A powerful way to help understand where you are on your life path is to recognize what story or stories are playing out in your life. This is a question/idea that comes from Carl Jung. He famously said:
I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: “What is the myth you are living?”
I found no answer to this question, and had to admit that I was not living with a myth, or even in a myth, but rather in an uncertain cloud
of theoretical possibilities which I was beginning to regard with increasing distrust.I did not know that I was living a myth, and even if I had known it, I would not have known what sort of myth was ordering my life without my knowledge.
So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know “my” myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks, for—so I told myself—how
could I, when treating my patients, make due allowance for the personal factor, for my personal equation, which is yet so necessary for a knowledge of the other person, if I was unconscious of it?I simply had to know what unconscious or preconscious myth was forming me, from what rhizome I sprang.
This resolve led me to devote many years of my life to investigating the subjective contents which are the products of unconscious processes, and to work out methods which would enable us, or at any rate help us, to explore the manifestations of the unconscious. ~Carl Jung, CW 5, Pages xxiv-xxv
How about you? What myth are you living?
If your mind just immediately went blank, take heart. You’re not alone.
His question can definitely feel daunting!
Jung’s work at this point in his life, focused on the individual psyche and how he believed it could connect to the collective unconscious, the space where Jung believed this mythological imagery lived. Jung focused on how we as individuals relate to myth or, perhaps, live it out in our lives.
With that orientation in mind, let’s start by defining the word myth.
When you whittle it all down, a myth is really just a story.
It can be tailored and personalized to your specific life and be a “story” you tell yourself, one that you believe is true.
Some of these could be:
The world is fair and just, or conversely, the world is unsafe.
I am affected by the world or conversely, I create my reality.
Money doesn’t grow on trees or money flows to me from seen and unseen sources.
Our brains love stories and it’s often how we contextualize experiences or ideas.
On a more macro/global level, there are myths (think ancient Greece here) that permeate cultures. Stories that we see across the world. Yes, they vary, but are all some form of a basic storyline.
Think for example of: a fairy tale, an epic quest, a journey to awakening, a creation story, one about a trickster or a journey to the underworld and a resurrection. All of these are larger story arcs that play out in fiction AND in our lives.
Personally, I think it can be helpful to unpack both levels of the word myth as outlined above. For arguments sake, let’s refer to them as minor and major, or specific and universal.
When Carl Jung asked himself that question (quote above), he was referring to the latter. To the major story arcs we are consciously and unconsciously attracted to and living in our lives.
One of the stories I attempted to live out earlier in my life was the fairy tale. You know the story arc – looking for, finding and then falling in love and living happily ever after.
Have you tried that one, too?
One way to identify what might be a big story arc in your life right now is to think about it from the end point. In other words:
What is your heart’s greatest desire?
What is the big question you are yearning to answer?
Is it for safety and security?
For adventure?
To arrive at a specific destination?
To obtain a certain skill?
Find some kind of solution?
To be rich, famous, known?
You can use this as a basis for inquiry, as a way to go deeper, and understand what’s at the heart of your motivations.
When you do, not only will it be illuminating, but it can help you step into the truth of yourself with more authenticity. For example, if you’re living a story in search of safety but it isn’t really what you want, then you can shift your myth.
Remember, you are the hero (and the author!!!) of your story. Make sure you’re living the one you really came here to experience!
Want more tools to support your self transformation?
Sign up today & get them directly in your inbox every Wednesday, FREE!
Image courtesy of Gabriel Porras on Unsplash