The old word for having a foot in each world is ‘weird.’ The original sense of weird involved both fate and destiny. Becoming weird enough to be wise requires that a person learn to accommodate the strange way they are shaped within and aimed at the world. An old idea suggests that those seeking for an elder should look for someone weird enough to be wise. For just as there can be no general wisdom, there are no ‘normal’ elders. Normal bespeaks the ‘norms’ that society uses to regulate people, whereas an awakened destiny always involves connections to the weird and the warp of life.
In Norse mythology, as in Shakespeare, the Fates appear as the Weird Sisters who hold time and the timeless together. Those who would become truly wise must become weird enough to be in touch with timeless things and abnormal enough to follow the guidance of the unseen. Elders are supposed to be weird, not simply ‘weirdoes,’ but strange and unusual in meaningful ways. Elders are supposed to be more in touch with the otherworld, but not out of touch with the struggles in this world. Elders have one foot firmly in the ground of survival and another in the realm of great imagination. This double-minded stance serves to help the living community and even helps the species survive.”
– Michael Meade, Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul
It’s hard to one-up Michael Meade who’ll be teaching “Decode Your Mythology: Shape Your Future” at MEA in Santa Fe Sept 1-6. He’s also part of our online Emerging Elder Masterclass April 17-18 which is a very inexpensive (starting at $77) way to tap into the MEA community.
I’ll finish by saying that the most valuable elders I’ve met typically have one of three (or maybe all three) qualities: (1) they’re unafraid to be weird; (2) they have a deep presence in how they show up; and (3) they’re alchemists of their polarities – a combo of masculine and feminine, curious and wise, gravitas and levity, extrovert and introvert. 81-year-old Michael has all three of these qualities.
-Chip