Living Myth

This episode brings a focus to the problem of perfectionism and how it can silence our natural spontaneity, turn our innate passions into stone and cancel the imagination and creativity that are natural to our souls...

This episode brings a focus to the importance of recognizing that we live in more than one world. Before modern times, it was commonly understood that there was another world next to the daily domain of facts and...

On this episode, Michael Meade considers the sources and meanings of grace and gratitude, two words that are connected and come from the same ancient roots. Gratitude is like a flower rooted in the heart that seeks to...

This episode begins with the idea that all the troubles in the world at this time bring a great weight and pressure down upon, not just humanity as a whole, but also each individual soul. Since our souls are secretly...

As the world around us becomes increasingly divided into opposing forces, the tensions and conflicts within us also intensify. In psychological terms, the division most in need of being healed is the split between the...

This episode of Living Myth is about blindness, both individual and collective, and about the need for genuine visions and visionaries. Western culture, enthralled with the heroic and trapped in the limits of egotism...

This episode begins by examining the rise of "vertical morality" that appears in both Christian communities and conservative politics and has given rise to a "war on empathy." Whereas Jesus famously preached love, mercy...

The episode of Living Myth begins with a study on how our brains and our bodies respond to traumatic events. Apparently, our brains do not fully distinguish between something traumatic happening to us directly or...

The theme on this episode is the loss of eros and a sense of interconnectedness in the contemporary world. Eros is the elemental principle of connection, the touch of soul that binds us to this world but also connects...

This episode begins with the old psychological idea that warns that when the conflicts inside us are not made conscious, they must be experienced outside us as fate. It has become our mutual fate to live at a time when...

This episode begins with the idea that myths of creation are also intended to be understood as re-creation tales that reveal the world's capacity to renew itself. Critical to this old understanding of the potential for...

This episode takes us back to the origins of the theater in ancient Greece where many of the ideas of democracy also originated. Tragedy began with a lament for the fatal flaws in human character, while comedy used the...

While often being considered the leading nation in the world, the United States increasingly finds itself on the cutting edge of cultural upheaval, political polarization and increasing violence that includes mass...

This episode of Living Myth begins with a description of psychological projection as the necessary process through which people project their power on to others in order to see it and become more conscious of it. Modern...

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...

On this episode of Living Myth, edited from an interview with Thomas Hubl for his Collective Healing Conference, Michael Meade considers transformation as an ongoing and natural dynamic of the universe. This core theme...

On this episode, Meade considers how the specific struggles encountered in life can open pathways to the center of the self where purpose waits to be found, where vitality can ever be renewed and where spirit whispers...

Beginning with the idea of "die before you die," Michael Meade describes how a little-death can lead to a deeper sense of knowledge and a greater appreciation for life. Our encounters with sorrow, disappointment and...

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...

Currently, we are experiencing the demise of a world view and the breakup of the symbols that once functioned within it. As a result, life has become more brittle, institutions have become more hollow, and the sense of...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...