On this episode of Living Myth, Michael Meade looks at two contemporary crises involving young people through the lens of rites of passage. One crisis involves the alarming increase in both the numbers of youth who consider suicide and those actually taking their own lives. Teens and young adults across the country report growing levels of sadness, loneliness and hopelessness with youth of color and LGBTQ+ youth increasingly being severely affected.

Young people have no choice but to grow up in the collective atmosphere of their culture. At this point in time that means to be more exposed to extreme cultural conflicts as well as the raw emotions and extreme edges of human nature. The other crisis stems from troubling and tragic forces that currently tear at the heart of humanity and form the background for student protests erupting on college campuses.

Throughout the world it is typical to find young people at the forefront of movements demanding societal changes. At the same time, the more conservative elements of a society tend to overreact when students and young adults inevitably seek to respond to issues of mass violence, injustice and needless death and destruction. It is natural for youthful aspirations to raise and defend the highest ideals of humanity, especially in the face of inhumane forces and practices. At the same time, modern cultures often lack the presence of genuine elders who can combine a true passion for human ideals with the wisdom to find ways of healing and uniting people in the midst of cultural crises.

Although coming of age has come to mean being legally recognized as an adult, traditional rites of passage involved coming upon that which is ageless, timeless and enduring in human life. To truly come of age, especially in a time of undeniable global crises, means to experience both the dreams of what life might be and the agonies that currently plague so many people on earth. The old idea was that the specific struggles of youth become the twists of fate through which they find seeds of meaning and purpose in their own lives, while also trying to face and change the dilemmas and tragedies that afflict their community or society.

Living amidst the cascade of crises that continually upend the contemporary world is like entering a radical rite of passage that is well underway, but that remains mostly unconscious. At this critical time, healing and renewal is essential on most levels of life and means facing chaos and uncertainty and accepting the need to struggle with the core issues of meaning and justice and the rights of all people to be able to live meaningfully.

Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his new online workshop “Facing Fate, Finding Destiny” on Saturday, May 11. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events.

You can save 30% on this new workshop and further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of over 625 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. Learn more and join this community of listeners at patreon.com/livingmyth.

If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.

This episode follows the path of an old tale in which youth and elders have to solve seemingly impossible tasks, outwit a power-driven ruler and help create a more welcoming, wise and just society.

Traditional tales from many cultures show how youth and elders are opposite sides of a psychic pairing in which each is necessary to understand the other. Despite cultural gaps between them, youth and elders are secretly connected, and each holds an essential piece of the human inheritance. The eternal youth in each soul carries the original dream of our life, while the old sage in each heart has the wisdom needed to find and follow paths of meaning and purpose.

Elders can carry a greater vision because they have developed insight into their own lives, they have faced up to whatever fate has handed them and found ways not simply to survive, but also to understand the struggles and the suffering that are part of each human life. As those who become truly old enough to know better, they also become living depositories of wisdom for the next generation to draw upon. And in that sense, they develop inner authority and authority that knows what needs to be preserved and be remembered in order for human life to be noble and meaningful and properly in tune with nature.

When the world becomes increasingly divided, the challenge involves redeeming positive views of both the elder and the youth, and thereby rediscovering how each can help envision a more creative and inclusive world. When enough people can become vessels through which the eternal youth and the wise old sage can enter the world, then there can be an awakening of the collective soul that can turn things around, even in the midst of a period of great conflicts and loss. Human culture is intended to be continuously remade through the genius of youth and the wisdom of elders acting in concert with the capacity of nature and the earth to repeatedly renew life at all levels.

Thank you for listening to and supporting Living Myth. You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his new online workshop “Facing Fate, Finding Destiny” on Saturday, May 11. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events.

You can save 30% on this new workshop and further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Members receive bonus episodes each month, access to the full archives of over 625 episodes and a 30% discount on all events, courses and book and audio titles. Learn more and join this community of listeners at patreon.com/livingmyth.

If you enjoy this podcast, we appreciate you leaving a review wherever you listen and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you well and thank you for your support of our work.

Originally, the Vedas existed in the form of chants and hymns with the root sound Om being the original tone emitted from the womb of the cosmos. The potent chant known as the Gayatri Mantra was considered the first hymn to come forth from the root sound Om. Thus, Gaya or Gaia whether in sound, in image or in name brings a long lineage that echoes back to the origins of life and resonates with the hidden unity of the world.