This episode begins with Socrates’ idea of the difference between two types of lies. The first type of untruth is the “noble lie” best understood as stories or myths that are not factual, yet are foundational because they reveal important truths and wisdom. The other kind of untruth is the “lie of the soul” that is taken into a person's being and becomes treated as if it was the truth. This is the most dangerous kind of lie because it has a destructive effect on a person's core being and soul.
The rise of political strongmen in many parts of the world is typically based upon lies of the soul that cause wide divisions and great animosities amongst people. Unfortunately, many modern people have become infected with lies of the soul, which then become like a collective poison that can corrupt people in positions of power as well as entire institutions. Just as the lie of the soul separates a person from any kind of inner truth, it can also separate a society from the very truths upon which it was founded.
Currently, we are living through our own harrowing version of the loss of essential truths and the rise of lies that divide people and threaten the stability of the world. As a partial antidote to the spread of lies that damage the soul, Michael Meade turns to the epic myth of Churning the Milk Ocean from ancient India. We all are caught in a tug of war that keeps dividing people and threatens to pull everything apart. Yet, one of the functions of myth is to show that this has happened before and further reveal that the increased tension of the opposites can also generate the energy and consciousness needed to raise forgotten truths and generate the healing needed to restore balance and meaning to life on earth.
Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his new online series “The Creative Middle Way” that begins on Thursday, March 28. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events.
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Episode 365 - Kairos Time
Episode 364 - The Sacred Fifth
Episode 363 - Myths of Creation and Re-Creation
Episode 362 - Darkness and the Light
Episode 361 - The Stream of Knowledge
Episode 360 - Ancient Myths, Modern Science
Episode 359 - The Necessity of Imaginatioin
Episode 358 - The Origins of Gratitude
Episode 357 - The Wisdom of the Butterfly
Episode 356 - The Furies in Myth
Episode 355 - The Purpose Seeded in You
Episode 354 - The Light Within Dark Times
Episode 353 - Roots of Inner Peace
Episode 352 - A World on Fire
Episode 351 - Oracle at the Center
Episode 350 - Two Agreements of the Soul
Episode 349 - What the Soul Sees
Episode 348 - Soul on Trial
Episode 347 - Beyond Anxiety
Episode 346 - Facing Inner Fears
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