Ep. 503 - Rites of Transformation

Living Myth

This episode explores ancient rites of passage as a framework for understanding personal, collective, and planetary transformation in today'

Key takeaways

• Transformation requires embracing 'little d death'—letting go of outdated self-conceptions—not as an end but as a gateway to deeper life.
• Rites of passage involve three stages: separation, liminality (a period of uncertainty), and return to a renewed state.

Main topics

• Rites of passage as a model for personal and societal transformation
• The necessity of 'little death' in psychological and cultural renewal

Notable quotes

Before the journey begins, you own the journey. Once the journey has begun, the journey owns you.

Death is in the middle of a long life—this radical idea was universal in ancient cultures but lost in modern Western thought.

Conclusion

We are collectively and individually in a rite of passage—a transformative journey we didn't

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:09) Welcome to the Living Myth Podcast with Michael Mead, where this shifting, changing world is looked at from a mythic perspective. Speaker 1 (0:19) This episode connects ancient ideas of rites of passage with the need for both transformation and healing on many levels of life. An old idea from the process of initiation states that before the journey begins, you own the journey, but once the journey has begun, the journey owns you. Both collectively and individually, we are in the midst of a journey that we don't own. Ancient wisdom and initiation practices involved the secret of letting go of what holds us back, even if it protected us early in life. Like a long-lived snake, we grow by letting go of who we thought we were and by shedding skins imposed upon us, as well as those we choose to hide within. We are being called to understand a radical mode of transformation in which letting go of old forms and old attitudes becomes necessary both for psychological growth and for reimagining cultural life. Speaker 2 (1:35) fate, F-A-T-E, comes from the Latin fata, and one root of it can lead to fatality, so that fata has a sense of death in it, and the other root leads more just to the place of limitation, so that our fate, or the fate that befalls us, is a limitation, or we experience it as a limitation. It is our collective fate to be in the midst of changes trying to occur at multiple levels at the same time. And the nature of such changes cannot be limited to the sense of evolution because the changes have to happen now. Neither can the changes be packaged under the idea of progress, for what is being called for is a radical transformation of the world on many levels. And because humans are implicated at all levels of these crises, what is being called for is a transformation of humanity. Speaker 2 (2:56) Transformation is another old word that means to move from one form to another, to transit from one form to another. So the implication is the form that's there at the beginning of the transformation is left behind in order that a transit can occur that leads to a new, renewed form. In that sense, we're being called to leave an old form, an old way of seeing the world behind, suffer through a period of transition, the aim of which is to arrive at a new form, a new shape, a new imagination of ourselves and the world around us. the question becomes, how can we grasp and imagine and possibly understand the nature of such a transformation? Speaker 2 (3:57) It seems to me we can see transformation having to happen on three levels. The first is a worldwide transformation which reverses the destructive course of the climate crisis. And then the second would be a humanitarian transformation which moves us from places where some people are denied human rights and even in a sense, their humanity to a place of inclusive humanity. And then the third level would be transformation on the level of the individual person, their psyche, their soul. Speaker 2 (4:42) In my experience of trying to learn about personal transformation and psychological growth, as well as cultural healing and reconciliation, along with trying to learn from nature's great capacity for renewal, the only thing I've ever found that encompasses all these dynamics is the ancient ideas around rites of passage. For me, the ideas and the images of rites of passage offer a kind of theory of transformation that can serve both individuals and societies. Entering the modern world at this point can be like stepping into a rite of passage that is already underway. Rites of passage can be understood as moving from one condition or position through an area of radical change and then arriving at a new condition and new position in the world. So, the classic understanding of rites of passage is that there are three parts. The first part is called separation, where we depart, whether by our choice or not by our choice, from the world as we knew it, which leads to the second part, which can be called transition, but the old term that is used for it is the area of liminality. place of uncertainty, unknowing, and radical change, which, if a person makes it through the transitional phase, leads to the return, which is not to the same place, but to a place where the person, the society, in this case, perhaps the earth, has been renewed. Speaker 2 (6:52) These old ideas are based upon the sense that transformation and regeneration are part of the law of life here on earth, but also in the cosmos. Life, death, renewal is the mystery that underlies all of creation. In the human realm, we could talk about it as birth, death, and rebirth. Speaker 2 (7:22) So, of course, it's important to notice that death is in the middle of this dynamic of transformation. For me, the dynamic underneath the idea of transformation is this rite of passage mystery. And in the middle of that is death. And in this case, the death that's being referred to is not the death at the final end of life. So there's the old concept of little d death and big d death. And the big d death is when a person's time runs out and their time on earth is over. But in the meantime, in the middle of a person's life,