Michael Meade turns to an ancient myth from India to show how elections can have such dire consequences that the rule of law becomes replaced with the “law of the fishes.” In the great oceans the big fish endlessly devour the little fish and the same drama is often replicated in the realm of culture, where every pond has its big fish and the small fry continually become fodder for the big shots. The law of the fishes was used by ancient people to describe periods of cultural disorder when...

It is our mutual fate to live in a time of such disorientation and upheaval that the institutions we hoped would protect us cannot keep up with the flood of changes pouring through both nature and human culture. It makes sense that we could feel lost when the present is full of chaos and fear, while the future looks increasingly uncertain. In the long run, we are not simply in a battle between Democrats and Republicans or conservatives and liberals, but rather we are in a struggle for meaning...

This episode of Living Myth begins with excerpts from a new psychological survey that a majority of American adults are worried that the upcoming presidential election could be the end of democracy in the United States. More than 7 in 10 people fear the results could lead to widespread violence. While it is clear that the political stakes are high, the levels of uncertainty and fear are even higher.   Across the board, people feel less able to predict and control things, much less...

This episode addresses the issue of the “strongman” in politics and the way it exemplifies and contributes to a loss of authenticity, a lack of integrity and a loss of soul in modern cultures.   “As a storyteller and someone who studies mythology, I carry stories around, maybe in the same way that someone might carry food or medicine or equipment in a backpack in case a need arises. To follow the metaphor, I need stories for nourishment. I need stories for medicine. And stories equip me...

This episode is about the need for living symbols that can give us a sense of unity and wholeness in a divided world. Symptom is an old Greek word that refers to something that “falls upon us or strikes us” in a way that wounds us or divides us against ourself. At this critical time on Earth, almost anything can suddenly become symptomatic and leave us more personally wounded and more collectively divided.   The word symbol derives from Greek roots, meaning “to throw together or bring...

This episode of Living Myth begins with the idea that the old terminology of 100-year storms and 1000-year storms makes little sense, since events of that magnitude now happen so often. It becomes difficult to deny that we now live in a world that is more unpredictable, more chaotic, and sadly, more dangerous. As the storms occurring in nature grow greater and move faster, a parallel intensification of cultural conflicts and political storms have also been growing greater and changing with...

This episode of Living Myth focuses on the sense that we are living through a radical time when change becomes necessary and a transformation of life becomes more possible. Michael Meade uses an ancient myth to depict, not just creation, but importantly the process of re-creation which secretly sustains life on earth. When we find ourselves in a time of radical changes in nature and conflicts and chaos in human societies, growing our true selves and changing our lives becomes more possible,...

This episode begins with the idea of the Cone of Uncertainty as the front part of a hurricane or tropical storm that can veer to the right or left and change directions frequently. Michael Meade uses the Cone of Uncertainty as a metaphor for the political storms and radical uncertainties that characterize the current campaign season in the U.S. “No political forecaster could have predicted the storm of inauthenticity that overshadows so many issues and increasingly divides people into...

On this episode, Michael Meade explores how life is change and to be truly alive means to be repeatedly transforming ourselves. There's an old statement that says, "The soul is here for us to transform". Yet at the same time, something within us resists changing, even when the time for transforming our lives has come. In the mysterious way of the world, the metamorphosis of the butterfly offers ways to understand why we resist the exact changes we most need in order to transform ourselves and...

This episode of Living Myth focuses on the struggle between the force of tyranny and the power of liberation from falsehoods and injustice. The old Greek word tyrant was applied to despotic kings and rulers, but was also used to describe popular usurpers who claimed to be all powerful and above the law. In modern usage, a tyrant can be any oppressive or cruel ruler, a would-be dictator or autocrat. The rule of divide and conquer has been a favorite tool of tyrants who typically ascend to...

One of the problems in the modern world is that people now tend to believe that science and technological inventions can solve problems that exist on much deeper and much greater levels. As Albert Einstein expressed it: “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” In the upward and onward at all costs rush of the modern world, it is the heart and soul of humanity that most often becomes lost.  Fortunately, it turns out that the missing elements that...

For many reasons, people question whether there is any hope for the world at this time. Yet, it is the nature of hope to become lost before being found again at another level of life. In the old myth of Pandora's Box, hope only appears after all possible troubles, pains and agonies have been unleashed upon the world. At critical times, life can seem hopeless before a deeper level of hope can be found again in the depths of the human heart and soul. This deeper level of hope includes a...

