This episode of Living Myth begins with the idea that we are living in flood times again as we face overwhelming changes at most levels of life. Deluge and flood stories have been found even in landlocked places, as if to make clear that it is not simply the literal seas that can overflow, but also the psychic waters of the unconscious that can overwhelm an individual or an entire culture.

In the old story of Noah, a great ark serves as a life preserving vessel in the midst of great loss and worldwide flooding. In the tale of Jonah, the life enhancing vessel turns out to be a whale which acts as a kind of cosmic womb. In this archetypal vision, the belly of the whale becomes a place of revelation of the mysteries of life and a source of knowledge and wisdom that is missing at the surface of life.

In the symbolic womb, what is worth saving in the individual soul becomes saved; while what is misconceived, misguided and riddled with fear becomes dissolved. Emerging from the belly of the whale depicts a passage from the darkness of primordial chaos to the light of creation. This kind of redemption from below becomes the source of a genuine hope that comes from facing darkness and despair and finding a psychological rebirth and spiritual regeneration.