A Course with MICHAEL MEADE

COURSE OVERVIEW

In times of radical change we can find our way to a collective awakening, but only if a genuine transformation of life occurs. The archetypal pattern of initiation underlies and sustains the dynamics of transformation.

The initiatory steps of separation, ordeal and a recreation of community at a different level can be seen to parallel our current crises. Framing social activism in terms of initiation can help us imagine ways to heal both collective and personal wounds and shape more inclusive and caring communities.

Sweeping changes can be disconcerting; yet in critical moments the inner genius and wisdom of the soul become both more important and more available. When enough people awaken to the inherent purpose and meaning in their own lives, a collective initiation can occur that shifts the level of meaning as well as alters the course of history.

PART 1 - RITES OF PASSAGE

We are born to a particular era and must initiate our souls through the teeth of the time in which we find ourselves. Ancient ideas and practices of initiation can deepen our understanding of ways in which individuals truly transform and learn to affect enduring change at a cultural level.

Although formal rites of passage have mostly disappeared, core aspects of initiation continue as psychological dynamics in each life story. Initiation happens or tries to happen whenever the course, direction or meaning of our life changes dramatically. Ancient ideas of initiation and rites of passage offer ways to understand the stages of life, the phases of spiritual awakening, and the ways of healing and making more humane societies.

AUDIO RECORDING

PART 2 - DIE BEFORE YOU DIE

Initiation means the continuous breaking open of areas of the soul; it involves healing old wounds and tending to “unfinished initiations” as well as revealing the unique project of the deep self. “Die before you die” means to turn from living on the surface of life to consciously descend in search of a revelation of the deep self with its inherent gifts and life-long dreams. The deeper self is a “living library” that carries the exact knowledge and inner medicine we each needed to serve our life purposes.

Initiatory work involves a death of the “little self” or ego perspective, a breaking of the spells on mind and body; a dying into inner darkness in order to release our inner vitality and core imagination for life. Something must die off before a rebirth can occur. We grow by letting go, by losing who we thought we were and finding the next part of the story we carry within.

AUDIO RECORDING

PART 3 - THE PATHLESS PATH

Although each soul is naturally gifted and secretly aimed, much of modern culture leads us away from the very paths of knowledge our souls would have us take. Repeatedly, we arrive at turning points on the road of life where the map we have been given does not match the territory we find ourselves in. The real adventures begin where and when we step off the beaten paths and into the liminal space of betwixt and between.

Because each soul is unique, each life journey must lead to pathless paths where no visible steps can be seen and we have to move by the brail of the heart and see with the eyes of initiation. The pathless path leads to the liminal territories where the mystics, spiritual leaders, wounded healers, and creative mentors become the agents of ongoing creation.

AUDIO RECORDING

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