On this episode, Michael Meade talks about inner genius and how without a calling we can feel lost throughout our lives. Without a genuine purpose, we can turn bitter, drifting without genuine passion and withering without the blessing of the spirit of life. Yet, the spirit of life within us does not age as we grow older. The inner genius continues to be on the verge of awakening and our calling keeps calling no matter what age we are, no matter what position or condition in life we may have....

On 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. Stories and dreams are about the mysteries of life. And penetrating the mysteries requires a different kind of vision and a different understanding than what we use to negotiate the common world. By now, most people can agree that we are living in a broken world at both the levels of nature and culture. What still...

In a world that's rapidly changing in ways that can feel chaotic and threatening, it becomes easy to feel diminished, lost and small. Although it is common now to feel like nothing but a speck in a vast, accidental universe; we only feel truly small when we lose our sense of soul. Small and insignificant as we may feel at times, we carry within our souls a spark that is connected to the galaxies and to the origins of creation. When the world becomes darker, more confusing and more chaotic, we...

This episode of Living Myth begins with the series of shocks and radical changes that have occurred in contemporary American politics and the current election campaign. Michael Meade expands the theme of dramatic changes to include both nature and culture as we find ourselves “in the midst of a transformation of life on earth.” Whether we want to admit to it or not, we have entered a radical transition of life in which we are being pushed and pulled into territories that we would not choose...

We live in a time when seemingly all possible conflicts and oppositions come crashing all around us. Each day leaves us more exposed to raw emotions and rocked by the harsh energies of life. The tragedies and calamities of this era leave us in the lurch of history as antagonisms harden into stone and life seems increasingly stuck.   In order to imagine ways to pass through the dire straits of these troubled times, Michael Meade turns to ancient myths which can offer a third way to see...

On this episode of Living Myth, Michael Meade suggests that in times of change, just as in periods of personal crisis, there can be an intensification and an acceleration of calling. Whether it comes as a daunting challenge or a crushing blunder, a big dream or a cutting loss, each major life event has within it an opportunity to awaken to the call of the deeper self and the resident genius of the soul.   What calls us calls for the giving of the inherent gifts and natural talents we...

On this episode of Living Myth, edited from a Shift Network Summit on mysticism, Michael Meade suggests that we each arrive at turning points where the map we have been given does not match the territory we find ourselves in.  Because each soul is unique, each life journey leads to the pathless path where we must awaken to the dream of our own life. When we open the eyes of the heart, we find the ways of the mystic souls and visionary seers, the outsiders and wounded healers who hold the...

This episode begins with the sense that the recent presidential debate and the series of radical Supreme Court decisions add to the long line of broken moments that leave us in a deepening state of loss about the present and in an increasing condition of uncertainty about the future. Michael Meade turns to ancient ideas about how the process of elevating people to positions of power and authority is related to the web of life. At critical times the web of life becomes more fragile and we find...

This episode of Living Myth begins with the idea that the task of finding symbols and stories through which we discover the meaning of our lives is as old as human consciousness. In that sense, Carl Jung was rediscovering ancient knowledge when he wrote: “What we are in our inward vision can only be expressed by way of myth. Each human life is…like a plant that lives from its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in that root.”   In response to a time of great crisis in his life...

This episode of Living Myth is about how our dreams call to something in us that is awake in some other way. Dreams call us to recognize other aspects of ourselves, other levels of awareness and even other realms of being. Dreams are the universal evidence that there is an Otherworld and that we as humans, as dreamers live in both worlds. Each person born is called to become a living bridge where dreams and reality can meet.   Whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we remember it or...

This episode of Living Myth begins with the meaning of the verb to think. Ever since Descartes declared, “I think therefore I am,” thinking has come to mean to form in the mind, to consider, to reflect upon. Yet, the Indo-European roots of the verb “to think” can also mean “to feel” and even “to imagine.” The sense of thinking having more than one meaning leads back to the ancient idea that there are three realms of life and three ways of thinking about the world.   The first and most...

On this episode, Michael Meade tells two stories about the question we are asked at the end of our lives. We enter the world as seekers and what we most need to find is the uniqueness of our own souls. Each life is a surprising pilgrimage intended to arrive at the center of the pilgrim’s soul.   The figures most revered in the many traditions found throughout the world became memorable because they became uniquely themselves. Whether a spiritual teacher or an artist, a healer or a leader,...