Being Claimed by a Myth with Martin Shaw, Ph.D.

MP3 Download Folktales, fairytales, and myths are the way our ancestors tried to tell truth and actually have the earth speaking through them. Shaw says that they are more than just human intelligence at play. Here he takes us on a deep dive into the importance of inviting story into our lives, not as therapy, not as giving advice. He tells us that these timeless stories can be the tributaries that lead us to the bigger river of essential truths that nourish our lives. He challenges us to show “fidelity” to the myth that grabs us, “There is a prudence in absorbing and telling stories because you feed the story. If you are perennially in devouring mode: gimme, gimme, gimme … the stories tend to charge through us rather than negotiate with us… Myths generally ask more of us than we want to give so you have to say, ‘Okay, what do you want from me?’ … stories are demanding a kind of psychic and emotional sophistication from us.” Shaw feels that myths, (in the plural) live us. Two or three