Ep. 485 - Under the Spell of Power and Greed

Living Myth

Michael Meade

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode begins with the ancient tale of the Titans, the mythic giants who wreaked havoc at the beginning of civilization and arise again when human cultures become power driven and chaotic. For the Titans, nothing is sacred except excess, immediate satisfaction of greed and being insatiable when it comes to power and dominance. Titans were also called the strainers, as their excess of hubris or self-importance caused them to strain to be seen as gods who had no limits and did not need to follow any rules.

In psychological terms, the condition of titanism appears in those who use chaos to gain power and use it solely to aggrandize themselves. Under the spell of titanism, everything is done simply for effect, to make a big appearance that glorifies or even deifies the person who is actually empty and hollow inside. Lacking any sense of empathy for the suffering of others, they come to see violence and destruction as necessary for maintaining power and extending their sphere of dominance.

As we are in a period of great uncertainty and cultural upheaval, we are subject to a return of titanic conditions like lawlessness, wanton greed and the reckless use of power by those who have no idea of how to use it. Yet, sustaining those false uses of power requires that people continue to give their own power to those seeking to be deified. For, power is no godsend in itself and can only become a blessing when it is used to help those in need and to protect those suffering injustice.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Living Myth podcast with Michael Mead, where this shifting, changing world is looked at from a mythic perspective.
0:19.6	This episode begins with the ancient tale of the Titans, the mythic giants who wrecked havoc
0:25.4	at the beginning of civilization and arise again when human cultures become power-driven
0:31.5	and chaotic.
0:33.6	In psychological terms, the condition of Titanism appears in those who use chaos to gain power
0:40.3	and use it solely to aggrandize themselves.
0:44.3	Sustaining those false uses of power requires that people continue to give their own power to those seeking to become deified.
1:02.0	For, power is no godsend in itself, and can only become a blessing of incurable issues of humanity that simply won't go away,
1:32.2	that keep recurring, that won't stay buried, and cannot simply be put behind us.
1:38.9	Particularly at the end of an era, time itself seems to flow backwards, as if some things that we would rather
1:47.8	not face have to be faced before time can move forward again. In times of radical change, as cultural
1:57.4	structures and institutions break down.
2:08.3	That which has been long denied and repressed returns and often does so with a vengeance.
2:14.7	In times like that, the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons and the daughters as old wounds and conflicts and raw emotions as well as archaic energies
2:22.8	rise to the surface and refuse to be pushed back down. The conditions in which we now live
2:31.0	involves a return of the repressed where all the conflicts in life seem to be present
2:39.0	at the same moment, where people become increasingly polarized and divided, and where those
2:46.8	who have the most power often have the least knowledge about what to do with that power,
2:54.1	but even more tragically, can have no understanding about the ever-increasing need for finding
3:03.5	ways to heal what turn out to be the old and recurring wounds of humanity.
3:13.2	One way to find some ground to stand upon would be to realize that we are not simply in another
3:20.7	historical dilemma that might be resolved through reason or in logical ways,
	...

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