Episode 483 - When Things Fall Apart, Our Souls Can Awaken

Living Myth

Michael Meade

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode of Living Myth begins with the idea that we keep finding ourselves in uncharted waters in terms of the future of the planet and in unmapped territories in terms of human culture. The increasing pressures and uncertainties in the outer world create an inner tension that can only be relieved through a change of awareness coming from within us.

In order to avoid overwhelm and find meaningful ways forward, we must tap the deep resources of our souls which can connect us to the timeless roots of imagination and the endless energies of creation. Only imagination can provide the genuine visions we need, while also revealing untapped capacities for healing and renewal.

Soul awakens as things seem to fall apart and soul would have us each find our unique part in life's ongoing drama. Yet, the way of the soul requires that we let go of our conventional and collective beliefs and received ideas. As we make more soul we find more moments of wholeness. When there is enough soul in the world, nature and culture can be truly connected and both can be served.

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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.
0:18.0	This episode begins with the idea that we keep finding ourselves in uncharted waters
0:24.6	in terms of the future of the planet and in unmapped territories in terms of human culture.
0:30.6	In order to avoid overwhelm and find meaningful ways forward,
0:34.6	we must tap the deep resources of our souls, which can connect us
0:39.3	to the timeless roots of imagination and the endless energies of creation.
0:44.3	Soul awakens as things seem to fall apart, and soul would have us each find our unique part in life's
0:52.3	ongoing drama. When there is enough soul in the world,
0:57.0	nature and culture can be truly connected,
1:00.0	and both can like this.
1:22.6	I can tell by the way the trees beat after so many dull days on my worried window panes that a storm is coming,
1:30.9	and I hear the far-off fields say things that I can't bear alone, that I can't bear without a friend,
1:37.9	that I can't love without a sister. The storm that shift of shapes drives on across the woods and across time, and the world
1:47.4	looks as if it has no age.
1:50.2	The landscape, like a line in a psalm book, becomes seriousness and weight, the weight of
1:57.1	eternity.
1:58.6	So listen, what we choose to fight is so tiny and what fights with us is so
2:03.6	great. If only we would let ourselves be dominated as things do by some immense storm,
2:11.1	then we might become far-reaching too and not need common names. When we do win, it is with small things, and the success
2:21.4	itself makes us petty. So listen, what is extraordinary and eternal does not want to be bent by us.
2:30.7	I mean the angel who appeared to the wrestlers in the Old Testament. And when the wrestler's
2:36.8	sinews grew long like metal strings, he felt them under his fingers like chords of deep music.
	...

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