Episode 248 - A Holy Affliction
On this episode, Michael Meade begins with the mythic idea that the fateful event of being wounded early in life creates the need for a deep healing process that also becomes the path of awakening for each person.
Here on Earth, everything is a little wounded, a little broken or cracked. Ancient artists often placed a defect in their creative work to honor the necessary imperfections of life on Earth. In making earthenware, they left an area unglazed or allowed a small crack to be seen. The imperfection in the vessel made each piece a one of a kind creation, never to be repeated and all the more valuable because of that.
Human beings are also vessels for the energy of creation and for the energy of healing. So each soul carries, and at critical times, exhibits an inner defect or sacred affliction. This necessary wound makes us truly human, a little cracked, a little weird. For, we must be cracked enough for the eternal to find a way in and for the dream of life to find a way out.
The point has never been to become perfect or be completely healed. The point has always been to become holy, meaning complete with our vulnerabilities and our wounds. Thus, the old saying was that the afflicted are holy.
Accepting how we are wounded leads to recognizing that our personal wound is also the archetypal wound. Facing the ways we are wounded opens us to parts of ourselves that are not wounded, but are in fact gifted. Without the pretensions of invulnerability, we become wounded healers and thus able to find medicine within ourselves and bring it to the suffering world.
You can hear Michael Meade talk more about the wounded healer by joining his online workshop “Waking the Inner Healer” on October 9. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events.
You can save 30% on these events and further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium. Learn more and join this community of listeners at patreon.com/livingmyth.
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