Episode 423 - Facing Darkness

Living Myth

Michael Meade

Transformation, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Genius, Education, Myth, Soul, Culture

4.9 • 944 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode, Michael Meade explores the roots of wisdom and what it means to face the darkness. The healing and transformation needed now, both individually and collectively, require going into the exact places that look darkest to us. In following this path, we encounter hidden resources and an inner gold that connects us to sources of wisdom. During this time of division and isolation, Meade suggests that whereas simple knowledge tends to divide things, genuine wisdom makes meaningful unity possible.

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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.
0:17.0	On this episode, Mead explores the roots of wisdom and what it means to face the darkness.
0:23.6	The healing and transformation needed now, both individually and collectively,
0:29.6	require going into the exact places that look darkest to us.
0:33.6	And following this path, we encounter hidden resources and an inner goal that connects
0:40.3	us to the sources of wisdom. During this time of division and isolation, Mead suggests
0:47.3	that where a simple knowledge tends to divide things, genuine wisdom makes meaningful unity possible.
0:55.0	What's missing in the world is not more bright ideas.
1:13.6	You know what I'm saying? What's missing is wisdom.
1:17.6	Wisdom comes from darkness and it hones a light that's found in the dark.
1:25.6	Wisdom has two big roots. One has to do with guidance.
1:30.3	Guidance has to do with light. You shine the light in the dark and show people where
1:33.3	to go. And wisdom is connected to finding that light in the dark. And the other root of wisdom
1:39.0	is song or lyric. In other words, wisdom is not dry intellectual abstract, but it's poetic and
1:47.0	lyrical. It's part of the Song of Life. It's part of the tragedy and comedy. So real
1:52.0	wisdom is a mixture of artful poetic intelligence with the light that can guide things.
1:58.0	And those things are only found down. Wisdom is in the body. When wisdom
2:03.3	is present, it's being lived, not something you can pull off of a page. And you can't ride on
2:08.4	other people's wisdom, really, not for very long. A person has to develop their own. And the
2:13.1	wisdom is developed down in the underworld where the maggots get and the flesh gets cleaned up and the gold gets polished
2:19.3	wisdom is like that gold side but the gold side doesn't come until the rotten flesh is dealt with
2:25.3	and so don't be afraid of the darkness the darkness is the underworld where the healing occurs and where the gold is found
	...

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