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.
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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.
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.