Today, we hear about the 'ends of time' not only from religious quarters but from the scientific community with its reports of vanishing species, forests, languages, etc. Could these many endings carry a different meaning without fear and an opportunity for deeper understanding? Michael Meade believes that the ancient role of storytelling holds mythic truths and taps into imagination that reveals the beginnings amongst the endings. "I'm trying to remind people that this 'knock-on-wood' hard as nails, in your face world is only the front of the worlds. That behind it is the world of imagination and the world of nuance, the world of spirit. . . . . When it seems that the world is gonna end, what we're missing is the touch of eternity. . . . At the ends of time are the roots of eternity, and we need to get back to the poetry and the imagination in order to tune in both to the eternal and also to nature."
Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, drummer, scholar of mythology and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He has a gifted capacity to weave this material into a persuasive and compelling presentation, tapping ancestral sources of wisdom and bridging them to the stories we are living today. He has led retreats for more than two decades and brings a wealth of strength, humor, compassion and fearlessness to this work. He is the author of The Water of Life, co-editor of The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart, and author of The World Behind the World: Living at the Ends of Time. To learn more about the work of Michael Meade go to www.mosaicvoices.org
Topics Explored in this Dialogue:
- Why are we hearing so much these days about the "ends of times"
- Why is storytelling important
- Are we in a 'crisis of meaning' and what does that mean
- How do stories help us to understand, give meaning to, the beginnings and endings we see in our personal and global lives
- How does a Native American story and the tale of Scharazade point to the importance of the feminine in the end times
This product was added to our catalog on Friday 30 May, 2008.
