The Importance Of Myth In Personal Development, Growth, And Healing

All right, team, quick little episode here. I want to talk about the cultural, psychological, emotional and developmental importance of myth within our society, within our culture, and just individually. So arguably the best way that I can describe it right at the gates is by talking about the misconception of myths. Oftentimes people look at a myth and they think, oh, that's a story about a fantasy, that's a story about some fictional experience, or that's a story about some quote, unquote religion in the past, right? Greek gods, et cetera. And that is the biggest misconception about myths, period. The truth about myths is that they are an intrinsic or reoccurring pattern that has always been with us, a kind of perennial pattern that has existed throughout history. And myths represent a kind of larger truth that we sometimes struggle to put into words. And so the wonderful thing about this is that they can hold story based truths, they can hold truths that are much larger than you would normally just pack into one sentence. And you can try and distill it down into a sentence or into a paragraph of like, well, this is the truth that that myth is trying to represent. But it's not going to have the same kind of transformational or alchemical weight as it would if you listen to the story, if you study the arc of what's happening in the myth, if you study the archetypes and the symbols and the characters that are represented within the myth. Because the real substance and the substantial weight about myths and the reason why they're so important within our culture is that they describe things within us as individuals, within us, socially and culturally, as human beings, that are not only incredibly important to our survival, but they point to a kind of wisdom that if we detach from that wisdom, we can get caught in very linear, hyper rational forms of being, thinking, operating and relating in the world. And that way of being within the world lacks substance and will often lack a kind of depth. It will often lack a connection to soul or spirit, however you want to word that. It will often lack a connection to the mystery or the mysterious or awe or wonder. And so everything will need to be calculated and nothing will be mysterious anymore. And it will oftentimes miss out on a connection to any kind of unknown or unconscious. And I think this is where the real sort of tactical, tangible essence of why myth and mythology is so relevant to our times, especially right now. So if you study Carl Jung, he'll talk extensively about the unconscious, both the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. And one of the things that Jung talks about quite A bit is that the unconscious doesn't necessarily work in a rational way, right? Our rational mind is very linear. It's very sort of past, present, future based. It's very rational and logical and calculated and everything is organized and makes sense. Whereas the unconscious mind, both personal and collective, operates in a much more story based, character based, archetype based, symbolic based way of being and thinking. And so, for example, if you, if you do dream work and dream studies as an example, dreams are almost never rational. They're almost never what they appear to be about, right? If you have a dream about your mom breaking into your house and stealing your soup strainer, I don't know where that came from. It just sort of came, you know, came about and like kicking your dog in the head and then leaving. It's not that you're afraid that your mom is going to break in your house, steal your soup strainer, kick your dog in the head and then run away, right? It's not a rational, logical, coherent thought. It's much more based in symbolism or archetypes, right? Your mom might be a symbol for something, your dog might be a symbol for something. And there's something transpiring between that maternal archetype and the archetype of the animal that, that your psyche and your unconscious mind is trying to make sense of. And so myths help us get into touch with this non rational, dare I say, intuitive form of intelligence that is non linear. Now here's why I think it is so paramount and important and we're going to wrap up after this because this is going to be brief and I'll have more to come on this in the future. Healing is not linear. Healing is not linear. One of the hardest and most challenging aspects to personal development, self help, personal growth, going to a therapist, going to a psychologist, that almost all of us as men and women, but more specifically men, because we are generally hyper rational and hyper logical. Although there are certainly some women that are more masculine in nature, that are more rational and logical in nature, almost all men that go and step into a journey of personal development, self help, self growth, one of the first things that they have to face is the letting go of and the complete erosion of this desire and this need for things to play out in a rational, coherent, linear way. So one of the biggest challenges when I start working with a man in any capacity, in a group environment, in a one on one environment, one of the first things that I will directly or indirectly address is that man's desire for a five step plan, right? Maybe a man is going through a divorce, or he is struggling to decide about next steps for his career, or he's struggling with something in his health, that man will inevitably, because of the fear and the instability that he feels, be searching for some type of a rationale answer to why this problem is occurring. And he's naturally going to gravitate towards desiring a linear progression of what his healing and progress is going to look like. And the most challenging thing is to try and convince or help a man see that number one, not only is healing not linear, but that there might be value and worth and strength and courage and wisdom and to be found in developing a capacity to face the unknown, to trust in an unfolding process that is non rational, that's non linear, that's almost non logical to some capacity. Because when we try and press our logical brains and rational brains onto the problems that we're experiencing relationally and emotionally, what we try and do is bad math, right? So imagine trying to do algebra with calculus. Imagine trying to, trying to write Chinese in German. You're just not going to be, you know, you're trying to write an essay that needs to be turned in in Chinese, but you're writing in German, right? You're just not going to be operating in the correct territory that you need to be traversing in. And so healing is in some ways a much broader thing. There are certain patterns that we can talk about that are more logical and rational and linear. There are certain behavioral changes that we can make logical and rational and linear. This is why somebody like James Clear has done so well with his book Atomic Habits, because he breaks down how to shift habits in a very rational and logical and linear way. But there are deeper, more complicated and nuanced challenges that all human beings face that are just not rational. Trauma is one of them. You know, abuse is one of them. Abandonment is another one of them. Finding a deeper sense of purpose in your life is not a logical sequential order. You know, there's 250,000 plus books on how to find your purpose. And there's a reason why there's so many different takes on what that can look like. It's like that because it is not a sequential linear experience. So one of the best things that we as men can do is to begin to develop and expand our capacity for the unknown, to expand our capacity and our understanding of mythology and myth. Because these stories that are sometimes not linear, they go and move in directions that you don't expect. They have characters that emerge that seem to come and throw the whole plot line off and propel the main character in a very different direction. And where he ends up at the end of it is not where you would expect, right? And so there's value in beginning to learn these things. And the more that I went into Carl Jung, the more that I went into mythology, the more that I have studied various different healing modalities, you know, whether it's Gestalt therapy or Jungian psychology or CBT or IFS or whatever it is, the more that we can utilize certain patterns and utilize certain sequential processes to help us create progress, to help us grow ourselves and develop ourselves. But the real depth that I see a lot of men yearning for within our culture, the sort of spiritual connection, the robust ability to stay grounded in the face of chaos or emotionality or distress, these types of skills that we as men want to possess, they are only developed by a willingness to venture off into the unknown. And the unknown is always the territory of myth. It is always the forest of the mythological and the non linear and the non rational. And it's a world where healing and growth and development is done by archetypes and symbols. And everything has a nuance and a depth that is not necessarily direct and known right from the beginning. And so one of the best things that you can do as a man for your own development, wherever you are in your development, whether you've gone to therapy for a number of years, you've done men's work for a decade, or whatever it is, is to begin to immerse yourself in the beauty and the power of mythology. The wondrous experience of being able to witness patterns that have been with us throughout the ages. Whether you're reading the Roman myths or the Greek myths, or you're reading the myths of Harry Potter in today's world, or Game of Thrones or whatever sort of fiction based books you might be reading, all of those things can teach us a tremendous amount of wisdom and truth about the human experience, about our species, about our evolution, about where we might be logistically right now in our history. So what resources have you found to be helpful in digging into myths and mythology? Would you like me to talk about this more? Are there certain mythological stories or archetypes, characters, symbols that you would like me to dig into? DM me on Instagram and let me know. Don't forget to man it forward with somebody that you know will enjoy. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so that you can get more of this content on a weekly basis. Thanks so much for tuning in. Connor Beaton signing off.