This episode begins with an ancient Mayan myth about the first human ancestors being shaped from corn. Far from being random creatures, humans were created to bring missing ingredients to the world. The missing ingredients included: a conscious awareness of the wonder of creation, a sense of gratitude and thankfulness, and a potential for imagination and genuine vision.
Central to the role of humans was the capacity to be thankful for the gift of life. Thus, people all over the earth have created ceremonies and practices of gratitude and thanksgiving. The idea of giving thanks and the word thankfulness comes from the old root word grazia, which gives us gratitude as well as grace. In that sense, what we seek in giving thanks are moments of gratitude that can bring a sense of grace back into the world. And this can happen in small ways that do not require large gatherings, an abundance of food, or any pretension that everyone might agree on life's great issues.
More than ever, we need occasions of grace and gratitude, however small they may be. We need moments of wholeness to rekindle our spirits and to ease our souls. We need to feel that life, despite all the existing divisions and heated conflicts, remains a holy place, a place where healing remains possible.
When the world keeps turning upside down, it can be time to look and feel deeper inside in order to find the people and aspects of life that we are most grateful for. Sometimes that's all we need to do in order to reconnect to and contribute to the holiness of life. In doing that, we can ease the burden of our own hearts; we can also connect to the original sense of humanity and enable more grace to enter the world.
Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his new online workshop “Ritual, Healing and Transformation” that on Saturday, December 9. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events.
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Episode 385 - Your Inner Initiate
Episode 384 - Dealing with Emotional Storms
Episode 383 - Threaded by Dreams
Episode 382 - Unlocking Destiny
Episode 381 - Coming of Age in an Age of Chaos
Episode 380 - Elders and Youth on Paths of Healing
Episode 379 - Earth Day and the Origins of Gaia
Episode 378 - Mythic Medicine
Episode 377 - Eclipses and Epiphanies
Episode 376 - A Divided World, A Hidden Unity
Episode 375 - The Return of Eros
Episode 374 - Threads of Fate and Destiny
Episode 373 - Lies that Poison, Truths that Heal
Episode 372 - Jonah and the Whale
Episode 371 - Fear is the Way Through
Episode 370 - Veiling the Truth
Episode 369 - Three Kinds of Wisdom
Episode 368 - Touching Spirit, Making Soul
Episode 367 - The Redemptive Power of Soul
Episode 366 - Facing Our Fears
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