Jun 25, 2019
We all live our lives within mythic structures, and we always
will. But early on, as James Fowler states, we take these
overarching stories as literally true (he names his Stage 2 as
Mythic-Literal). Then life, in ways that we can comprehend, serves
up alternate mythologies. We begin to see the stories of others as
genuine options for us to adopt, or at least appreciate deeply. In
that dilemma of seeing more than one story or mythic framing being
as capable of leading people to experience rich and joyful lives,
with strong values and a dynamic sense of purpose, we must begin to
shift our perspective. We are now forced to see our myths as value
stories rather than factual truth, and begin to enter into a new
relationship with them.
Making this shift is extremely difficult. At first, most of us want
to hide or re-cocoon ourselves solely within our story as being THE
right or best one. This transition toward comfort with our
overarching stories and sense of the world/universe/purpose as
being mythic and something other than what we thought it was can
take a very long time. But it is a shift worth making, because all
of a sudden the world and universe come alive for us in ways we
can't, in our fears, imagine. Now we are playing on a much larger
stage: a lure that calls us to embark upon the hero's journey, the
quest to overcome what scares us or holds us back, and into a new
life that can help heal ourselves and the communities we are part
of.
In this episode, my wonderful friend Charles Randall
Paul (Randy) and I dive deeply into the importance and
value of myth (debunking any thought of it as "not true") and the
excitement of being in a broader world in which we are now able to
be creators and teachers and livers of our highest values and
experience harmony between our old and ever-emerging selves in ways
that enliven our family and community bonds and experiences and,
hopefully, model for others the boons of these journeys into the
unknown that lead us back transformed in powerful ways.
I hope you'll join us in this important conversation, this attempt
to assist us all in "unlearning" any perjorative thoughts of myth
as being less powerful or vital than "facts." I also hope you'll
find attractive, as well, what we do in the sections that help
bring alive gorgeous aspects of Mormonism's foundational myths.