our anxieties and fears. To be modern can mean to have fallen out of story or to be living in opposing stories as many people believe at this time. Yet, stories are how we understand our lives and how we make mean...

There are certain, critical moments that say directly to us: You must change your life. Collectively, we are in a time when great changes are necessary; yet the idea of truly changing is too fearful for most people. On this episode of Living Myth, Michael Meade tells a surprising story from ancient India in which a fearful tiger suddenly awakens to its true inner nature and becomes transformed.  ...

Michael Meade reflects on how, if we are able to stop and listen more deeply, we can connect with subtle sources of wisdom and guidance. He shares his experiences of receiving guidance that has taken the form of dreams, birds and animals, an inner voice and the realm of myth and story. Essential to the practice of hearing these vital messages is both an embrace of humility and a willingness to sta...

This episode begins with the recent shooting in Minneapolis in which an intensive care nurse named Alex Pretti was shot ten times by ICE and border patrol agents. There are fateful occasions when a tragic event becomes a moment of truth for both individual life and the collective meaning and core values of a culture. Michael Meade suggests that: "We are now, and may be for some time, in a collecti...

On this episode of Living Myth, Michael Meade turns to the realms of art and practice as ways to avoid overwhelm and find coherence in an increasingly chaotic world. Since the world will not settle soon, the unity and wholeness so sorely missing must be found within us. Fortunately, as fears and uncertainty grow, a balancing imagination and healing energy tries to awaken within our souls. The crea...

This episode begins with the differences between paradigm shifts that replace old theories with new ones and a shifting of the archetypes that can transform all levels of life. The origins of apocalypse involve an archetypal shift that begins with a period of chaos and collapse before it leads to creation and a renewal of life. The initial phase of an apocalyptic period also involves a "lifting of...

This episode looks at the shocking beginning of the new year in which the U.S. government invades Venezuela, extracts the sitting president and announces that it will be "running the country" that has the largest reserve of oil in the world. A dream that follows what appears to be the dissolution of the international order, that has mostly prevailed for the past eighty years, depicts the confusion...

Michael Meade explores how the soul's great adventure tries to surface throughout life, so that any moment can become a true turning point if we leave the maps that others have made, follow the soul's original calling and enter life more fully and more meaningfully. He suggests that ultimately it involves a "gnosis," a deeper way of knowing that uncovers our inner resources and reveals the unique...

This episode of  Living Myth  begins with a Native American story of the origin of healing rituals. In telling the tale Michael Meade emphasizes a remarkable point in the story when knowledge, healing and songs all enter the world at the same time. The songs become central elements in the original healing ritual which brings those that are sick or wounded to the center of the community. Having est...

This episode of Living Myth begins with a review of how cosmology used to refer to all of the ways that humans could imagine the creation of the world and the subtle connections of the human soul to the living cosmos. "As above, so below" is the ancient mantra that places humankind in the middle of the cosmic story as an essential link in the chain of being. As individuals we may properly feel fra...

On this excerpt from a Living Myth Premium episode, Michael Meade explores how resiliency amidst adversity is a hallmark of genius and an essential capacity for navigating a rapidly changing and confusing world. What we need now is the courage to follow our genius all the way to where it would lead us. When enough people awaken to the inner meaning and purpose in their lives, a collective shift of...

On this excerpt from a Living Myth Premium episode, Michael Meade explores how even in the darkest times, the inner abundance of the soul is ever nearby. The problem is that the pathways to our inner inheritance and instinctive vitality are blocked by received ideas and an over-adaptation to early life conditions. The rigid attitudes of our ego or little-self make it difficult to connect to the im...

On this excerpt from a Living Myth Premium episode, Michael Meade explores how inside of each of us is a mostly hidden, mostly golden and mostly eternal image and aspect of being similar to the gold that is buried in the Earth. In seeking out this inner gold, we meet egoic resistance and must find ways to break the ego's shell to tap the deeper wisdom within. Along the way, part of what opens this...

On this excerpt from a premium episode, Michael Meade follows a myth from ancient Ireland and weaves together cosmology, psychology and philosophy in order to open the soul's vision and catch the fish of wisdom. Rather than being abstract knowledge, "embodied wisdom" is shown to be both immediate and eternal, both spiritual and soulful. You can hear the full episode and receive additional podcast...

On this excerpt from a premium episode, Michael Meade talks about key issues that affect transformation in our lives. He considers core complexes in family and culture and wades into the territory of deep emotions. The word complex is trying to point out that when we have a particular kind of interior trouble, the issues are complex. Deep down, we all want to change, he says, and each crisis and o...