This episode of Living Myth 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.

A great tragedy develops when instead of growing older and wiser, people simply grow older and older. Sadly, when older folks fail to commit to the greater ideals that sustain the deepest values of humanity, they become more narrow-minded and self-involved. Instead of seeking paths to healing and unity, they become more fearful and cynical and act out their unresolved resentments and animosities on other people.

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.

The idea of a genuine elder appears as the opposite of, and as the antidote to those who have power but use it unjustly. A typical ruler has positional authority, whereas the genuine elder has inner authority anchored in both wisdom and compassion. One draws power from the established order and uses it for personal gain and against other people. The other draws upon a deeper sense of authenticity and uses that power for the benefit of others. One serves the demands of the ever-needy ego self, while the other serves the aims of the awakened soul that sees the value of individual life in all people and that any age or stage of life.

The power-driven strong man and would be autocrat desires worldly dominance, but has no idea what power is intended to serve. In requiring everyone to submit to him, he plays the role of the negative elder. He may have the trappings of leadership, but lacks the vision necessary for it to become meaningful. He has the means of power without the understanding and compassion necessary to make the means serve a unifying goal. In the end, power that does not enhance life must eventually serve to destroy it.

In traditional cultures, elders do not simply exercise power and authority, but rather are expected to remember the essential values and the enduring truths that people keep forgetting. Genuine elders lead by remembering further back than others as well as by seeing more clearly ahead. They serve as seers who can see behind and beyond the politics of the day and perceive ways to bring people together and plant seeds for a meaningful future. In traditional cultures, elders were considered to be a valuable resource without whose guidance whole societies could lose their way.

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.