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This episode of Living Myth begins with the idea that an individual word can be like a story that has both history and mystery within it. Michael Meade tracks the meanings of enlightenment from an original sense of “anything that might remove dimness or blindness” to concepts of mystical illumination and spiritual liberation.
On the historical level, the period termed The Enlightenment, which set out to shine the light of reason on everything wound up discovering the enormity of darkness as seen in the discovery of “dark matter,” “dark energy,” and “black holes” in the universe. On the cultural level, Enlightenment ideas about the “sovereignty of reason” over all human endeavors and over nature as well, can be seen to contribute greatly to the current period of “endarkenment.”
Turning to the mythic level, Michael Meade tells an ancient tale of a young seeker eagerly trying to solve the human dilemma and enter enlightenment as soon as possible. A wise old teacher points out that what we seek with all our feverish searching must first be found in the darkness within ourselves, in the inside story where the hidden light of self and soul waits to be revealed and brought to life.
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