Ep. 507 - Transformation is the Essence of Life

Living Myth

In this episode of Living Myth, Michael Mead discusses the archetypal relationship between the 'eternal youth' and the 'wise old sage' as a

Key takeaways

• A culture collapses simultaneously where its youth are abandoned and its elders are forgotten.
• The caterpillar's metamorphosis serves as a blueprint for the human psyche, where 'imaginal cells' drive new growth.

Main topics

• Archetypal psychology
• Butterfly metamorphosis metaphor

Notable quotes

A culture falls apart in two places at once, where its youth are abandoned and where its elders are forgotten.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a call to action for individuals to reclaim thei

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:09) Welcome to the Living Myth Podcast with Michael Mead, where this shifting, changing world is looked at from a mythic perspective. This episode, edited from a recent interview, begins by considering the archetypal imagination of the eternal youth and the wise old sage, who dwell in each person's heart and soul, and can be drawn upon in times of trouble and confusion. Michael tells an ancient story in which the youth and the elders reimagine and redeem a culture that had lost essential values, and that leads to discussion of Michael's new book, The Heart of Transformation. Turning to the metamorphosis in which the lowly caterpillar transfigures into a free-flying butterfly, transformation is seen as the essence of nature and also as the calling of the individual human soul. Speaker 1 (1:16) Inside everyone's heart, there is the eternal youth, who would be the keeper of one's dream, also the associate of one's genius. That's one part. And also in each person's heart, there's the sage within the heart. On a psychological level, there's a complex of the eternal youth and the wise old sage. They're in all the fairy tale stories and they're in myths all around the world, but they're also in each person's heart. This archetypal is already inside us, even if the outside culture has forgotten about it. So it can come back as quickly as a person could wake up. That's that idea of archetypes, something that's steeply ingrained in everybody, no matter what culture you're in. And the eternal youth and the wise old sage are a complex that exists everywhere, including inside each person. I found the tribe in Africa who say that when they're initiating their youth, They're waking the elder in their heart. And when they're initiating the elders, they're re-inspiring the dream within their heart. So the new book is called The Heart of Transformation because I think the heart is at the center of things. What keeps getting lost is the heart of humanity. AI has had nothing to do with that. But most modern institutions don't either. And the children headed out to school. deserve a real blessing, which blesses their intelligence, but also their heart and their dreams and their vision. And maybe we could get back to that. Speaker 3 (2:45) You tell the story, I believe it was 60 Canyon Abandonment, about this law requiring, I think it's from Japanese World Tale, this law requiring everyone to be abandoned in the wilderness at age 60. So what lessons does that story kind of hold about what happens to a society that decides that it doesn't have any use for its old people, its elders? Speaker 3 (3:11) Is that kind of Speaker 1 (3:12) a Speaker 3 (3:12) mirror to the abandonment of young people as well? Speaker 1 (3:14) Yeah, there's an old saying, a culture falls apart in two places at once, where its youth are abandoned and where its elders are forgotten. And all modern cultures are doing that. And so then you're losing the genius of the youth and the wisdom of the elders, which is just prevailing all the way around. But in this charming old story, it's interesting because the rule is that at 60, you have to abandon your own self. And of course, People follow rules. And so all the elders in the village at 60 wander out into these canyons. That's why it's called the 60 Canyon Abandonment. They abandon themselves. In that story, there's a sister and brother that want to go with their father, and they don't want them to go. And then he's silently marking the path by dropping evergreen branches. And one of the kids says, I know what you're doing. You're trying to mark the path so you could get back. And the old man says, no, I'm trying to mark the path so you don't get lost. This Speaker 3 (4:14) is a Speaker 1 (4:14) beautiful turning point. An example of the elder and the youth exchanging and knowledge being passed and how it's actually relevant to both of them. So then the kids say, oh, we're not going to leave you then. You have to come back. So then they're hiding the elder as if like a culture is hiding its own wisdom in a way. And then, of course, it turns out a tyrant is ruling. So then you get to see how. Being tyrannical, which nowadays we call authoritarian, is the opposite of being wise. And it's the opposite of having elders. And if you have elders, you don't have authoritarianism. Like right now you say, how can the Congress or the Parliament, how can they can't just go cut it out? Cut it out. Quit doing things that damage most people and only benefit a few. Cut it out. Well, that's what the elders would do. They have inner authority, natural authority. The elders would not be given usually positions of authority because that's cultural institution. They would have inner authority, which surpasses cultural institution because you can count on it because it's resting on a heart that's genuine and a deep self that's knowing, where an institution cannot achieve either of those things. So even though it's all falling apart, we can fall back on the archetypal dynamic of youth having a chance to awaken to their dreams. The youth are dreaming the future. And I don't mean in a simplistic way. I mean, they can have big dreams that affect a whole life. Meanwhile, if we have elders, they are trying to secure the future by tying it to the past, to the ancient, to the things that endure and have universal value. And so the two places, you know,