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PODCAST

Living Myth

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.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

31:21

Episode 461 - The Golden Self Within

Living Myth ·

2025/11/12

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 ego or "little self" and the deeper, knowing self within us. In fairy tales a golden ball often appears as a symbol of the inner unity and wholeness we felt, at least for a moment, as children. The old rule is that everyone has at least one experience of the presence of the

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27:46

Episode 460 - From Blindness to Renewed Vision

Living Myth ·

2025/11/05

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, continues to turn a blind eye to the deeper sense of self and soul that alone can give a renewed sense of vision that can see beyond modern ideas that have come to threaten the future of the Earth. As long as we see through the lens of the heroic ego, we are likely to remain

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26:51

Episode 459 - The War on Empathy and Vertical...

Living Myth ·

2025/10/29

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 and care for the oppressed, vertical morality measures righteousness, not by goodness to others, but rather by something more simplistic and more divisive. Vertical morality declares that human behaviors are right or wrong based upon what the higher power says. As proponents

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29:16

Episode 458 - From Chaos and Trauma to Cosmos and...

Living Myth ·

2025/10/22

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 something we observe that is harmful to someone else. To our brains a threat is a threat, whether we are actually experiencing it personally or are witnessing it on a personal device. Because humans are essentially social and typically empathic creatures, the same instincts that help

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24:13

Episode 457 - Open Moments in the Heart

Living Myth ·

2025/10/15

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 us to our own essence. The feeling of eros or love is the soul's inner verification of its own genuine existence. When this elemental sense of eros and connectedness is lost, people can more easily be turned against each other, because inside they are turned against themselves.

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31:55

Episode 456 - The Real Enemy Within

Living Myth ·

2025/10/08

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 it is not just that nations attack each other with obliterating force, but also that people within nations become increasingly divided and see each other as the enemy. Each day brings another twist or turn in the increasingly tragic story of humanity becoming divided against itself.

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27:10

Episode 455 - A Mythic Inoculation

Living Myth ·

2025/10/01

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 a renewal of life on Earth is the primordial idea that humans are mythic by nature. It is our mutual fate to be denizens of history and be limited by the restrictions of time and place; it is also our destiny to be tied to eternal things. By virtue of being human we live in two

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33:13

Episode 454 - We Are All Called To Stand For Something

Living Myth ·

2025/09/24

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 cutting edge of humor to expose the hypocrisy of those who misuse power. Throughout history, satire has served as an instrument of the powerless against the powerful and as a necessary expression of freedom of both imagination and speech. The term stage comes from roots that

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28:06

Episode 453 - Violence, Despair and Young Men

Living Myth ·

2025/09/17

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 shootings and politically motivated killings. The recent tragedy of a political activist being shot and killed by a radicalized young man, while appearing distinct in the sense of being a political assassination, can also be seen as part of the larger tragedy of young men acting out

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29:06

Episode 452 - A Taste for Destruction

Living Myth ·

2025/09/10

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 mass media causes unprecedented amounts of power to be projected onto popular figures including political figures, tech leaders and “influencers.” Inevitably, the condensation of wealth and power causes an activation of their darker, shadow side which inevitably leads to misuses of

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38:37

Episode 451 - The Path of Genius and Calling

Living Myth ·

2025/09/03

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. A true life purpose is not an optional choice or an outline of goals we might accomplish, but rather something inherent and expectant seeded within each heart and soul. In that sense, being purposeful does not simply mean being goal oriented, but being

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28:26

Episode 450 - Healing and Transformation

Living Myth ·

2025/08/27

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 is woven through an in-depth conversation about finding deeper self-awareness by examining the ego’s resistance to change and how the wisdom of elders protects and guides us through transformative processes. As the inner dynamic of transformation, Meade considers how

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44:27

Episode 449 - Creative Paths in Chaotic Times

Living Myth ·

2025/08/20

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 its precise calling. Each personal crisis and life transition can evoke the esoteric pattern of the soul and the deep self waiting to awaken within us. The presence of the greater self is what shifts the ground of trauma and heals the aching soul. As things fall apart all

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26:09

Episode 448 - Be Your Note

Living Myth ·

2025/08/13

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 loss can be revalued as ways in which the ego-self dies a little and the deeper self becomes more revealed. Sharing two powerful stories and a selection of poems, Meade shows how the more thoroughly we shed false aspects of ourselves, the more we can redeem our lives and sound our

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24:15

Premium Episode 163 Excerpt - Know Yourself, Change...

Living Myth ·

2025/08/10

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 understanding can alter the course of history. You can hear the full episode and receive

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27:11

Episode 447 - Purpose and the Waking Soul

Living Myth ·

2025/08/06

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 collective ethics and ideals crumbles before our weary eyes. Amidst the current flood of troubling and unsettling events it is easy to feel lost in all the chaos and discouraged by all the conflicts. Yet, it is when we lose our sense of being ensouled that we can be said to be

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28:23

Episode 446 - On the Wings of Myth

Living Myth ·

2025/07/30

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

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31:16

Episode 445 - The Spirit of Life

Living Myth ·

2025/07/23

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

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37:34

Episode 444 - An Act of Truth

Living Myth ·

2025/07/16

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

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34:12

Episode 443 - Facing Inner Fears

Living Myth ·

2025/07/09

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

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