This episode of Living Myth begins with a consideration of the old idea of two arcs that shape the course of human life. The first arc describes the process of growing up, stepping out and making a life in the common world. The second arc involves the inward path through which a person awakens to their inner life and develops a greater sense of both spirit and soul. Whereas the first arc has to do with external things, the second arc involves eternal matters.

Humans have always been called to grow along both the outer and the inner arcs of life. Yet, there are times when the crises of the outer world make the inward arc of realization and great imagination more important to follow.

Despite the modern obsessions with materialism, mass technology and narrow ideologies, a society can only heal and truly grow by tapping the deep feelings and creative energies of the inner arc of life. When everything seems to be falling apart, the inner arc of imagination and creativity is actually closer at hand and the second adventure of the soul is calling for our attention.